Our 9 month old puppy I think is going through separation anxiety. She is placed in her crate at night and at times has gone in her crate during the day on her own to nap so I don't think being in the crate bothers her. However she has been getting up anywhere around 4 a.m. crying and whimpering and when I do get up to open the crate after 5AM there is so much wetness inside the crate as well as outside the crate on the floor and her paws are wet.
Yesterday we put her in the crate and were gone for approximately one and a half hours and upon our return she was whimpering and once again her crate was wet and also on the floor outside as well as her paws and her tail. My son thought she had gone to the bathroom in the crate but it was not urine as I believe she had been crying so much that she drooled excessively. The waking up at 4 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. has only occurred in the past week or so. I had attempted to darken the room that she is in but it has not helped. The wetness that I am finding is something new and tells me that she must be drooling a lot while she is whining or crying for us. Can anyone please help me help our puppy to make her calm. Yesterday morning she cried so much that it awoke my son at 4 a.m. and later he slept most of the afternoon to make up for the sleep he lost. School begins in about 2 weeks and I cannot have my children be awoken by our puppy every morning. I do feel that are puppy is suffering from separation anxiety as my husband has fallen asleep in the family room and not placed our puppy in the crate over the weekend and the puppy was fine until about 5:45 a.m. as she would like to go out and take a walk and then have breakfast around 6 a.m. . I do not want her to become accustomed to someone sleeping near her but I am afraid this is what may have happened as she is calm when she knows you are there on the couch but when placed in her crate at night she seems fine yet she wakes up very early in the morning and will not stop crying until you let her out of the crate. Someone mentioned having her sleep in our room but that's not something I want to do. I am really concerned that once school starts and the children are back into a routine I don't know what impact this will have on our puppy so I would really like to try to figure something to help her stay calm when we do need to leave her during the day or evening as well as to keep her calm in the morning that she is not waking up at 4 a.m. and crying for over an hour. I would appreciate any help or advice to help our puppy. I have seen some information on essential oils and came across a site that has some type of oil that can be rubbed on your dog's ears and paws to calm them which I think was called sweet dreams but I'm not sure if it's actually safe so I'm hesitant in trying it. I have also heard that using Lavender in a diffuser has a calming effect but once again not sure if it is safe to use around our puppy or if it will actually even work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

When using essential oils it's important to make sure they are quality oils (not the junk oils that pop up at Walmart and grocery stores) and they are diluted enough. Putting pure uncut oils on skin can burn or irritate. Diffusing lavender is a good option, just don't put the diffuser where it's dumping the mist right on him. I assume you don't have a cat. I leave a radio on for mine and that helped me. Exercising and having a good hearty play before bed may also help.

I was thinking of contacting 2 people who I believe sell essential oils but as you said I am not sure they sell quality oils either - hope they do. I was also thinking to go to a local natural store as I would hope the products they sell would be of good quality. I have purchased products from the store before and have had no issues. I wasn't sure where I would put the diffuser as the crate is in a room off the kitchen and I thought to place it in there but it may be best to place it in the kitchen instead so it doesn't overwhelm the room she is in even though the door is open to the kitchen. No we do not have a cat. Yes, a friend mentioned leaving a radio on when she leaves her labradoodle. Thank you for mentioning that as I can easily do that during the day. Just not sure what else we can do for her at night so she doesn't awake at 4:00AM or so. She is quite upset when I do get her out of the crate in the morning. I was amazed at the amount of water outside of her crate and she was so thirsty once she was let out. I walk her in the evening just before the sun sets but I think she must need more in the evening as she then lays on her bed in the family room until the last person goes to bed and has her go in her crate for the evening. That can range from 10PM util midnight but I think will change once school is back in session so we will be on a schedule.

Z'ev is my Velcro dog. We are retired so it is less of issue but we do have to grocery shop, have a bit of life sans dogs. He is created we are not home and yes, lots of salivating. I find it totally disgusting I open the crate and he buried into my legs for loving...head wet and stinky. Same if we sleep late in the morning. I've given up trying to fix it, hell just have to deal with it. I've fixed the disgusting head rub by pouring a bowl of water outside the crate before I let him out and while he drinks I mop him up with a paper towel. Music playing does help some but not perfect.

hi Momof3&asibe

you're 100% sure it's not urine? I find it weird that at 9 months she's all of a sudden reverting to this weird phase of crying at 4am in the morning. If anything I typically find they sleep in more and more as they get older. Do you take her out to the bathroom at 4am when she inevitably wakes you guys up and you go to her? I'm just thinking maybe she has a UTI? Have you noticed recent symptoms of blood in the urine? foul smelling urine? Increased frequency, but not much coming out? Straining to pee? Increased thirst? Increased accidents in the house?

Other than that what's your routine in the evening? Do you take her to the park? long walks on the beach? Do you withhold water after 8pm? Have you tried sleeping on the couch one night and seeing if this still occurs? just seems strange to me that this happened all of a sudden at 9 months...=/

Keep us updated!

Cheers!

Hi Husky911

I really do not believe it is urine. The last time Dakota had an incident in the house was a few weeks ago when I decided to leave her crate open overnight and give her access to the kitchen in hopes that she would not cry/whine early in the morning and I set my alarm for 5:30AM. My husband decided to try it again and bring her bed from the family room into the kitchen as well. Both times she went poo and pee on the floor. I only knew because of the smell when I entered the kitchen as she did try to remove all traces of it it by eating it. I failed to mention that to the Vet when I spoke to him about my current concerns with Dakota's behavior. When she is in her crate she has not had an incident even if
she awakes at 4AM and I do not go to her until after 5:30 as I don't want her to be accustomed to me running to her when she whines.

Thinking back I may be the reason for her behavior change. My family had gone away for a long weekend at the end of July and I stayed home with Dakota as we have no one to take care of her and I didn't want to kennel her. I did fall asleep on the couch and had not put her in her crate. I awoke to her face in mine around 5:45AM or so and was frightened as I expected she would have had an incident as she had access to the kitchen and family room which is carpeted. Surprisingly she did not and she waited by the gate after she woke me to be taken out. Since that evening I have fallen asleep on the couch a couple of times giving her free reign to these rooms and she has not had an incident at all. This led me to think we could give her access to the kitchen overnight and not lock her crate but as I mentioned she must have been frightened or unsure of why her crate door was open an no one was in the room with her and she did pee and poop on the floor. My husband had decided or perhaps fell asleep on the couch this past weekend on 2 occasions as he was home from Friday - Monday and Dakota was left in her bed in the family and again no incidents but she did awake him to be let out and fed breakfast afterwards as I feed her usually at 6AM or so. Last night my husband decided to sleep on the couch again to see if once again when your with Dakota she is fine and doesn't cry etc. He stated that she nuzzled him around 6:20AM and he took her out to potty and walked around her around the yard but didn't take her for a walk like I do and then fed her around 6:45AM. He returned to the couch and fell asleep but awoke to get ready for work. I slept until 8:30AM as I heard my husband and he said he left Dakota on her bed in the family room. When I went downstairs to check on her I found her in her bed where he left her an hour or so earlier. My husband thinks we need to let her sleep in our room on her bed. I would prefer a crate so she doesn't have access to the room as she has never been upstairs in any of our bedrooms and they are not puppy proofed (granted she so far has not chewed on anything other then her toys) but if she has anxiety I am not sure she will not have an accident while we sleep. My husband thinks crating her may make her still awake early and cry but I am hoping since she is in a room with us she will not be frightened by whatever has caused her in the past week or 2 to be getting up as early as she is and not be able to settle herself as I know she has done in the past. This may solve her early morning cry but it will not help with what happens when we leave her to do errands or activities. On Wednesday I had crated her to go out with my kids for an hour and half and when we returned my son thought she did pee in her crate as the floor outside the crate was wet as was her paws and her tail. I wiped it with a paper towel and it was not yellow in color nor did it smell like urine which is why I think she was crying while we were gone. Unfortunately, I can't recall the last time Dakota has been left alone for that long which I didn't think was very long at all. This will change in September with activities beginning and I don't want Dakota to be stressed when we are not here but I also can't have my children not participate in activities after school or for me to not do errands etc because I can't leave her for a few hours. I feel bad leaving her when I have so this will make me feel so much more guilt.

I have heard about some dogs that dislike the crate but when we tell her - go to your crate - she walks in and settles herself before we lock the door and she has on many occasions gone in the crate while we are home to nap during the day so I don't think its the crate.

sorry as I should try better to answer your questions -- I have a tendency to ramble...

I didn't even think it could be a UTI but after speaking to the Vet he stated it doesn't sound like a medical issue but a psychological issue and wanted us to sleep on the couch and see if her behavior is different which I felt it would be as it always is when we sleep there. I have not seen any blood in her urine. I have not noticed a frequency in her going or nothing happening when she tries to go. We did train her to ring bells we have at the gate and once or twice she has rung them and didn't have to go potty as she was directing me to the road as she wanted to get out and take a walk and then she will go potty while we are in the street. She has not had any accidents in the house other then the 2 times we had left her crate door open to give her access to the kitchen overnight.

Evening routine normally is she is fed dinner around 6PM or so. She either rings her bell to go potty or she will eat and go lay down in the family room on her bed for a bit. It must depend on when she was out in the afternoon. I do try to take her out each night to go potty but also for a walk around the neighborhood. She loves to try to catch fireflies or moths that appear at dusk. We return to the family room as there most likely is a child or 2 in there and Dakota will either join in if they are playing as my kids love to horse play or wrestle with each other and then Dakota will lay on her bed. Depending on my husbands schedule he will play with Dakota in the evening inside and he usually will take her out between 10-11PM and sometimes she is reluctant to get up but we want her to go potty once again before everyone goes to bed. She then is told to go to her crate for the night.

She has access to water at all times other then when she is locked in her crate. I did notice yesterday morning she did go to her water bowl after I cleaned her crate area and I needed to give her water as it was empty and she drank much more then usually as she normally drinks after she eats. I can only imagine how thirsty she was from crying so much and the amount of liquid I had to dry off the floor and crate floor. It was the most that I had ever seen. Yes, my husband slept on the couch last night and he did Thursday to Friday as well as Sunday to Monday from this past weekend and Dakota was fine so this is why I think she is having separation anxiety.

If my husband overrides me on the sleeping in our bedroom which may happen as again school begins in a few weeks and we will need to get into our routine and we all need our sleep. This may solve the morning cry but it doesn't help when I must leave her alone during the day or early evening depending on schedules.

When Dakota cries I wait or try to go back to bed as I don't want her in the habit of thinking I cry and you come running so I try not to enter the kitchen until 5:15 or 5:30 or 5:45 depending if I have fallen back to sleep and how long it takes me to get dressed etc.
Unfortunately Wednesday morning she cried so much my youngest child was woken and listened to her until he decided to wake up his daddy... later that morning my son fell asleep as he was so tired from getting up before 4AM and that is what made me realize that her early crying is becoming a daily routine and we can't have Dakota behaving this way as my children have never complained to me unless I asked if they were woken by her and I know she has awoken my eldest on occasion as her room is above the room where the crate is but my child was able to return to bed but the return to bed days will not happen once school begins.

I should mention that when Dakota awakes and I let her out of the crate I have on occasion cleaned dishes that mysteriously show up after I have gone to bed and she will either lay at my feet or lay down on the kitchen floor and watch me so she is not in a hurry to go out. Other times she will ring her bell to tell me she really wants to go outside. Once she goes potty we take a walk - length of walk depends on the time as she herself has cut them short if it is after 6AM as she must be hungry. After she eats she then waits by the door leading to the family room as she then goes to her bed and goes to sleep for most of the morning.

I am not surprised that she sleeps most of the morning as before the summer our routine was to take her out to potty and walk around the yard and then she would have breakfast and she would return to her crate to nap or lay on the kitchen floor but she knew I had to get the kids ready for school or make lunches and then leave to get them on the buses. She would be locked in the crate when we leave and on occasion I would go do errands and return later morning and she would fine. This changed at the end of June but she still would go out, eat and return to her crate even if I didn't have to take the children to the bus. I believe in mid-July we gave her access to the family room as she was better with her potty routine and I was tired of spending most of my time in the kitchen with her. She did very well and has been able to be in the family room all the time other then at night or when no one is home for fear she will have an potty incident.

I told my husband I may have to try leaving her in the crate with a radio on for an hour or so and see if she will be drooling when we return and then try giving her access to the kitchen and see if she goes potty because she is anxious because no one is home.
I really do think she has separation issues and I do not know what to do to help her as again if I give in to her sleeping in our bedroom I can't give in to never leaving her unless someone is home. I would never be able to do anything as that will be impossible to do. And I already have guilt when I do have to leave her and I try to make sure my husband or children are with her when I do the few things I need to do.

During the day, I would give her short, increasingly longer periods of time in the crate, everyone leaving then coming back and not catering to her separation anxiety.  Also, try a bark collar at night, one that detects whining.

This may be happening suddenly in  past two weeks as the  is lower in the sky  this is coming more directly in the windows now whereas in summer being higher in the sky, it shines the roof.  (Z'ev sleeps in crate in our sunroom, I was most unhappy to find the sun shining full on him this morning!  Most of the summer I was able to leave the shades  at night so my plants would get at least some morning sun)

Amymeme,
I think that is what we should do as far as have her in the crate during the day and I agree to not run in directly to her. When we went out on Wednesday and returned my son stated that she is standing in the crate and he ran directly to her to let her out whereas in the past when it was just myself I would put down my keys, purse, packages and then let her out. This was only after I knew she wasn't having accidents in her crate or in the house. She would see I am home but I wouldn't run to her immediately if she was whining. I also do not go to her immediately when she cries in the morning as I usually have a glass from water to bring to the sink so she sees me as the crate is in the doorway down a short hallway that I must pass by but I do not run right to her -- have to tell the children to not run to her either especially if she is whining. I had purchased a pheremone collar as the Vet recommended to try it. I also ordered pet anxiety essential oil and diffuser. Vet stated they will not harm our pup and I would prefer to not have to give her anything to eat if not necessary as the Vet thinks she has a sensitive stomach.

I didn't think about the light or sun. I had darkened the room the crate is in and had placed a blanket over the crate to block out sunlight but since the door opens into the short hallway leading into the kitchen she will see light coming in from the kitchen windows. Granted I don't think the sun is up at 4AM but I really do not know. My intention has been to move the crate into the room so we can have easier access to it and give her more room to walk around. The room has hardwood floors with an area rug and I had rolled the rug into the room to make the crate sit on the hardwood in the doorway. I now am concerned as she drools so much that she makes the hardwood very wet in front of the crate that the rug will be so wet but I can place towels there if necessary to catch her drool. Of course I hope she will not be so stressed and this shall pass as it just arose but one never knows. Thank you for your advice.

Z'ev's drool stains his feet orangy red and his crate is on a carpet - started to stain also. I now have the crate on sturdy plastic and am planning on getting a mat, probably a large bath mat for in front of the crate.

My puppy started crying from separation anxiety when in the crate at night. I don't know if this is possible for you, but over the course of about 7-8 days I moved the crate further and further away from us each night. The first night she was just outside the bedroom so she could see us, then the second night a little bit further, then a little further on 3rd night etc until she was somewhere I'm happy for the crate to be at night.

I don't have stairs to deal with so I'm not sure if that's an issue for you, but this worked for my pup and now she sleeps through from about midnight until 7am every night no problem and she's only 4.5 months old.

Thank you for your advice.
That's amazing to me that your puppy sleeps from 12 to 7AM.
Our crate is located in a den entrance off of the kitchen so it can only be placed further into the room which was my intention to do so until she began to experience what I think is seperation anxiety. Her crate has been located in this doorway since we brought her home at 10 weeks old and she is now 9 months old. We sleep upstairs and the den is located below 1 of my children's bedrooms. Dakota has cried in the past but she never drooled as she does now. She also has been placed in the crate when we have left the house and again I have never seen the amount of drool she had last week. My fear is that since I and my husband on separate occasions have fallen asleep on the couch and let her be free she has enjoyed having us there and amazingly has had no potty incidents. Yet when I left her crate open to the kitchen overnight on 2 separate evenings she had potty accidents both times but we were not there. I think since its summer and the children and I are home much more she has become accustomed to not being left alone so I can understand why she's upset when we have left her during the day. I just can't understand why she's so upset and awakes around 4AM and cries until I get up to see her about an hour or so later. The sleeping in the crate in the den doorway off the kitchen has been her normal routine since February other then the 6 or so times one of us has slept on the couch since July. I think she likes having someone with her but someone can't sleep on the couch each night and I am not sure how to help her realize this. We were not sleeping on the couch and leaving her out of the crate for a week or so and then suddenly put her in the crate but we had done it on a few occasions over the past month. I am now concerned as our Vet wanted someone to sleep on the couch to see how she behaves which my husband has been doing for the past 2 nights and then put her in her crate at night and see how she behaves. He then said we will have to go through a series of steps to hopefully find something that will keep her calm in her crate through the night and when we are not home. I know she doesn't dislike her crate as I found her napping in it yesterday afternoon while the children were in the family room. I just don't know how to calm her as the vet said Huskies are known to have anxiety and they are very nervous dogs. Ironically I expected thunder and fireworks to bother our pup based on what the vet said about her breed and she is not phased by either. I actually have a photo of her as I was walking her at dusk sitting in the street watching the fireworks that were just up the street. So I don't think she's a nervous dog as she wants to see everyone and every animal we see outside even a not so nice dog up the road who growls at us...no fear from our pup.