Our 7 month old Bernese cries at night

Question
We have a 7 month old Berner that we got from the breeder 2 months ago. Two weeks ago she has began whining when we place her in her crate and then again at 2:30am. The whining last for 45 minutes to an hour.I tried taking her out but it is not because she needs to pee. She just wants to be out of the crate or with us. My wife works from home 3 days a week and the dog is not in her crate while we are home. She is also out most of the weekend unless she we leave to run errands. She gets a 25 minute walk everyday. Once she is out of the crate and we are around she is fine. I think she just wants to be with us. She will whine, bark and cry if we go upstairs and leave her downstairs.
Help, we love her but this crying is driving us insane.

Answer
J.J. I know you don't want to hear this, but you're just going to have to ignore the crying, no matter how long it continues. She has figured out that if she cries and whines, you let her out, so you're going to have to 'reprogram' her, which may take a while.

When you put her in the crate, always give her a small little tidbit of a treat, and you might even consider giving her a Kong that has peanut butter, cream cheese, plain yogurt, 'patte' style canned dog or cat food, or plain canned pumpkin smeared on the inside and frozen all day as well. This will give her something to do until she falls asleep.

When she starts in with the whining at 2:30am, if you are CERTAIN she does not need to be taken out, ignore it. Get some earplugs that you can put in when she starts up, if necessary. I KNOW it's going to be hard, but if you want the behavior to stop, you need to make her understand that it doesn't work.

I don't know that I wouldn't set my alarm to wake me up at 2:00 (before she starts the whining and crying), and take her out, just to be sure. If you do this, do not talk to her, pet her, or anything. Just go get her out, hook her leash to her collar, walk her to the door, take her outside to potty, say "Good girl" if she potties, go back in, put her back in the crate with a treat, and go back to bed. You want the whole experience to be as boring and uneventful as possible.


Is the crate in your bedroom with you? If not, you might try putting it in there. She may still do the crying thing for a few nights, but again, if you ignore her, she should stop, and she will probably feel more comfortable being near you.