Crying in middle of the night

Question
Hi,

We have recently added a Jack Russell to our family which consists of myself, my husband, a 4yr old Patterdale terrier and the latest addition a 6 month old Jack Russell.

To ensure that there are no problems during the night, our Patterdale sleeps on his normal bed in the kitchen (and always has accepted being left on his own during the night) and we have crated the Jack Russell. Now in the crate I have put a soft base layer own, a blanket and a 'chew' toy. After a little bit of initital crying and whining (which we can live with an hopefully this will correct itself in time) he settles down.

He has now however started with waking up at 3-4am in the morning crying, barking, and howling. To start with I totally ignored it but after about half an hour I thought it might be a sign he needed to go out so without fussing or speaking I relented and let them both out into the garden.

From his behaviour at that time I would have said that it was all for attention as he only went for a little wee. I then put them back to their appropriate beds and left. The Jack Russell then promptly went back into crying, whining and barking, which I ignored but it continued for just over 1 hour before he must of tired himself out and fallen asleep.

Can you help at all with breaking this habit as I don't think we can continue very long without getting much sleep?!

After reading some of the websites I will train him to be left in his crate for shorter periods of time or being without me in the room as he seems rather clingy but at night it seems he can only go for approx 4 hours before he really starts.

Hope you can help!

Answer
Although this isn't really your issue, you can follow the tips for separation anxiety. They will help, but this isn't separation anxiety though it could become separation anxiety.
http://www.thegooddogjournal.com/2008/11/separation-anxiety.html

What this is, is boredom. Just ignore him. You've made it worse by letting him out once though I understand why you did and it's good to make sure he's not going to mess the crate. Now that you know that's not the issue, ignore him. Get earplugs and be prepared for it to get worse before it gets better. He'll get over it.