Sleeping in crate

Question
I have an 8 yr old Jack Russell terrier female. We crate-trained her from the beginning. For years she calmly slept in her crate at night. But over the past two weeks for some reason she will not sleep through the night without barking, usually around 2:00 am. When this first happened I took her outside to go potty and returned her to her crate. Within an hour she would start barking again. Her barking has led to some sleepless nights. I've had to put her crate in the garage so that she doesn't wake anyone up. Obviously, this is very frustrating. I don't want her sleeping in our room or the children's room because she tends to want to go from room to room and this can be disruptive to sleep as well.  Up to this point we've never really had a problem with the crate.  She seems anxious when she comes out of the crate after barking and really fights going back in.  I've checked to make sure there are unnecessary external noises or problems inside her crate. Also, there are no unusual activities or events that I feel would trigger her anxiety. Could use some help because my sleep is suffering.  Thanks.

Answer
Hi, Mike,

Just a personal crate story first; I have a golden retriever who suddenly didn't want to go in or stay in his crate.  This dog has been subject occasional seizures.  What we concluded is that he had had a seizure in his crate one time, and from then on, he was leery of the crate.

Just from what you are relating in your email, it sounds like something may have happened to the dog while she was in the crate.  Dogs don't have logic like we do, and if a fearful thing happened while in the crate, then the crate becomes the "bad" thing.

You might want to try basic re-introduction steps to the crate, such as I've included here, to help her become comfortable again, or perhaps buy some toys like Kongs that you fill with food and treats and give them to her when she starts barking to buy yourself some extra sleep time.  

I'm also including information on fear and barking, but I will say that if she's afraid, putting her farther and farther away from her family, who she relies on for security, will probably not help the situation.

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/crate-train.pdf

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/fearful-dog.pdf
http://www.hsmo.org/m_obedience/documents/FearfulDogPacket.pdf
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/fear-thunder.pdf

http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/Behavior/Handouts/BarkControl.pdf
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/barking.pdf