[Dailydrool] Sleepless in Georgia

[Jennifer Martin]

Hi all! As Bugsey said, Browyn has decided that she isn't going to sleep.
Again. Just a quick refresher. She is 8 years old and going strong. No
signs of dementia that I can see. She is crate trained. She has never been
a great sleeper. When she was 2.5, we broke down and let her sleep in the
big crate with Bugsey. Beauford has arthritis. She likes to pounce. Not a
good combination.Before we put Browyn and Bugsey together, Bugsey slept in
a crate stuffed with stuffed animals. No problems there. He has never peed
or pooped in his crate. So, I put them in a bigger crate together and that
worked for many days. Browyn started having trouble sleeping about 2 years
ago and we put her on melatonin (approved by the vet.) Bugsey did throw up
in the crate a couple of times and he nailed her but good with one of the
events. She was absolutely screaming a frantic scream. I don't blame her. I
got her hosed off and dried off and back in bed. That is when all this
started. She would wake up 3-4 times in the night. The vet suggested
doubling her melatonin. No dice. I decided to put extra beds on the floor
in their room. Then I still put them in their crates, I pushed the doors
closed, but I didn't latch them. I wanted Beauford to feel safe if he
didn't want to be out in the open and risk getting pounced on by Browyn.
About 15 minutes after bedtime, Browyn was scratching at the door. Well,
that won't work. The vetput her on 50 mg of trazadone. It worked 3 nights.
Then we upped her to 100 mg of trazadone. She sleeps about 6-7 hours a
night. That is a nice improvement. The problem is she is screaming for
45-60 minutes before falling asleep. She is not shaking. She is not
panting. She is just mad. She screams 20-30 minutes before a nap. The
afternoon nap she is not in a crate with Bugsey. That is when they get
their dental bones. If I gave those two dental bones together in the crate,
Bugsey would steal her dental bone. Then he would throw up, Browyn can't
sleep in bed with me. I am very allergic to dogs (yes, I know.) My deal
with the allergist is that they don't sleep in bed with me. IF they are out
in the living room and kitchen, Browyn paces all night. We have wood floors
and no matter how short I cut her nails, she walks up on her toes and
clicks on the floor. She is not really getting as much exercise as she
could use. I need to have foot surgery. So, obviously my foot hurts and I
can't be walking an extra mile or two. Plus, it has been raining!She is
used to just running outside for about 20-30 minutes in the afternoon and
about 10-20 minutes in the morning, with a rousing wrestling match with the
boys in the afternoon. Sorry this is so long, but in order to get good
suggestions, I need to explain the whole situation. Any suggestions? No, I
have never gotten her out of her crate for screaming unless it sounded like
she was about to pee or poop in the crate or Bugsey threw up. In those
instances I let her out and in the later, I clean out the crate, then
everyone goes back to their crates sans treats. So, she has never been
rewarded for screaming. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might
have!

Jennifer with Beauford, Bugsey, and Browyn the Fairy Princess
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20200308/1926c779/attachment-0002.html>