We had another sleep-deprived night, thanks to Riley. He got up in the middle of the night, John let him out, he brought him back upstairs, and then Riley wouldn’t relax. He’d lay down for a few seconds and then pop back up and stick his nose in my face. I’d get him to lay down again and he’d pop right back up. After a few minutes of this, I took him back downstairs and outside, let him get some water, and then brought him back up. Same fun dance. The only way I could keep him down was by petting him, but I can’t pet him and sleep, and the second I stopped petting him, up he went. So I put him in the crate.
He had to go in the crate because we went through this on the night before last (Tuesday night). Riley got up in the middle of the night, I let him out, I brought him back upstairs, and then he wouldn’t relax. He did the whole lay down, pop up and bug me, lay down, and bug me again thing, so I took him back downstairs and outside, and then I left him downstairs for the rest of the night. I heard him get a drink of water right after I let him back in. Then, when we came downstairs yesterday morning, we found a river of pee, like the Amazon of accidents.
To prevent that from happening again, we tried to limit his water intake and keep him near us so we’d know if he needed to go out again, and that’s how we ran into last night’s sleep-deprived disaster. No accidents, but no sleep. So instead of leaving him loose downstairs, I crated him. We crated him during the day yesterday, and we’re doing it again today, but we really don’t want to have to crate him day and night. He’d be in the crate, alone in the basement, for 18 hours every day (or more).
Bottom line: we don’t know what to do. A pet sitter/dog walker would only give him a half-hour break or so in the middle of the day, leaving him with basically the same number of hours in a crate. We’re seeing the vet again Monday afternoon for the next x-ray and an exam, so we’re holding out until then. Sleepless (either from worry/unhappiness about the dog in the crate or from the dog bugging us) until then.