New Puppy and Sleepless nights

[blond1]

Hello

We have a new 8 week old puppy. He's called Smurf and is really lovely.

Thank you Cayla for your puppy guide. He arrived on Monday and during the day he is perfect and he's made a good start on potty training and picked up basic commands such as sit/lie down through playing. He has a crate which he can go in when he wants to during the day and at night we shut the door of the crate and leave him at about 9.30pm. He is not left on his own during the day and at night he has been quite unsettled and cries and whimpers for about 20 minutes at a time about 3 times a night. Usually 11pm, 2am and 4am. We check on him at the 11pm one and let him outside to go potty and then settle him back down again but have been ignoring the middle of the night calls. So - do we continue to ignore him in the middle of the night and hope he settles or do we deal with him like we do for the 11pm call and hope he soon realises that night time is for sleeping. He has peed on the paper left at the front of the crate so I'm wondering if needs to go and is asking to go outside.

It is early days as tonight will be his third night with us and any advice appreciated

 

[splashgirl45]

i will prob. be told i am wrong by all the knowlegable peeps on here, but i would have the cage in your bedroom for the first week or so as i feel its expecting a lot for a puppy to be completely on his own in a new home and he is very young still. once he is sleeping thru the night gradually move the cage closer to its final place.. your pup looks lovely by the way...good luck

 

[littlemisslauren]

When we got B she stayed in the room with us for the first couple of weeks, she had a hot water bottle and lots of teddy companions.
When she was tiny we left her last wee trip untill about midnight and then she was taken out before 6 the next morning. Half 9 seems quite early to expect them to hold it all night when they are that tiny.

Any noise made while she is in the crate is completely ignored. She has started to do it again now that we have moved house and she is slowly remembering that screaming the house down gets zero attention.

In your case I would perhaps put the puppy away later so there is a shorter chunk of time he is expected to be quiet and not go to the loo, by tending to him when he huffs you may be encouraging him.

Scream the house down = mummy comes to see me and give me lots of fuss.

 

[bensonthewonderhorse]

I had a crate for both my pups (separate times) and I have to say I really struggled but actually left them to cry, they both only did it for two nights and then were fine, I actually didn't let them out in the night for toilet breaks either and they both were toilet trained really quickly and clean over night within a week (maybe i was just lucky!) Due to have a baby in the next few months so be interesting to see if the same method works (please note this is a joke I really wouldn't leave a baby crying all night!!!)

 

[CAYLA]

It is indeed very normal behaviour, he may indeed need to go to the toilet or her may be waking up and realising its quiet and he is alone, if you go to bed at 9.30pm, then that is a long time for him to sleep through, so one toilet break may be advisable, otherwise puppy pad in crate for him to pass his motions and then gradually you would have to remove the puppy pads and get a bigger plastic bed to cover more of the crate to encourage him to hold.
As in the puppy guide, make sure the last meal is the lightest and given not to late to help him to hold.

As also mentioned in the guide you can go wth 2 crates and use one upstairs for a few weeks to quieten him down, but 20 mins of whinging is pretty good really for him to silence again and settle, im asuming you already have a teddy bear and comfy blanket and crate cover, maybe also leave the radio on low close to him.
Also do get him used to being alone through the day for short periods and being in the crate.

 

[blond1]

Thanks for the tips and good luck with the new baby bensonthewonderhorse. Our puppy does go out again at 11pm ish and has blanket which came from his litter home, teddy and crate cover. Will try the radio and as he's had a busy day today I've got my fingers crossed for tonight.