Hi everyone. I pretty much know the answer to my question is yes, but need a pep talk to get a backbone with this adorable puppy. My problem is this is... Corona who is 10 weeks old goes straight to sleep in her kennel by my bedside from 10pm to around 3:30am goes for a quick pee, then back to kennel. This is where the problem, starts. She whimpers for a bit, I ignore her and she settles in about 5 minutes. BUT then she continues to wake every 30 minutes or so crying until I finally cave in around 5:30 and plop her in bed with us. Ugh, I know, it's all my fault, but I'm so sleep deprived after almost a month of broken sleep,(the first week and half was every 2 hours) that I have no will power left. I realize she is winning this battle, and would just let her sleep with us, except this little girl doesn't stop moving for 5 minutes when she's sleeping. I am a super light sleeper so I am pretty much awake from 3:30 on. I am at my wits end and have no patience during the day with her when I'm so tired. Please convince me that I need to let her cry it out!!!!
Could you move her kennel out of your bedroom to living/dining/kitchen? That'd probably make the crying easier to ignore? I sleep-trained a baby so I found ignoring a crying puppy really easy. If I was sure she was empty then i let her cry. By 8.5 weeks she was sleeping through 11 pm - 530 am. They get the message really quickly. Be tough!
Hmmmmm - you know, you need to decide. If she's going to be allowed on your bed then she may as well come up on the first whimper then you can all sleep. If not then there's no point giving in at all! There's lots of good advice here ~ http://www.thelabradorsite.com/crate-training-your-labrador-puppy/#crate-training-night ~ but half following won't work!
Does she wake up to let you know she has to pee around 3:30? Larks used to do the same thing for me, until I set an alarm for 3:15 and took her out to potty while she was still drowsy. Then settling back in to sleep was much easier for her. And yes you must ignore the crying! (As long as you know they don't have to potty) Larks used to wake up at 5:20 on the dot thinking it was time to get up for the day but I don't get up until 6:30. After about 4-5 days of me ignoring her she got the idea. Sometimes she still wakes up earlier then me, but she will just chew on a toy in her crate quietly until I get up. She started sleeping through the night (9:30-10pm-6:30am) at 10.5-11 weeks so keep at it! Hopefully you are getting close!
We went through something similar with Cooper. She would start to complain after going out early in the morning. My wife let her come up on the bed, and now we have an 85# Lab sharing a queen sized bed with us. Tilly is not a bed dog, but Cooper definitely is. I don't really mind it, but she is so big that she is hard to move around if she is in part of your space. If you don't want her on the bed in the future, I would not start now.
Harley started off in a crate in her living room. After 2 weeks she came up to our bedroom, on her bed on the floor next to me. After a week my OH was playing with her on our bed and she fell asleep........we left her there and she has been there ever since. I honestly don't mind - I enjoy the snuggles I get from her, but we did have to buy a king size bed to give us some room. In all honesty, I love her being with us and she slept soooooo well from day 1 on the bed (11pm-10/11am on a regular basis!).
I did that exact thing to be able to sleep longer...Quinn would sleep so much longer than when in her crate. For a few months (I would say about age 5 months- 8.5 months) she chose not to stay on our bed and get down and sleep in her crate or dog bed that's on the floor in our room. That was our chance to keep her off the bed...but OH wants a bed dog. Lucky for him, we went on vacation for a week this summer and she must have missed us and has been back in the bed ever since. Like @Ski-Patroller said, we now have a 55lb and growing lab that takes up a fair chunk of the bed (and blankets) in our queen bed. The good news is, she sleeps when we do, including weekend sleep ins and she also gets down when it's hot and sleeps on the floor. Bad news - our white sheets and duvet cover are a constant mess of black hairs
I have a machine which helps Me to keep breathing at night so the dogs have to sleep downstairs because their hair clogs up the machines breather ports. Even so the tecs still pull out loads when the machine is serviced loads!
We started with a crate by the side of the bed, then progressed to a dog bed by the side of our bed. The OH said "no dog on the bed" so I had to go with that, but luckily Bailey has always slept well at night and after his last wee before bed has slept through. Once he got big enough to jump up on the bed we had two or three nights of him deciding to keep getting on the bed, and the OH would put him back on the floor. After that he starts the night on his bed, then moves around and under the bed during the night, then he gets up on the bottom of the bed around 5am and snuggles into my legs (not a problem with me), then when I get up he gradually moves up the bed until he is full stretch laid in my place! If I ever decide to have a layin or am not feeling great, then I get a paw pushing at my shoulder and a 7 month old sitting on the bed giving me a children of the corn stare until I move! It's really your decision if you want your girls on your bed or not - remember though they do grow and take up more space!
We didn't want our dog on the bed either. Although a snuggle would be nice I don't want to start something that he will expect to continue. His crate is also next to our bed and I do want him to always sleep there. But I totally understand your sleep depravation!! We went though that for a couple months and it was killing me. He would need to go out about 3:30 also which is fine since he is learning to hold it and to let you know he needs to go. When he went back in the crate it was whimpering, crying, howling! HOWLING! I started freezing a kong at night with some canned food mixed with pumpkin, and then when I put him back in the crate I gave him the kong and put earplugs in. Try those silicone earplugs and turn a fan on loud! It pretty much worked. He would work on the kong and I couldn't hear that, then he would go back to sleep til about 6 6:30. Now he sleep til about 6:30. no more 3:30 wake ups at all. I am hoping for 8
Stanley didn't sleep through for about 7/8 weeks. We'd be up numerous times wee weeing. I refused to give in though, he always stayed in his crate, in the kitchen. I was so so tired! Perseverance paid off though - now he'll easily sleep through to 8/8.30. I probs could push it a bit further but I think k he's probs dying for the loo by that point.
Thank you everyone for the replies! I know I need to stand firm. I don't sleep any better with her on the bed since since she is a twitcher and a snorer. I know she doesn't need to go pee again, because if I bring her to bed, she lasts until 6:45 when I get up. Every night, I say to myself and OH, tonight we let her whimper back to sleep no matter how often she doesn't it. He agrees. And so far, she's won. I am determined. Tonight is the night, it's now or never. Lol We have 2 nights to get this done before we have to go back to work on Monday. Please let me be strong!
Good luck, you can do it! Do you have any headphones? I used to pop them in to drown out the sound. OH used ear plugs
Try the filled frozen kong when you put her back in the crate. Its something to sooth her and she might just go back to sleep.
Welll... we went to visit family at the campground. Met dozens of dogs of all sizes and tons of people. She was a huge hit with everyone and we were very proud that she did so well! She napped on and off from 8pm-9:30pm at the campground. Then she slept in her crate from 10-3:15, peed and pooped, back in crate until 5:20. Then... she threw up. Poor thing may have put one too many things in her mouth at the campground. And the mom in me brought her to bed with us after that, until 7am. Ugh. I know, I know, gotta do better tonight! Lol
