Hello! I've a 10 week old lab puppy. Totally gorgeous boy and doing great in so many ways. However, night crying is escalating rather than diminishing and getting desperate here!! Trying to follow all the great advice in the Happy Puppy Guidebook but clearly have reinforced crying and can't work out where to go from here Had wee one in crate by my bedside for first 4 nights once home at 8 weeks. Progressed from hourly trips into garden up to 3 hours. Moved crate into kitchen, couple of hourly visits to start with then gradually stretching out to 5-6 hours. Has managed 8 hours twice. However, tummy upset meant he needed out again more regularly and now he has decided that he's ready to be up earlier and earlier (from 3am for last few mornings). I keep everything very quiet and boring when up at night. Minimal lighting and no interaction, only business. I wait for a lapse in crying to go into him. He essentially goes to bed around 9.30pm. Last 2 nights I've woken him at 11.30 pm for a last visit to garden in hope he'll settle from then but this morning he needed out again at 2.30 (bladder and bowels relieved then) and hasn't really settled since with crying reaching fever point by 5 am and still at it. (Husband now about to get up for work). I got up with him at 3.20 in case his tummy was upset again but he just stood on the grass in the pouring rain so whipped him back into bed. Have been out again at 5.20 and he just wanted to play so straight back into crate again. He has his last meal at 7pm and water removed an hour before bed. Any ideas for how I can tackle this for him (and for us!)? Desperate.
A general rule of thumb is one hour plus one per month of age. Most need to go every three hours at that age. We had to get up 11:30 then 3 then 6:30 with ours at that age.
Hi,i know how hard it is as first especially the sleep deprivation! But it will definitely get better. We kept our pup in her crate beside our bed so when she cried we just put out our hand for her to sniff,this really settled our pup and the crying gradually stopped. Hang on in there she's it will improve. Enjoy you lovely puppy
Yes it will get better. Fortunately for us Lincoln slept straight through the night since we got him at 9 weeks . I did the crate beside the bed with our Yorkie puppy and it worked like a charm..
Thank you for all the replies. Much appreciated. I'll persist with the 3 hourly trips out and see how we go. The problem is more that he doesn't seem to actually need to perform but on wakening after 3 am wants to be up and fed! This morning was out at 1.30 (for toilet), settled til 4.30 - out again then but on this trip out he just wanted to play - no indication of need to toilet. When ignored he started jumping up and barking - I continued to ignore this behaviour but when still no toilet, returned him to his crate. Thereafter followed 2 hours of almost persistent crying. He did quieten for very brief periods during this 2 hours and when he was quiet at 6.20 I took him out again (an attempt to mark that it was now morning). I haven't fed him yet though this is clearly what he's after (following book advice and will do so soon). It feels like the early wakening and persistent crying is him looking to be up and fed?? I don't mind at all taking him out to toilet but don't want to fall into the trap of encouraging him to ask to be fed earlier and earlier, hence trying the ignoring tactic for 2 very noisy hours but I've no idea if that's the right thing to do here!
From this, it sounds like you are waiting for crying to happen and then responding to it (even if you are waiting for a lapse). For many pups, the chain and connection is still formed - pup makes noise and you come relatively soon after noise making. Personally I would: Put the crate by your bed. This means there will be no noise originating from separation-induced anxiety or worries. Puppies have never before been alone in their lives and have always had mum and littermates around, so it is a big change to go to new homes and be alone. I would then set my alarm clock for BEFORE ANY NOISE EVER HAPPENS. If noise usually happens at 3am, set it for 2.30am. And I would wake the pup up, take them out to toilet and put them back in the crate. I would then put my hand on the pup to stroke them in the crate (many small crates open at the top, enabling you to do this whilst lying in bed) or put my fingers through the bars to let the pup know I'm there). Or I might sniff or cough or turn over in bed so the pup knows I'm right by them. I would then ignore any noise from the pup in the crate by my bed. Because 1) the pup doesn't need the toilet and 2) the pup is not worried about separation - since I'm right there. So any noise is just complaining or boredom or wanting entertainment at 3am - and so is an opportunity to teach the pup that noise doesn't work.
Hi Jo Many thanks for your advice. I did have the pup in the crate next to me for the first 4 nights as per the recommendation in The Happy Puppy Handbook. I then moved him through to the kitchen. I am now using alarm (11.30 and 3) and those trips out over the last few nights have been a quick out and back in and he has settled ok afterwards. Last night he grumbled briefly on and off between 4.30 and 5.30 but was able to settle himself each time. From 5.30 he yelped pretty much constantly. You are completely right that he then knows that eventually I'll come if he quietens, especially as he can hear my husband up from 6. Can you suggest how it might be best to manage the ''getting up for the morning" bit so I'm not responding to his crying and he's not learning to dictate when it's morning? It doesn't feel like he'd settle again if I set the alarm for 5/5.15 am for example?? I think I'd just be setting him off earlier which I don't want to do! Thanks in anticipation.
I would put him back by your bed. There is no rule that he can only be by your bed for 4 nights - every puppy is different. It is crucial that you begin by establishing nighttimes as a time of security and safety and contentment. Crating him away from you when he is distressed is potentially doing the opposite... As above - you need to set the alarm for before he makes noise, take him out - and then ignore his noise. Consistently. For many, many nights - now that you have reinforced it, this behaviour will not extinguish quickly. Meanwhile, having him by your bed removes the risk of this noise being about separation distress. Sorry, it means some more sleepless nights - but then you will have it fixed.
Many thanks to everyone for the helpful advice. First yelp free night last night - totally appreciate there's a long way to go but there is hope! Woke him at 11.30; 3 and got him up at 6. No crying at any of these times so I wasn't responding to / reinforcing that which feels so much better. Hopefully we can keep this up! I take it that I eventually but gradually extend the period between 11.30 and 3 as the next step? With the long-term aim being to get him to a point of sleeping 11.30 - 6 with no need for a toilet trip in-between?? Again, many thanks for the support here.
Yes, that's a great start. I'd do that for a few nights just to try to create a new pattern of 'not crying in the crate', then you can make each trip outside 30min later. If he starts to wake up before you, it means you've gone too fast and need to go back a step. At some point you will 'lose' the last trip and end up with just 2 outings a night - and then just one...
So, having managed to drop the middle of the night trip and got to a place where I got pup up at 11.30 and was able to get through to a 6 am get up time - things appear to have gone pear shaped again. Basically, I got so very tired (now had pup for 6 weeks, he's now 14 weeks old) that, 3 nights ago, I actually slept through 11.30pm alarm and ended up with him waking me at 5.20am with him crying again. Tried to work out a way to respond to his need to get out without reinforcing his crying but, well I clearly failed. I obviously returned to getting him up the following night but for the last 2 nights he has nevertheless started grumbling from 5.30am despite being up at 11.30 pm, so we've gone backwards again. I'm so frustrated with myself because I'd put so much into getting this right for him and feel I've undone everything so quickly. I plan to go back to getting him up at 5 am (so half an hour before he's started getting unsettled the last 2 mornings) and moving this slowly towards 6am again, whilst still getting him up at 11.30pm. Does this seem the right way to go? I've had none of these issues with any of my previous dogs and definitely getting upset with myself. He's generally a much noisier pup than I've had before (all previous dogs were collies/collie crosses) and I'm taking bad with this. My daughter is due her second baby in May and I'm now getting really concerned that I'm not going to be able to be there for her to help out as I should. I thought I'd have pup settled in the main by then but as I appear to go backwards at the drop of a hat I'm not so sure about that. I won't give up on him but definitely struggling here now.
