Hi, I'm David, this is my first post here. We are first time dog owners and we picked up our 4 month old puppy from the breeder 3 days ago. She was crate trained there and so we are continuing that at home. We were told that she will cry throughout the night but just ignore her, so she learns that behavior is not rewarded. The first night, she cried on/off throughout the night, and in the morning we found that she pooped in her crate. The second night, I took her out in the middle of the night (when she wasn't crying), and she peed. In the morning, there were no accidents. It seemed to be going well. Then last night, I took her out in the middle of the night but she didn't go to the bathroom. Then she started crying an hour later but we ignored it. In the morning, there was poop again in her crate. Help! We are giving her last feed at 6pm, putting her to bed around 10pm. She poops after feeding at night, then we take her out right before bed and she pees. Is this normal puppy stuff? Is she still getting used to our home and new routine? Should we be responding to her crying at night because it means she has to go potty? Thanks for any help and advice you can give. We are slightly overwhelmed new puppy owners right now! -David
Your puppy will be missing her siblings and all that she has known previously. I had my puppy in my bedroom in a box by my bed so that he felt secure. I took him out when he needed and no time at all he was sleeping through to 8am
Yes she is getting used to your home and routines. I am surprised that the breeder told you to ignore her crying - is that what they did? I had a different problem in that my puppy who we got at 8 weeks didn't cry - she just eliminated in her crate. I started to set my alarm - to start with three hours after she was put to bed. Then another three hours. For several weeks I went to her twice a night and took her outside - she would wee and poo. Eventually we got it down to once a night and then by 18 weeks she was lasting all night. It seemed like an eternity at the time. There are articles on The Labrador site about both crate training and night times which you would find very helpful.
For the first few weeks, any peep at night, I would take her outside. No playing, no talking...usually twice per night and gradually it was once per night (or super early morning), until she slept through. We did go through a period the first few weeks where she was crying for company (it would be shortly after going out to pee so it wasn't that)...I would sit outside the crate and she would quiet down and go back to sleep. Her crate was in the bedroom with us, but she couldn't see us.
Yes, our breeder said to ignore her when she whines. We are now going to start taking her out when we hear her, as clearly she is trying to go to the bathroom. We also placed her crate right outside our bedroom with our door open. Thanks for all the advice!
