Hi there,.I would really appreciate some advise on how to encourage our new ish 9 week old pup to sleep. I generally put her in her crate in the utility room (with door open) at 9pm. We normally play in the garden from after dinner...around 8pmish and sometimes she has crazy energy..other times just sniffing etc. She then is in the crate until about 3am. After her doing hee business she really makes a fuss going back in her crate and so my husband has been letting her curl up on a rug in the kitchen where she will happily sleep (although he us then awake and starting the day). She does seem quite sleepy in the evening some days...does evening napping mean she is less likely to sleep well. I've been told never to wake a sleeping puppy but I'm sitting here with her having already slept an hour from 7pm-8pm thinking I need her to be awake! I'd be grateful for some advise!
6 or so hours is really good at that age. What I would do is keep her up later until about 10pm if that's fits in with your routine? If she wants to sleep 7-8pm then let her as nothing is more vital at that age than sleep, not even food although no Lab of any age would agree. When she does wake at 3am don't talk to her or interact in any manner other than taking her out to do the toilet, be boring
I agree that 6 hours is really good for a 9 week old. I also agree that when you get up at 3am, don't interact with your puppy at all and be very boring. I don't speak to my puppy and I just let her out to have a wee and then put her straight back into her bed and leave her. The first couple of times I did this, I could hear 5-10 mins of crying but I ignored it (I felt a bit harsh!) but now the puppy has learned that crying for attention achieves nothing. I also adjusted my own sleep routine so that I go to bed a bit later than I used to, meaning the puppy goes to bed around midnight. I'm making this earlier every week as she gets older as I'm now more confident that she can last 7 hours or so overnight without needing to go to the toilet.
