hello, i am a first time dog owner and going to admit im very over whelmed. I have a lovely nearly 11 week old puppy who I got at 8 weeks. Im a single working mum with two teenage kids. We are all at home at the moment - I have taken a bit of time off work to get to grips with things We are crating him at night and that is going ok so far! The main issue is daytime. I have a totally open planned house downstairs and no where for Baley to take himself off to for quiet time. So he can not settle to sleep in the day. He will fall asleep at my feet but as soon as a try and move he is straight awake or if someone comes downstairs or he hears anything. Sometimes I can see he is just so tired but will fight it. Ive read puppies need around 15-18 hours sleep a day and he only has about 8 at night and maybe 2 in the day. I am trying to crate him for daytime sleeps but thats very hard to judge and he cant just come out when he wakes up so get lots of crying. Sorry this is a bit of a rambling post ! Just feel like he is just going around not knowing what hes supposed to do and so am I. I am a very organised routine person and I know it is very early days would just love to be able for him to have a few proper naps in the day! Is this a common issue?
Hi KV008, welcome to the forum! It's not an unusual problem at all One solution is a puppy pen, if you can squeeze one in? Put their crate or another comfy bed in it, and scatter treats inside whenever your puppy isn't looking. Also return all abandoned toys to it. Baley should quickly come to think of it as a wonderful space to relax in. You could also take a look at Pippa's article on crate training on our main site, which has tips for teaching your puppy to relax in their during the day. Lets us know how you get on!
We used to have a big wire crate for Cooper, that we covered with a blanket, so it was her quiet space. We left the door open, so she wasn't crated. We took the crate out completely after our kitchen remodel, but she can still find places that are out of the traffic to sleep.
I think Luna sometimes purposely places herself in the most awkward of places just to make us work to get round her. Once we are past she stands up and looks all proud with herself! Little monkey
