Hi - I am a first-time puppy owner, and I have now had Shandy for just over a week. She is 9 weeks tomorrow, and my husband and I love her to bits!! My question is regarding crate training. I have read the article on here, and that has helped a great deal, but my main worry is when she wakes in the night. I am a fairly light sleeper, so I have been okay so far, and have heard her starting to move around, and she makes a very small whimper sound occasionally. The problem is that she lasts out for different lengths of time each night, and I'm absolutely paranoid that one night I won't hear her, and she'll have to cry really loudly before anyone comes down to let her out. So I'm spending most of the nights awake now, reading, just so that I know I won't miss her. I know the article mentions setting an alarm so that you wake around the time she seems to be stirring, but one night this week she lasted 7 hours, and the others have been anywhere between 3 and 6 hours, so it's all very unpredictable still. Is it very stressful for a puppy not to be answered as soon as they wake, or would I actually be better off relying on her waking me now? Will it set her house training back if she happens to wet the bed because no one got to her in time? Are they usually desperate to wee when they wake up? I'm pretty sure that I will wake up, but I just can't relax enough at night to be able to sleep, so I am getting pretty shattered! Any advice would be much appreciated, as I don't really know anyone else who has crate trained their puppy. Thanks!
You must sleep but I can understand why you aren't. Put your pup to bed quite late, 11.30 or even 12, after going for a wee etc. Set your alarm for 5 and go to sleep. Let your puppy out for a wee at 5 and then either snooze on the sofa (pup will nod off on the floor) or put your pup back in the crate for an hour. good luck!
Hi and welcome to the forum from me and my two, Willow and Shadow. Shandy is a lovely looking little girl. I employed the alarm method with Willow when she was a baby. I have to admit I can't remember what time I set it for to start with - probably around three hours, but the idea is that every night, assuming the previous night was successful, you increase it by 15 minutes. Very soon, you're going all the way through the night. If you get up and she's asleep, maybe set it for another hour later, but I always found that Willow woke when I went to check on her and so I took her out and she was always happy to relieve herself. It's quite dodgy to only get up when your puppy is whining, because she will learn that whining gets her out of the crate. It's far better, as far as I am concerned, to preempt it. So, for now, I would make an educated guess at how long she can go, and set your alarm for that. I'm sure she'll be happy to go and have a wee even if she's not desperate. Puppies vary so much in their development that some will be able to go through the night already at eight weeks (mythical beasts, I'm sure) but Willow probably managed around eleven or twelve weeks. It is very tiring, but if you keep to the rule of not talking to your puppy when you get up - just pick her up, carry her out and back in once she's done, not letting her run around and play afterwards, you probably won't wake up too much anyway and will drift off to sleep. As with all the awkward stages in puppydom, the knowledge that it will pass will get you through to the other side
Welcome to the forum I agree with the others - the 'alarm set at predetermined times' approach is going to be best for your sanity and also for her toilet training. You must be exhausted, you poor thing. I hope you get a good stretch of sleep soon
It'll all work out, you'll see. Hope you get some sleep. I didn't have my puppy in a crate at first - I crate trained him when he was 10 months old. At night, he had a place to sleep inside a puppy pen, and at the far end of pen, well away from his bed, he had newspapers. I didn't get up during the night at all (but he could get away from his bed if he was desperate for a wee). I kept the nights short (my partner would stay up late, and I'd get up early). We didn't have any trouble with his toilet training. Getting up in the night is a bit of a gold standard, I think. Absolutely necessary if you have a dog in a crate - as it's really not fair to have them wee or poo in their bed - but you don't have to do it, there are other options. Just thought I'd mention it in case the sleep deprivation gets too much.
Ah, thanks for all your responses!! I wasn't expecting to hear anything quite so quickly! I think I'd like to continue with the full-on crate training, as we've started that way, and Shandy has not used newspaper since she's been with us, but it's always nice to know that the other option is there as a possibility, and it does still work that way. Quite amazingly, last night my husband shooed me off to bed at 9pm last night, and he put her out, and then into her crate, at 11. As usual I continued to wake throughout the night, as I was worried about not hearing her, but she slept through until just before 7am!!? From your responses above, it sounds as if I need to relax about it a bit more, and presume that there is going to be a bit of a pattern to her waking now, and set the alarm for about 5 1/2 hours (say) after we put her down. For the last 5 nights, she has slept through for at least 5 hrs 40, and then last night 7 hrs 50, but because the lengths of time have not necessarily been increasing each night, I think I'd be better to err on the side of caution, and maybe just wake her, like snowbunny suggests, rather than not being awake in time. I will be strong tonight, and stick with that plan, and try to refrain from checking my clock every half an hour to see how she is doing! Thank you - really appreciate all of your advice - it's so nice to know that there are other people out there who have been through the very same thing, and come through the other side. Let's hope last night was not just a freak night, and within 2 weeks, I'll be setting my alarm (confidently) to 8 hours every night - that's more sleep than i ever got before!!
Honestly, I wasn't prepared for how tough it was. I'm a bit of an insomniac, so figured I'd be used to the lack of sleep, but like you, I slept really lightly when I did sleep and often didn't get back to sleep after I let her out. This went on for weeks, so I was really tired. She then had a tummy bug for a while, so I slept on the sofa in the living room with her, so I could get to her as soon as she woke. The tiredness also makes some of the other stuff (toilet training, crocopup etc) seem so much more difficult to cope with, because you're exhausted and emotionally drained. But, you do come out the other side and you look back on it with fondness. Eventually. Try to catch a nap here and there if Shandy's sleeping. That's the one big bonus; puppies sleep a lot!
yes, i'm the same as you, snowbunny - not a good sleeper at the best of times - so knowing that i'm having to listen out for a crying puppy at any moment, hasn't helped at all! but, fingers crossed, this new alarm-setting routine will ease my mind a little. and you're right, i'll try to nap when she does, if i need to. i think i was just so exhausted last week, that i couldn't think straight, so whenever she was sleeping, i'd run around like a mad woman trying to do all the jobs around the house that needed doing!! i definitely think i'd have been better off catching up on a bit of sleep, just to make me feel a bit more under control, and less like a zombie! thanks again, will let you know how things go this next week.
Sleep is so important when they are little. Forget about the housework for a couple of weeks and rest when you pup does so that you can enjoy all the fun times when Shandy is awake. I always think having a puppy in the house is a bit like having a new baby in the house. They eat, sleep, pee and poo and leave mum exhausted
yes, have heard so many people say that you should enjoy the puppy days while they last, so i am going to start doing just that! thank you so much for all your support, everyone! feel far readier and braver about facing the week ahead all on my lonesome with shandy (my husband is away working). and i will treasure those moments when i pull her out of her crate, and she is still all sleepy and snuggly and smells like sweet caramel and honey..... x
Having a husband away for work can be a bonus. Mine was off back to the UK after Juno had been with us for only 3 nights and he was away for 10 days. Although it's tiring by yourself you get your pup all to yourself for lots of play and cuddles, not forgetting early training
Hiya there! Just wanted to say hello and welcome. Chronic sleep deprivation comes with having kids and/or puppies I think jac
Morning all! Thanks for your posts, MaccieD and drjs@5. Yes, when my husband booked to go away originally, I did think it would be lovely quality time with Shandy all to myself, but then when the sleepless nights started and I got more and more exhausted, I began to appreciate that there was someone else around to help do the last loo stop at night etc, so I could go to bed a bit earlier. Things are definitely getting easier now though, and I am going to make sure Shandy has a bit of time out playing in her pen without me during the day too, as she has started crying when she's left alone in there now, as I think we may have given her a bit too much attention during the daytime over the last couple of weeks. Without my husband there, I should be able to get us into a bit of a routine hopefully, as I hear puppies actually quite like that. Going back to my issue with not knowing when to get up for Shandy in the night, last night my husband put her to bed at 11.15pm. We then set the alarm for 6 hours later, only to be woken by a few whimpers at 2.55am (just 3 hrs 40 later)! This is where I'm struggling to know when I should be getting up, as her nightly sleeping patterns are so irregular. Last night's timings were more like they were a whole week back, and then gradually she had lengthened her times through last week up to an amazing 7 hrs 50 on Friday night!! Should I now go back to setting the alarm to just every 3.5 hours, and build it up slowly? It feels like I'm almost going back to scratch, and I'm worried that I might actually be hindering her bladder control awareness, by waking her (potentially) so much earlier than she might have been able to last?
Try not to worry, Shandy is a very young puppy still so the time she went between wees at night was amazing. Ihad Juno in the bedroom with me for the first few weeks so I woke as she started moving - I'm a light sleeper as well. The usual advice is to set the alarm for around 3.5 hrs, if she's still asleep wait 15 minutes and listen again. It's difficult as they are all different and some can go longer, sooner than others. The thing to remember is that you heard her whimper and took her out for a wee, she will not wee in her crate by choice and she us already letting you know when she wakes.
Thanks, MaccieD - yes, I think her longer nights may have been a bit of a fluke (possibly because it was hot during the day, so she was a bit dehydrated?). I've just read on another post, about someone having a video baby monitor with an alarm for movement, which I might have a look at getting. Even though I did wake up to her last night, I'm still a bit paranoid about falling into a deep sleep one night (oh joy!), particularly with my husband not here next week.
Ah, the first one might be a fluke but it's the shape of things to come. I was advised to take the puppy pad out of Molly's crate as it gave her permission to wee in her crate. With great trepidation I did so and we have not had an overnight accident since.
Lots of good advice here. I had a crate for Tatze and my husband took her out at 11:30pm and I got up at 5:30am - it worked well, she still loves her crate now at 2 years old. But I'm a puppy walker for Guide Dogs so I have a new pup every summer. I need my sleep! So now I have a puppy pen and puppy pads to give me a full night's sleep. It didn't affect their day time toilet training in any way. As soon as their bladders can hold it they are dry through fro 10pm to 7:30am. With Gypsy it was 12 weeks and Twiglet 14 weeks - which is fine by me. Twiglet is an escape artist 'tho and could climb out of the pen at 14 weeks!! She now just has a bed in the kitchen and she is great
Let's hope it really is the shape of things to come My husband has left for the week now, and I'd be so proud of Shandy if her sleep patterns were a bit more consistent by the time he gets back home - even if it's just a consistent 6 hours a night! Have bought myself a video baby monitor now, so that should arrive tomorrow, and will see if that helps with me feeling more at ease about hearing her in the night. Is that a pic of Tatze in her pen, Boogie? She's absolutely gorgeous!!!!! I take my hat off to you for taking on a new guide-dog puppy each year, and then having to let them go - it must be the hardest thing in the world to say goodbye to them at the end. But they do such an amazing job - you must be very proud to see all your hard work paying off, when they eventually "graduate"....
Morning all! Last night I used my video baby monitor for the first time, and I have to say, I wish I'd had it right from the start!! It was so good to be able to check it whenever I woke through the night, and made me feel so much happier that I wouldn't miss Shandy if she needed to go out. In fact I woke up to the sound of her contentedly gnawing at her antler at about 6am, which was lovely to see, knowing that she was not in any desperate need to wake me. Think it will probably be really useful now to help with her crying when I leave her in her pen (or crate), and go into another room for something. I used to find the stress of hearing her cry and scrabble, without being able to watch what she was getting up to, quite awful. But at least if I can see she is just sitting there howling for no apparent reason, I can feel assured that I am doing the right thing in letting her just get it out of her system. Would highly recommend a monitor like this for anyone else out there who has been worrying at night....
