Hi, We picked up Indi a couple of days ago. First off at night we had him in his crate in our room and I ended up sleeeping by his crate to stop him crying. Then today we took Indi for his first trip to the Vet (he was great - didn’t bat an eyelid), the vet said to put the crate at night where you intend it to be long term, and to let Indi cry as he has to get used to being alone at night. Oh boy... is it normal that the pup would literally cry right through the night?
Any advice appreciated. We’re both read the articles, and had pups before (admittedly about 10 years ago) - and we can’t remember the night times being this rough!
Hi Simon, Welcome to the forum! Some pups, much like some humans, can be very persistent Are you getting up to let him out for the bathroom during the night? In general terms you have a few options here - you can harden your heart and wait for him to give up, which might take a few nights more, or you can temporarily move the crate into your room until he is settled / sleep next to the crate. If you haven't seen them yet, these articles might be helpful: Crate Training Your Puppy Stop Your Puppy Crying At Night Best of luck!
Oh, those early sleepless nights! Not fun at all! We had a small crate, partly covered by a blanket by our bed for the first few nights. We then transitioned the crate downstairs, for a couple of nights we took it in turns to sleep downstairs. The moved the crate to corner of the room downstairs and that was it. Apart from the early morning toileting regime. Our puppy came from a very busy family, lots happening, reared in the home with mum, 10 other puppies, and adult dogs milling around, so very different from our much quieter household. A LOT for a small puppy to adjust too. For me personally, it felt wrong to let the pup cry all night.
Thanks! It didn’t feel great leaving Indi to cry, but it was what the vet recommended... don’t think we’ve ever had so little sleep! We are doing ok with toilet training, just this night thing is tough! We’ll persevere with the crate and it’s now a toss up between one of us sleeping downstairs near/next too the crate or moving it upstairs. Would both potentially work?
Here's lesson 101: Never take behavioural advice from your vet. They receive zero training in behaviour (or pretty much). They are experts in your dog physically - not behaviourally. If you do get well-intentioned "advice" from a vet, just smile and thank them and then forget about it. Put the crate back by your bed at night. Cough or sniff or turn over during the night if your pup gets a bit worried - they need to know they are not alone. Set your alarm for the middle of the night to take the pup out to toilet - don't wait for the pup to wake you. Make that time 30mins later every 2-3 nights until you are going through the night. Meanwhile, during the day, you are working on the crate in the day time location - also the location you want it to be in when the pup graduates out of the bedroom. That means first putting pup in crate with a Kong and sitting next to crate and reading a book or working on laptop and ignoring any noise. When you're through that phase, doing stuff in the same room like cooking/cleaning etc and ignore noise. When you're through that phase, then do stuff out of sight in other rooms of the house which makes noise so the pup knows you are around even if they can't see you. Then you can try falling silent and reading or working in another room. Then you can try leaving the house for literally a few minutes and entering again (over and over). And so on. In a nutshell. Either work, but usually it's more comfortable to sleep in your bed! But you do need to be spending time during the day, doing the training. If you don't want the pup in your bedroom when older, carry him in and out and don't let him find his own way in. A stair gate on the bedroom door works great.
