Hi Pippa, Your site has been so wonderful for us so far so, firstly, thank you. Secondary, we picked up our 8 week old Lab pup on Saturday. She had been in a crate/run at the breeders. On the first night, she cried a little on putting her in her crate from midnight but soon stopped and didn't cry until 5am when I took her out for a wee, which she did, but the wouldn't stop crying when I put her back. I waited 30 minutes or so then waited until she was quiet and went in and was up all day. Sunday we moved the crate to the living room rather than kitchen and she seems more comfortable. She spent a lot of time in her crate with the door open and we even closed the crate door Sunday evening for an hour at a time and she was fine and slept. When I put her down to sleep and left, no crying, which is good, and she awoke at 5am as planned for a wee. But again she wailed and cried. I left her. She soon calmed down completely around 6.30ish with quiet intervals in between and then she was quiet until 8am when we got up. How does all this sound? Are we doing the right thing and on the right track? Also, she doesn't eat much and wails when she eats and jumps around... toothache? Many thanks!
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Hello and firstly welcome to the forum from me and my two dogs Your puppy wont be teething yet, this usually starts at about 4 months of age, I would think that the jumping and squeeking is pure excitement . I`m afraid that 5.30 a.m. is about par for the course with very young pups , mine would sleep until just before 6 and I tended to get up ,let him out and stay up myself , they usually manage to hold themselves until later as their bladder control strengthens and their getting up time becomes more of a sociable hour : Pups often dont eat very much at one go , four small meals is the order of the day but even so, when its hot weather, this can lessen the appetite, just make sure that she drinks plenty though , what have you called her ?
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Hello and welcome from 9 month old Molly and me. Everything you are saying is exactly the same as I experienced with Molly when I got her. The 5.30 starts are quite a shock to the human system. Molly was on 60 grams of kibble, four times a day when I got her at eight weeks. Don't forget they need water especially in this hot weather.
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Thank you both so much for replying. You and this forum is giving me a lot of confidence! Our girl is called Lucy I recently started my own business and working from home which is why we decided it would be a good time to get a puppy. So, based on your responses, I have a few questions! 1. When I put her down to sleep at midnight and she awakens at 5am for a wee, should I be staying up with her? Or put her back down? I am easy either way but be good to know if she just needs one solid sleep then up, or should I be putting her back and dealing with the cries and wails until we get up three hours later at 8am. 2. Throughout the day, I play with her outside as she does her business, and to get her to become comfortable. She comes in tired out and tends to nap but I try to put her in her crate for this. Should I be frequently putting her in and leaving the room? She tends to cry straight away once I put her in and walk away. She's not keen on her crate during the day... she goes in and comes back out and lies beside me. I need to sometimes go to meetings or pop to shops... how should I be doing this? 3. I want to work upstairs in my office but have the crate downstairs so have been working on the sofa on my laptop today to try and get her used to the room and crate. Is this okay? And when should I be able to move back upstairs to work? Thanks guys really keen to do the best for wee Lucy
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Same situation, i work from home and have a now 24week old puppy. I found it very tricky at first to deal with work commitments and balancing looking after her but once you get into a routine it's a lot easier. If i have a meeting or need solid time where i couldn't handle any distractions from her i normally popped her into her crate with a kong/cardboard box or some other little treat. It kept her quiet for the first 10-20mins and then she would normally whine for 5-10mins but then i'd get at least 1-2hours of solid quiet time before she needed a wee. So if you know you're going to have a meeting pop her in the crate a little before hand and she should be ok. Now i use little walks to do the same thing, i.e. take her out just before i know i'm going to need time so she will nap when we get home. I'm still working from the sofa at 24week and probably will until she's a little older and i can remove the baby gate blocking the stairs. I don't want to do that until her joints are a little more developed and i know the stairs aren't going to do her any harm. I'm sure others can comment on the early morning start, mine has always been an early riser, 5:30ish and still wakes up now between 5:30-6am and once she's up she's up and sleeps much less in the morning than the afternoon/evening.
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) This all sounds very familiar. Right now, Lucy has to cope with some big changes while learning the rules of her new environment. Its a lot for her to take in, but it sounds as if she's coping really well. I wouldn't worry too much about the food as puppies have very small stomachs - a little and often seemed to work with our Holly for her first few weeks. Meanwhile, you have probably realised that most people on this site are addicted to puppy pictures! Have you any pictures that you' like to show us?
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Hi and welcome Can't offer any more advice on what has already been offered
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Hi there, just wanted to say welcome to the forum! Jac and 4 year old Lilly
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Thanks all! Lovely to meet you all! Photos below! So, just to recap: When she wakes past 5am to wee, stay up. How should I increase this? Make her wait 3 minutes extra per night? Do crate training throughout the day... couple of times per day. Treats to get her in... treats when she is in... sit with her for 5-10mins. Get up and walk out for a few mins... come back and wait with her. Then treat her and let her out? What if she cries when I am gone? Wait until she has stopped? Thanks R
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Lucy is gorgeous. We're only on day 2 and ours isn't very impressed with the crate idea yet either!
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) What a beautiful yellow Lab. She looks adorable. Most dogs have difficulty getting through the night on their puppy bladders, but as Lucy grows her bladder will grow too. This will help her to get through the night uninterrupted. We never used a crate but gave Holly the run of the utility/kitchen at night. We put newspaper by the back door, and all our dogs over the years learned to use the paper and not to pee on the floor. It seemed to be an instinct - we never had to teach them. Other may be able to offer advice on crying. Its not a problem we've had to deal with.
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Oh what a BEAUTIFUL girl! We were pretty strict with our Pongo after the first few nights. We gave him about a week to settle in, but then we would not respond to crying. So, we'd get up at 4.30am when he first started whimpering (because we assumed it was because he needed a wee); took him out to have one; then straight back in to his crate and we went back upstairs to bed. Lots of crying the first few nights - and that was really difficult to listen to :'( - but we held the line and didn't go down until 'our' morning time of about 6.30am. The crying did stop after about a week / ten days of this.... about half an hour the first couple of nights, then twenty minutes, then ten, then just a couple of whimpers, then nothing. I was astonished how difficult I found it to ignore him. No chance of going back to sleep while he was whimpering down there....but we kept telling each other it was for his own good, AND IT REALLY WAS!! Be strong. You know she is OK really. She has to learn that she is safe and doesn't need you....and she'll only do that if you don't go down. Good luck!
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Thanks so much, guys! Rosie, thanks for your comments and advice – means a lot. I've heard different things re what to do after her wee at around 5ish... put her back in the crate or get up there and then. You seem to have gone back to bed... difficult as it will be at first. A lot of people have said to stay up. Why did you guys decide on your route?
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) First - we're not experts (first time puppy!) and others on this forum have much more experience than us..... so I'm not saying we got it right. But, we mainly went on advice from our breeder (as well as reading around quite a bit and getting help from this forum). The breeder's view was that, although it is unavoidable that the move to a new home will be traumatic for the puppy, it is important that he settles into a routine that fits with his new pack. So, we did everything we could to make him feel safe and loved for the first few days, while he was grieving for his mother and litter-mates :'(; but after that we worked on getting him used to 'the way it is going to be here', and showing him that it was OK and that nothing bad happened to him if he was left alone for a little while in his (safe, comfy) crate. Above all, we didn't want to encourage the 'if I whimper, they will come' message. We tried hard to figure out when it was a 'whimper because I need a pee', or 'whimper because something is wrong', and when it was 'whimper because I'd just like some attention please'. We did the same with playing games (we both work from home, so it was important that Pongo learned early on that we couldn't always be interrupted); so we would play with him a lot, but only when it was 'our idea' - if he came bounding up to us when we were busy, demanding a game, we'd just ignore him until he went away to play on his own. Then we'd give it five minutes or so and drop everything to go and play with our lovely puppy! (We still ended up playing with him most of the day and not a lot of work got done for the first few weeks ;D.... but hey!) After he was about 11 weeks we started leaving him in his crate during the day, first for just ten minutes, then half an hour, then an hour. We always gave him a kong to keep him occupied, and of course his water bowl. He is six months old now, and we don't use the crate during the day - he has the run of the sitting room and is quite happy curling up on his favourite chair if we have to go out for an hour or two (his favourite activity is sleeping). We wouldn't leave it any longer than that, though. We have been very lucky in having an incredibly calm, laid-back puppy (our daughter says he's a surf-dude dog!) who seems to take most things in his stride except for massive excitement with other dogs and people. He's a real treat. Please let us know how you get on with your bundle of joy! Rosie
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) Beautiful pics and lovely pup. Welcome! Lori & Edsel (18 wks)
Re: My lab pup so far... few questions (crying when up for wee) We had a very similar approach to Rosie and Pongo Our pup is just a little older now at 8 months, and the crate is still there, in the kitchen, he uses it to doze during the day when he is alone, which is not for strictly more that 3 hours at a time and we built this up very gradually. He has the run of the kitchen, which is large and closed off with 2 baby gates, we have a chewer you see.. : From 11 weeks old, we started quite a strict crate regimen, this was helped by the fact that the breeder had already crate trained him, so the system wasn't unfamiliar, and importantly he associated from very early on that the crate was HIS place, safe and where good things happened. We never his crate as punishment, sometimes when he was over excited, might be for 5 mins "downtime" just to calm him down a little. He is a very calm pup which helps, although needs lots of mental stimulation, and various anti chew strategies as he will turn to chewing ANYTHING if allowed... Our night time regime was a late night wee at about 11pm, then bed, in the early days he would wake at 5 - 6am ish for a wee, then very quickly this moved on to 7am which is our normal rising time, and this is pretty constant with him, if we over sleep, I can hear a gentle whine, so up and straight downstairs to let him out. When we work from home, hubby does this 2 days a week, he is left in the kitchen to roam, hubby takes him out for walks/training. Initially hubby worked in the kitchen with him, but we thought this might be a difficult habit to break if he was used to us being downstairs, so we went back into the office upstairs, and just ignored his whines, he was fine and got used to this in a matter of a few days, and he knows hubby comes down and makes lots of fuss of him.
