Hi looking for advice for my 9 week old puppy. we are crate training, and she has taken to the crate well, she sleeps there in the day, and when tired, will settle in there and fall to sleep quite happily. She starts to doze about 9pm, we take her out to the toilet at 9:30 and then go to bed ourselves. She usually sleeps until about 3am when she will cry for the toilet. We take her out for the toilet but we sometimes have a hard time getting her to settle down and go back to sleep. sometimes it’s a quick kiss and cuddle, a few wines but then she does it. Other times she will flat out refuse the crate and howl in the middle of the night. Once/If we do get her to settle, she wakes up again at 5am and we have had no success getting her back to bed at 5am so far. We have been sleeping on the sofa with her for our own sanity. At the breeders she was sleeping 10-7 so I would have thought going from 09:30 - 6 would have been totally doable. Do we need to totally switch up our method, as I am conscious that we are reacting to her crying queues, or do you think it’s just her age and she will grow out of it eventually? I have brought a clicker and am going to try working on the click for quiet method in the day time. Night time is a bit difficult as we are semi detached and I don’t want to upset the neighbours. I am also trying to leave her for 30 minutes daily in the crate to go out to get her used to being alone (as I work from home and do not want her to develop any separation anxiety)
Hi there, yes its definitely her age. She is still so little with a tiny, unstable bladder. I would take with a pinch of salt that she was going 10 till 7 as the breeders said. Unless they let her wee inside, in a pen maybe. 3am waking for a wee would be more usual, and I think they wake early as they are hungry, so then struggle to settle at 5am. If you think about it, she was probably fed about 12 hours ago. That's a long time for a little tummy. Stick with what you are doing, minimal fuss and be consistent. You have a few more weary weeks, but they generally improve about 14 weeks ish, when their bladder development significantly improves.
