Hi everyone, I have to admit I am feeling a little frustrated this morning but I am having problems as to what is the best option for sleeping pups (or trying to get them to sleep) Max is 10 weeks old today and has been with us for 2 weeks, during the day he is left for at most 2 hours where he goes into his crate. (no problem during the day) I seem to be having issues during the night, I put him down generally between 10.30pm to 11.30pm and within 1 hour he is barking, and he continues to bark and bark and bark. Sometimes he slept from 11.00pm through to say 2.00am in which i just get up take him outside let him do his business then straight back into his crate (however this has only happened a couple of times). Now I know some people will say just leave him but when we have tried that and he soils his bed and then we have a massive mess to clean up during the night anyway, last night I thought I would try a leave his crate door open but look the kitchen door (i can actually lock my kitchen door lol) this didnt work either same thing, after about an hour he started barking and barking from around 12.00am through to 2.00am where I had to get up and pretty much shout at him (I know I shouldnt of shouted but no sleep for 2 weeks has started to take its toll) he did then sleep through until 5.45am which I think is reasonable. We put several of his toys in his crate and we also have a radio on low during the night for him, we did have a hot water bottle at first but he managed to puncture that. Is there any advice anyone can offer as we are at our wits ends. We have never punished him other than shouting at him last night which I have to be honest I feel incredibly guilty about and was unable to sleep afterwards anyway because of it. (its those puppy eyes!!!) Thanks
Re: Puppy Sleeping Have you tried sitting beside his crate so you can stroke/comfort him until he goes to sleep? We did this with Mira the first couple of nights and she settled well after that. Get a cushion to make yourself comfy and turn out the lights (be warned - you might drop off yourself!)
Re: Puppy Sleeping Hi, I kind of didn't want to go down that route as I wasn't sure where that would stop, also he does generally go to sleep at first but wakes up pretty quickly afterwards. I know other people also mentioned putting him in the bedroom with you but again I feel like I could be making a rod for my own back.
Re: Puppy Sleeping I would set the alarm for 3am ish for wee time. I'd never go to him when he's barking or whining only when he's quiet. Then after a week of 3am wees make it 15mins later each night until you reach getting up time. Tatze got to the stage where she just didn't want to get up for the night time wee - we took this as the signal she didn't need one! In the morning I potter about, do the washing etc so she only gets up when I say, not when she 'says'
Re: Puppy Sleeping Thanks Boogie, So really I am better off waking him up rather than him waking us up?
Re: Puppy Sleeping [quote author=MikeMiller82 link=topic=5185.msg65212#msg65212 date=1396342345] Thanks Boogie, So really I am better off waking him up rather than him waking us up? [/quote] Oh yes - for sure. Then he doesn't learn that barking/whining gets your presence Tatze settled great and never barks in the night or morning. She was sick in the night a couple of months ago and DID bark then - so we know she'll yell if she really needs us.
Re: Puppy Sleeping [quote author=MikeMiller82 link=topic=5185.msg65206#msg65206 date=1396340046] Hi, I kind of didn't want to go down that route as I wasn't sure where that would stop, also he does generally go to sleep at first but wakes up pretty quickly afterwards. I know other people also mentioned putting him in the bedroom with you but again I feel like I could be making a rod for my own back. [/quote] Hi Mike, our puppy is almost five months old now, but we got her about a month ago (she was a rescue). We had left her crate in our bed room for about 3 weeks, and over the past week we have moved her crate into her own room, and she has transitioned quite nicely. She has no problem going into the crate at night as she's usually pretty tired by 10:30pm which is her normal bed time. I know every case is different, but I just thought I'd let you know that this did work for us! Best of luck. -Rob
Re: Puppy Sleeping Hi Everyone, Had a pretty decent nights sleep all things considering, I put Max down at 11.00pm and set my alarm for 2.00am, I got up when the alarm went off which was thankfully before he started barking. took him outside to do his business and then straight back into his crate, he then slept until 5.30am this morning and this time he barked. This was definitely a better system which works more for what I was after so thanks for the advice ;D ;D ;D Thanks to everyone else as well, its great to hear everyones experiences and it helps to know someone has most likely been through what we are lol. Cheers
Re: Puppy Sleeping That's great news, he may vary from one night to the next, but overall, you should continue to make progress now.
Re: Puppy Sleeping slightly different last night he woke up before my alarm went off lol, So i waited for a quiet period (only a short quiet period mind) let him out to do his business then (this was the best part) when i opened the door to go back into the house he just trotted into his crate!! I was over the moon lol. He then slept until 5.50am so i think progress is definitely being made! Has his last injection tomorrow which may unsettle him as I am getting him tagged at the same time.
Re: Puppy Sleeping Woohoo ;D When Harley had her injection she slept right through most of the day and the night
Re: Puppy Sleeping Great work.. sounds exactly like the initial problem i was having with Zulu.. it makes a HUGE difference waking HIM up in the night opposed to him waking YOU up.. I find when he used to wake us up for the toilet, he was already all worked up and took longer to settle. Now that i wake him up for toilet (normally around 1am), its simply a matter of taking him outside straight back into his crate.. hes normally half asleep and cant wait to get back into bed and back to sleep VERY occasionally, he does whine when i leave the room, so sometimes i either sit next to his crate for a minute or so(make no eye contact with him at all) OR have a snooze on the couch in the lounge (near where his crate is)
Re: Puppy Sleeping my lab is 9 months old she wakes us up all night to go out for wees etc she is in season now which seems to mean she needs to go more often but we have had her 3months now and we are not getting any quiet nights we dont use the crate as she howled in it for the first few nights we can not leave her in the garden alone as she eats all the plants she can not be on her own daytimes she wants company all the time i am trying to sort out these problems but do wonder if i will be able to keep her my partner is unwell and i have had dogs before but am feeling very sressed by this problem i have had a behavourist out but nothing seems to work
Re: Puppy Sleeping Sussex, it sounds like you are having a challenging time of it. Where does your dog sleep at the moment?
Re: Puppy Sleeping she is downstairs in kitchen due to her being young i do not want her to go up and down stairs too much and we have had her in our room but nothing gets her to settle she had an op in feb and i slept downstairs with her as soon as one of us gets up in the morning she settles down
Re: Puppy Sleeping Hi Sussex, And welcome to the forum, I am also fairly knew but what I would say is that the crate has really helped us to settle Max down. We took Sam when he was 8 weeks old and still had 2 other siblings and came from a large working dog kennels so was used to company a lot. We definitely had nights where he howled all night for probably the first week. The difficult part is knowing when to put them down and when to go to them. Do you take your dog out for a walk before bed or anything like were you could wear him out so to speak? I personally would also persevere with a crate, it creates a den for them which they do become very comfortable in. There are a lot more experienced people on here though than myself who will be able to offer some great advice.
Re: Puppy Sleeping thanks i think i have tried everything at the moment she is in season she seems to need to go out more often and due to previous medical problem can not be spayed when she can go out we do 1-2hours off lead walks in the woods where she can run as much as she wants she slows down when she wants to and now the nights are getting lighter will do a short evening walk the problem is she is disturbing the sleep of my partner who is unwell
Re: Puppy Sleeping Hi Sussex, sorry you are having a difficult time just now. I would love to help with a quick fix, but it sounds like you might need to work on this. Could your girl be feeling a bit insecure? It sounds like she is experiencing a lot of changes and uncertainty. If it was me, I would reconsider the crate - having a safe place to go can be a great comfort. Might need a little time and patience, but might be worth reading some resources such as here on the main site. Sorry if you have already read this. Hope things get a bit better for you.
