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-   -   New puppy crying in his crate at night. (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=85194)

katielauriss February 28th, 2014 01:31 PM

New puppy crying in his crate at night.
 
Hi there!

This is my first post, as we have just got our first puppy! He is a 7.5 week old male golden retriever named Carl. He is very calm and extremely smart; he already knows how to sit, and "go to him home" (his crate).

We are in the living room the most, so we have his crate in there for him to get accustomed to it, and nap in. At night, we have brought the crate into our bedroom so he can be near us. This will be our third night with him, and we just want to ensure that we are training him properly right at the beginning, so he does not develop behavioral issues. We have a blanket that smells like his mom, a hot water bottle under it, and we have put a small clock that ticks (not too loud, but it was the only one we could find in our small town).

The first night he fell asleep alright after his big day, but then was whining, crying and howling the entire night. We expected this, as it was his first night away. As difficult as it was, we left him alone to cry, and tire himself out. Last night, it was the same problem, excessive crying and howling, not just whimpering and crying. He will not stop, and I am worried about finding a balance between making sure he knows he is not in solitary confinement and in trouble, and making sure he does not train us to come rescue him every time he cries.

We have researched quite a bit, and lots of advice seems to be a bit contradictory. We have not slept for two straight nights (which is fine, I fully expect to get up every two hours to take him into the living room to his pee pads), but I was hoping to get him to calm down in between. He sounds so unhappy, and I want to find a nice balance so he is calm and happy, and we can get a couple hours sleep at a time.

During the day, he loves his crate, he eats near or in it, and seems quite accustomed to it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks very much in advance. We are loving puppy parenting, but want to make sure we are doing it right :thumbs up

Katie

Barkingdog February 28th, 2014 01:51 PM

What if you tried feeding him at night about hour before going to bed . My dog will take long naps after eating a meal and I know puppies love to nap after eating too.
I have a question, can you post a photo of your new puppy.

Lynne&Co. February 28th, 2014 04:31 PM

Congratulations on the new puppy!
Is Carl's bed close to you?
He is missing his mommy and littermates so will cry until he is exhausted and falls asleep or he is comforted (just like human babies). Maybe he could sleep with you for a couple of nights or until he settles and bonds with you. You could then gradually move him further away from your bed until he is sleeping where you want him to sleep.
I have fostered rescues over the years and found myself sleeping on a couch with a new dog until they settle. One of them now sleeps happily in her crate in my bedroom about 6 feet away from my bed. I had to sleep with her for 3 weeks but others have only taken a couple of nights to settle.
I'm of the opinion that an upset dog should be responded to fairly quickly as the dog may need to toilet or is not well or upset (one of mine is terrified of thunder). Ultimately you will want your dog to trust you and that helps form a strong bond between you. Good luck to you and hoping you have a good sleep tonight:thumbs up

marko February 28th, 2014 05:13 PM

Hmmm. 7.5 weeks is very young to adopt a dog but the dog is adopted now, so no use dwelling on that fact.

If the dog was older I'd say take the crate out of the bedroom and tough it out...but the dog is just a baby.

The sleeping on the couch with the dog till it gets a bit older seems like an interesting idea.

If you are firm on the crate though, I might try earplugs until the dog settles down..but I would try everything in my power NOT to reward the dog in any way (by paying attention to it) while it is doing the howling/whining.

Be curious to know what other members think about this....but I believe my need to sleep would win against the dog's need for comfort....and if I could not get the dog's whining under control, it would remain in the crate, but it would not be sleeping in my room for long.

Longblades March 1st, 2014 08:18 AM

Tough call. I know current advice is to let them howl it out but I didn't. I also, now, believe that puppies, like human babies, cry because they are in need and should be responded to. The first night our guy cried I let him go on a bit but finally got up and found he had peed and was lying in soaked bedding. After I took him out (in a winter just like this one in December and it was -30C) and cleaned him up he was fine. He needed out twice a night for about a month, then once a night and he had to pee or poop each time.

I learned two things that night. Don't ignore him, he doesn't cry for no reason. And no more of that small crate to limit him to only being able to stand up and turn around. If a dog or puppy has to bathroom in a crate so small then they are stuck in pee or poop till you relieve them. We kept the crate but the door was always open so he could venture out into the gated kitchen. He still made little noises at night when he needed to go outside to toilet and only very rarely soiled on the kitchen floor, evidence to me that this did not slow potty training one little bit.

Easy for me. I see your puppy continued to fuss. Ours did not. I know some have found they slept beside puppy for about a week so they could reach him and touch him to reassure him in the night. Good luck.

Dog Dancer March 3rd, 2014 12:23 AM

Make sure the puppy has an article of your clothing with him at night. I used to sleep with an old tshirt tucked into my bed so it would smell like us, and at night I would put it in with the puppy. I would put a new old shirt in bed with us so that we had another one ready to go if the first one got soiled and had to be washed. I found this helped the pups a lot. I also had the crates by the bed. I could drop my hand down for them to smell or lick if they got too upset. It didn't take long. I always checked if they were fussing too much to put them outside to potty, but once I knew they were okay, they were allowed to whine for a while. It wasn't always easy, but it paid off in the long run.

That said, years ago when my lab was a puppy the first couple nights of crate training were a nightmare and I put her in bed with me. It was perfect, she'd sleep right through. Whatever works. It is good though that he's used to his crate and eats in it. Just remember never to use it as punishment.


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