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Old February 28th, 2014, 01:31 PM
katielauriss katielauriss is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Kimberley, BC
Posts: 1
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

Katie
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