Crying at night, wonder if I'm handling it correctly...

[Saverio]

Well, it's happened.
My little guy has started crying at night and I want to get your opinion on how I am handling the situation.

I understand that when they are young puppies like this (Gino is 7 weeks), that they miss their mother and siblings. My wife and I agreed that he would sleep in our room, but NOT on our bed. He's currently not in a kennel, but has his own bed and has been very good about just going to his spot when he wants to rest, or when it's time for bed.

The past two nights he has woke us up NUMEROUS times crying. The first night my wife finally caved in and just plopped in bed with us (I admit, I didn't mind him sleeping with us all cute and curled up), but i'm the type that tends to think ahead.
I don't want a 60-70lb dog thinking MY bed is also his bed...it's bad enough with our 4 year old daughter sometimes.

Last night I tried a different approach.
Everytime he came over and put his feet up on my side of the bed (always my side, never my wifes - which is weird), I got up with him and calmly walked him back over to his bed telling him "Bed" and putting him back on his place and kind of sitting there with him, petting him until he was comfortable.

I know training takes time and we may go through this for some time before he realizes he needs to stay in his bed, but my wife makes the argument (for Gino) that "he's so young still and he just wants to be close to someone". That's fine by me, but I don't want a dog in my bed, and I don't want to have to lay on his bed just to get him to sleep!

 

[srennie]

He is very, very little and sleeping alone is not natural or familiar for him. That said, I (personally) would not allow him in the bed because I wouldn't want him to think that he has ownership of your bed in any way. What has worked well for me is to use a crate and put it on the nightstand right next to my face so when pup wakes up and can put my hand up to the crate and soothe him....assuming he doesn't have to go out to potty which he might need to do several times a night at this age.

Do some reading about crate training because it is so much easier to do as a pup then as an adolescent or adult dog and a crate can be a total sanity saver through those annoying teenage times!! And it also gives the dog a place to call their own where they can feel safe and relaxed.

 

[themarshalls]

Hang in there

I agree completely with the comment above. Crate training is probably something you want to look into. Your puppy will cry for a while, I know it's hard but try to resist putting them in your bed. Trying to train a 10 ib puppy to not sleep in your bed is WAY easier then training a 60 ib dog to not sleep in your bed. It will go away after a while though once your puppy gets acclimated. A vet friend of mine told me that a crate creates a comfortable environment for your puppy so the separation anxiety is remedied pretty quickly. By nature dogs like to have a "den" or has my husband calls it "man cave." It creates security for them and their own space they can call their own. Definitely look up crate training. Huge fan.

 

[Saverio]

Thank you for the recommendations! We got a
Crate tonight so we will begin crate training.

 

[joannaryan]

I don't think that you will regret the crate training. We didn't crate train our first boxer but did with Toby. It has been great and they quickly learn that it is their own comfort and safe place, their own peaceful little sanctuary. Good luck

 

[Saverio]

Well, I feel so proud of my boy! He has been using the crate today to get away from the whiny kids (do they make adult human crates?)!
We have been using a dog bed for the past few days and today moved the bed inside the crate. He just goes in without having to tell him! We do provide him with a treat and praise when he goes in the crate, and mention "bed" whenever he's in there.

 

[themarshalls]

YAY! That's awesome to hear. Just be consistent about it for a while. Before you know if when you say "Let's go to bed" your little guy will go right in there! When I go to to work in the morning I stick little teething toys in there for my little one to keep her occupied while I'm gone.

 

[FuFuBear]

I got FuFu Bear when he was that age. I started with crate training immediately and he cried for 3 weeks straight! It was horrible!!! I was starting to have something like "post partum depression" but I stayed behind my system and remained consistent with the schedule and crate training/ potty training and voila all of a sudden one night he didn't cry or whine and hasn't since then every time I put him in his crate. I give him a small treat every time I put him in the crate. Just a pee size nibble so he wont eliminate himself inside. We are still working on the potty training inside the house he would still have accidents. He wont poop in his crate but every now and then he will pee in it. For the past 7 days he hasn't had any accidents in his crates. He is 12 weeks old now.