New Puppy, First night home.

[fmrock]

Well, we got our new little girl (Zoe) yesterday and brought her home. She did great in the 2 hour car ride. She is just 8 weeks old and the first night away from her litter. She cried just at first in the car but was after 5-10 min she was fine.

She napped and played most of the day. Went potty when we took her out. My question is about bed time.

When it came to bed time last night, we put her in her kennel.
She did not want to be alone. She started to whin and bark a little. Right way she had another accedent in her kennel. So we cleaned that all up took her out again, washed off. Put her back in her kennel and she fell asleep. About 630am she was crying again, and I woke up with another accident in the kennel.

My question is, we should not go to her everytime she is crying in the kennel correct? How long should a puppy last at 8 weeks at night with out going potty.

Any advice would be great.

 

[SoleilBxrs]

how long?

fmrock-

at such a young age, you should not expect the pup to go more than 3-4hrs(4 pushing it) with out having to use the bathroom again. We are late sleepers, and i am a fairly early riser, so when we have had pups (our youngest is now 5.5mos), we generally take them out one more time before we sleep 1-2am, and we will wake them up, if they are already starting to sleep. then around 5-6, depending on if we hear rustling about, thats when we take them out again. young pups will generally just go back to bed after a few minutes or playing/chewing/ running, then we would go back to sleep too! im proud to say that we have not had a night-time potty accident with either of our babies appicon hope that helps! good luck

-Kat, Cassius and Nikita

ps. when you take them out of their crate to use the bathroom, pick them up and quickly place them where ever your designated Pee-spot is. if you let them mosey there by themselves, i can guarentee they will pee on the way there. (even after playing/eating/ waking from a nap... at this early age, i would suggest just picking them up and taking them to their spot, this way they know that that is where they are supposed to pee. they should pick it up quickly, and at that point watch them after they eat/sleep/play (esp. if their spot is beyond a door), they should be going to their spot by themselves, and when they do... LOTS of praise! good luck!

 

[fmrock]

Thanks for the advice, and after more research we will definatly be waking up at 3/4am to let her out.

Also, I think im going to go buy a new crate. This one is rather large for her. This one was given to me by my mother whos used it for there lab.

 

[fmrock]

2nd Night

Well the second night was not much better. She didnt have an accident, but she did cry and whine all night long. I know shes tired. At one point I took her out.. brought her back in side. Sat with her infront of the cage, she crawled on my lap and feel asleep instantly. As soon as you put her inside the cage she starts to cry.


She is very close to me and my wifes bedroom, so it was actually hard for us to sleep.

My question is, should i come to her when shes crying?

Could it be the cage. This cage was used by other dogs before here. Or could it just be because its her second night away from her litter.

Im willing to go buy another cage to see if this helps but if you dont think it will, i wont bother.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[harley03]

I would bring the kennel in your room and place it next to your bed. Being able to smell you may ease her a little. Don't go running to her every time she starts to cry. She'll quickly learn that crying = getting out of the crate and sleeping with mommy & daddy. Try putting a warm towel in the crate with her, also some people have had success by putting a ticking clock in the kennel wrapped in a warm blanket or towel. A smaller crate will most likely help with the accidents.
Good luck to you.
I know how hard it is to not give in and run to them when ever they cry.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Yes, do not go to her when she cries or she will learn that that is the way to get out of the kennel and will continue to do it.

If you can, put the crate next to your bed. Then when the pup starts crying, all you need to do is SILENTLY put your hand down next to the crate where the pup can smell you and she will lick your hand and go back to sleep.

Please use the search engine for TONS of information on housebreaking, crate training, etc. The search engine is a very powerful tool and you will be able to find all the answers you need to this FREQUENTLY ASKED question.

Dan

 

[TurboCain]

We brought our new boy home Friday evening. For all the things I read I expected worse the first couple of nights but it wasn't that bad. Put him in the crate in our room, he wined and howled, but after ignoring him he went to sleep. Woke up again less than a hour later wining...well i guess you can say I have less patients than others, I had to find an alternative and quick. So I put him in another room. We put some hard plastic down and then newspaper on top of that. Put some flannel pillow sheets in there and the crate with the door open and put one of those "gates" (4 baby gates attached to each other) around the area and never heard him the rest of the night until I got up on my own around 7ish. I figure maybe he just didn't liked to be crammed in that small area because he has done pretty good the last 3 nights. Second night i heard him two times. I would go get him and take him out side, than as soon as he went we came back in, I put him back in his "area" and I went back to bed, if he wined I ingored him. During the day when we are there watching him the gate is taken away, but put back up if we are going to be downstairs for a while or not able to watch him.

The funniest thing is I bought this little stuffed animal boxer puppy a month or so ago and I decided to let him play with it. He treats it like one of his litter mates. He play fights with it and will sleep on it or by it too. I think because we have been available to him all weekend and my daughter (3 year old) and I are home all the time he is always intertained so I haven't really seen much of "missing the litter mates" like I have read. He seems to be doing well for being so young compared to what others say about not brining them home until 8 weeks old. We take him out often, but I dont expect him to understand or be trained anytime soon, but if we can keep from cleaning up too much then that is great. Pee I don't mind some much as the puppy poop on my carpet. So far so good on that one.

 

[fmrock]

Update

Well, Zoe is doing much better in her kennel. Last night she didnt have one acciedent at all. Im so proud of my little girl. Its funny, I had her outside with me for about an hour, and she finally went poo. Its like she was holding out or something. LOL.

She was having her accendents was right about an hour or hour and a half after being put in bed.

During the day and stuff when she had to go potty she will come up to me and give a little cry.

 

[TitansMommy]

When we brought Titan home I had spoken to many friends who have gone through the puppy stage. Most of them said to let the puppy cry. As a mother of 2 young children(3 & 5) I was concerned that they would wake up every time they heard Titan. But I learned another trick and that was toput the cage in the basement(ours is finished) and inour room I would leave the bathroom exhaust fan on to drown out the noise. I remember hearing him once in a while and then his crying was imbedded in my head. Eventually he stopped barking and began sleeping through the night.
Also, I would not put him in his crate until 10:30pm and I would get up at 6 am to let him out. Luckily he never had an accident in his crate. As he got older, I would increase the time he would spend in his crate. Now I put him in at 10pm and he can last until 7:30 am.
Each puppy is very different just like babies. Some suggestions will work and most will not. But each is worth trying when you are at your wits end.
Good Luck

 

[fmrock]

Well, shes still doing great. Not one accident in the house in the last 3 or 4 days now. She comes up to us and paws us and will let a little cry out. Or go to the back door.

She is still crying in her crate at night. But after 10-20 minutes she usually stops.

She seems to be getting used to our schedule and learning quickly.

Ill have to get some photos in the gallery so you can see our little girl.