Truman has been home with us a week and a day now. We have been crate training and he does pretty good other than he wakes up 5 or more times a night to go outside!! And yes, he goes every time he wakes up, then I let him fall asleep with me on the floor and put back in the crate. We are unable to put his crate in our room so we've been taking turns sleeping on the couch, to make sure we hear him when he wakes. He is about 9 and 1/2 weeks old now and I know he cant hold it for long but when should I start ignoring his waking and just take him out once during the night? Also, the first couple of days we had him he had very runny poop, all better now, and messed in the crate, I couldnt blame him but should I block off half of his crate now to make sure he doesnt mess again?
When will he sleep??
- Thread starter MishMe
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Brutus and Amaya's Mom
Boxer Insane
I would block off some of the crate. This seems to help if you've had problems. Brutus was okay in a large crate but we had to borrow a smaller crate for Amaya.
As far as waking up....I think you are taking him out to often. AT 10 weeks if you took him out once that should be okay if you withhold food and water before bed. Set the alarm clock and begin to get the puppy used to your schedule. The puppy will get up and be with you more if you allow it but shouldnt really need to.
I would bet the runny poop at first was due to stress and possibley new food. Glad to hear things are fine now.
As far as waking up....I think you are taking him out to often. AT 10 weeks if you took him out once that should be okay if you withhold food and water before bed. Set the alarm clock and begin to get the puppy used to your schedule. The puppy will get up and be with you more if you allow it but shouldnt really need to.
I would bet the runny poop at first was due to stress and possibley new food. Glad to hear things are fine now.
I have to agree! You are taking him out too often. He is taking advantage of you. He will never learn to hold it, if he never has too. Offer him his last drink around 8 pm and then take it away. It will help if he's not drinking just before bedtime. I guess I was lucky with Markus, but he would hold it through the night(7 hours) right from the start. I live in an apartment and I wasn't about to get dressed to take him out in the middle of the night, and fortunately I never had too. Remember just because he is fussing, doesn't necessarily mean he needs to go and just because he does, doesn't mean that the really really needed to. Puppies can usually hold it longer at night when they should be sleeping than they can during the day, when they are more active. If you must take him out during the night, don't make it much fun. By all means, praise him when he goes, but thats it. No pats and cuddles, just pop him right back in the crate as soon as he is done.
Good luck,
Good luck,
MickeyFan
Boxer Buddy
We have had Prince and Cindy home for about a week now. The first three nights, I was taking them out twice. I began to suspect that this was going to become a permanent arrangement. Even though I was all biz during the nighttime walks, these guys always took about twenty minutes to get back to sleep. I, on the other hand would lay awake for an hour. After three days, I was a zombie.
I moved the crate out of our bedroom to the family room downstairs. We could still easily hear them if they put up a real ruckus, but they were far enough away to tolerate a 20 minute whine session. Since we have moved them, they have extended the period of time they can sleep/hold it in the crate from about 4 hours to almost 7. They will go from about 10pm to 5am. We will get up to let them out if they whine more than 20 minutes or let out with a full bark. Of course, we are careful to limit evening drinks to ice cubes, and they are taken out for a final walk right before we put them in the crate for the night.
When they wake up, look out. We have about a 30 second window to get their furry little butts outside. Then its back inside for morning chow--they are looking for it.
We haven't had an accident in the crate yet.
I moved the crate out of our bedroom to the family room downstairs. We could still easily hear them if they put up a real ruckus, but they were far enough away to tolerate a 20 minute whine session. Since we have moved them, they have extended the period of time they can sleep/hold it in the crate from about 4 hours to almost 7. They will go from about 10pm to 5am. We will get up to let them out if they whine more than 20 minutes or let out with a full bark. Of course, we are careful to limit evening drinks to ice cubes, and they are taken out for a final walk right before we put them in the crate for the night.
When they wake up, look out. We have about a 30 second window to get their furry little butts outside. Then its back inside for morning chow--they are looking for it.
We haven't had an accident in the crate yet.
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