9 week old puppy crying & barking all night

[Mike2016]

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Hi we are new to having a puppy we have got a Beagle x Labrador she is 9 weeks old im after some advice she will sleep in her crate through the day no problem or if my wife goes out the kitchen he puppy will follow her because her crate is out there but when it comes to night time or us having to go out she barks & cries is there any info out there to try & stop her.

Sorry for the jumbled topic we are sleep deprived & thanks in advance for any info

 

[JoanneF]

I'm afraid crate training is about more than popping the puppy in the crate. If she has just been separated from mum and littermates she will be feeling a bit scared and isolated. I wrote the post below for someone with a male puppy so please excuse the references to 'he', I am on my phone -

Being separated from his mum and littermates is really traumatic so he will get upset at being separated from you too. Your role is to become his carer and source of comfort now! First, the crate needs to be the best place ever for a dog to be. So great treats, toys, happy voices and heaps of encouragement in the crate. Let him go in for super tasty things (chicken?) but dont shut the door. His bed should be in there too. Some pups like soft toys, and a tee shirt you have worn so with your smell might help too. Only when he realises the crate is a great place should you close the door or the pen. You should start to get him used to being alone though, so once he is going into his crate happily, leave the room for a few minutes (2, 5, 10) and build up slowly.<br>

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At night, its a good idea to have his crate in your room to start with so he knows you are close by. You can put a hand down to stroke and comfort him if he gets distressed. Please dont ignore him, you wouldnt ignore a crying child and leave him in an empty room. Comforting him when he is distressed is fine and will strengthen your bond. Unfortunately many people make the mistake of allowing a puppy to cry in the hope that they grow out of it, when actually all they have done is cement in the puppies mind that being left in the crate (or alone, or whatever is causing the crying) is indeed a terrible thing, and for many dogs this fear becomes a learned habit. <br>

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Gradually you can start moving the crate away to outside the bedroom door, near the room you want him to sleep in, and eventually into that room. With puppies learning, everything is done in little steps, and if anything starts to fail, you go back a step and stay there longer.<br>

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Also in your room you are more likely to hear him if he moves and needs out to toilet. With young puppies its too long to expect them to hold on all night (their little bladder and bowels arent big enough or strong enough) so set your alarm for a couple of times in the night.<br>

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With toileting, take him out frequently during the day, after waking, eating, playing etc and every 45 minutes to an hour. Also watch for signals like circling or scratching the floor which can indicate he wants to toilet. Get him out and give huge praise and a high value reward or treat when he toilets. Dont make him come to you for the treat, so he knows that its for toileting and not for coming to you. While he is toileting you can start to introduce a cue word like do weewee; or busy busy; so in future you can tell him when it is a good time. If he has toileted indoors dont get annoyed in case he becomes anxious about your reaction to toileting, and slinks off to do it in a place where you arent about - you want him to tell you he needs out, not to avoid you.<br>

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I dont like puppy pads. They give mixed messages about whether its ok to toilet indoors.<br>

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Please use reward based training. Dogs learn more quickly when a good behaviour is rewarded. A good puppy class should help. Never punish bad behaviour because at any given time your dog (like us) is doing a lot of different things at once - listening, watching, smelling, walking, itching, scratching, weeing - so he cant isolate the one thing the punishment is for. Instead if the reward is for the good behaviour he will be able to identify it more easily because its more consistent. Victoria Stilwell has some great tips at www.positively.com.

 

[gypsysmum2]

Yes, as Joanne F says, start with the crate beside your bed if you can. If not then leave an item of clothing in with your puppy so that your scent is ever present. Make sure your puppy is warm enough. Puppies usually sleep in a pile! A ticking clock sometimes help to mimic mother's hearbeat. Try an Adaptil plug-in diffuser near the crate. Some dogs like a covered crate to make it cosy others like to be able to see everything.

When you get up to take your puppy outside to toilet, be very boring. No fuss, no cuddles or play, just outside - toilet - reward and back in crate.

Try to organise it so that your puppy only gets let out of her crate when she is quiet. This means keeping an eye on her for signs that she is waking or fidgeting to go outside. Open the crate door quickly so that puppy learns that a quiet puppy gets let out. If puppy is crying try to get a few seconds quiet before opening the door.

If you know your puppy is warm, well fed, just been to the toilet then it is ok to ignore a little whimpering. It is not ok for the puppy to get really distressed. There is almost always a reason for distress and it should be investigated.

Encourage your puppy, through the day, to be independent. Pay attention when puppy plays alone, ignore her if she persistently follows you around. Let her rest alone and not always on laps. Give eye contact and smile when you notice her being independent.

If you haven't already done so, book her into some Puppy Socialisation Classes run by members of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT). You will get excellent advice and meet sleep deprived people like yourselves!

 

[reemym]

We had that when ours was around that age. She grew out of it after she felt comfortable in her new home. I think its just a phase. Ours is 6 months old now and still in crate at night but she goes in herself now bed time

 

[QsMummy]

We got our puppy just over a week ago and for the first 4-5 nights my husband had to stay up with her, even though we had a crate. You can't just lock a puppy in a crate. Our puppy likes his crate but even now we haven't shut both doors yet.

Sometimes if he is upset we put the crate in our bedroom doorway with the open door of the crate in the hall where he can get to his water and training pads if he needs them, but can't get in to the bedroom where there is carpet and where our cat sleeps. He can see us sleeping so he is usually content with this, but I think the puppy needs to understand you're his/her new family first.

 

[JoanneF]

I suggest dropping the puppy pads. All they do is give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors. Indoor accidents are the essentially just the owners fault for not having the dog outside before he has to go. Ideally you want him to never be in a position where he needs to toilet before you have him outdoors, so that every toilet is outside - as far as possible, there will be accidents! So set him up to succeed by taking him out even more than he needs; for example every 45 minutes to an hour and always after sleeping, eating, playing. When he toilets outdoors make a huge fuss (never mind the neighbours, act like outdoor toileting is the best thing you have ever seen) and reward him with a high value treat. Do that immediately, don't make him come to you for the treat so he is clear that it's for toileting and not for coming to you. The idea is that he eventually wants to earn the treat enough to hold the toilet until he is outside - once he is physically able to control his toileting obviously. If he has an accident inside don't react at all. If you get annoyed he will simply learn to fear your reaction and avoid you if he needs to toilet - the opposite of what you want. As he is actually performing the toilet you can introduce words he can associate with it (like 'do weewee' and 'busy busy') that later when he is reliably trained you can use these to tell him when you want him to toilet.

 

[lurcherman]

I hate puppy pads, to me it's just people not putting enough effort and time into training their puppy, over 30 years with dogs and I've found toilet training never that hard, time, effort, concistency is all that is needed isn't it?