Bedtime Question

[grendel]

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Kelpie will be 8 weeks on Saturday, loves his crate during the day and the evening when it's unlocked and he happily takes himself there of his own accord. We have banned our kids from bugging him when he's crated and I think he feels safe and secure in there when he's not crashed out with us in the living room.

His toilet training has also gone very easily and he has only had one accident right near the front door. We let him out every time he wakes up and don't let him go more than 3 hours without a visit to the garden. He is even staring to sniff around the door now come toilet time and even in the rain just runs under a bush, does his business and comes back inside.

My concern is that he sleeps well with the crate closed for the first three hours. I then let him out for the toilet as soon as he starts to stir and after a quick sniff round the garden he volunteers to go back into the crate. Shortly after it's pitiful sobs and heart-wrenching whining until 5am when I can't take it anymore and let him sleep with me on the sofa until 7am when we all get up for breakfast. I'm worried that by totally ignoring him until 6am he will have to soil his crate and perhaps undo his near perfect record of going outside. He hasn't ever done a poo inside and I'd prefer to keep it that way and I don't know if an 8 week old pup could go 6 hours without needing out. I have looked at the FAQ section but most threads seem to cover night time noises and toilet training separately.

Last night I ended up sleeping on the floor near his crate then moving further away every half hour. As long as he could see me from his crate he was OK. Should I just go all out with the tough love now to stop the whining while he is 8 weeks or should I wait until he can hold his bladder/bowels for a longer period before getting to grips with his bedtime blues? Any advice gratefully appreciated.

 

[nicky12]

aww poor little fellow probably missing his mummy .i had my blue when he was 12weeks old and i had a very sleeples two weeks with him i was also worried about him having an acciedent during the night and used to let him out ...but one night wen i could take no more i took his bed upto my bedroom and he slept from 12 right throu to 7 following morning and thats were he stayed in my bedroom right up until we moved recently i now have another dog and they both happily sleep downstair with no crying :thumbsup: im shure if he feels safe hel may be able to keep it in for 6hrs .im no expert thou just given you my experience hope its of sum help :thumbsup:

 

[Rae]

Hi,

I can just imagine someone trying to crawl like a commando closer and closer to their own bed whilst still trying to settle the puppy. :lol: You must be exhausted.

I've only had 2 puppies and they were both 10 weeks when we got them, but they were both perfectly cabable of going right through the night without having an accident, so I'd guess that Kelpie will be capable of it too. I wonder if you are training him to get up in the middle of the night by taking him out in the garden when he stirs, when he could actually hold on till 7am? It might be a harder habit to break as he gets older he may still expect to go out every 3 hours.

We had the cage in our bedroom and never had a murmur from either of them as they were right next to me and I could put my hand in and reassure them if needs be, and we gradually moved the cage out of the room, or did away with it altogether.

Is Kelpie an only dog? He is still a baby so it's not suprising that he doesnt want to be on his own, if you have other dogs are they in the same room as his cage? If he is an only dog you have the choice of ignoring him and putting up with it till he settles , or moving his cage to your room.

If it were me I'd make sure he's been to the toilet before he went to bed, move his cage into your bedroom and try to get him to settle when he first stirs, but perhaps get up a little bit earlier to let him in the garden.

:luck:

 

[Ann Glews]

Hi I don't know if this will help you but I have had Izzy since she was 8 weeks old, she sleeps in her bed in my utility room during the week alone and with us as a treat at weekends. She cried the first night alone, which thankfully I was warned she would, or I would have been worried sick! But after this she was OK.

She was easy to toilet train on paper during the night from this very early age and hardly had any accidents at all. I didn't need a cage as we have the utility room.

Izzy happily goes to bed at night, but now and then she does the Whippet quiver/shiver thing, which they seem to do when they suspect they have got to do something they don't really want to!

The best thing you can do is to find something that suits you & your dog, just don't deprive yourself of sleep in the process.

Good luck, you have picked a truly loving and rewarding dog, you won't look back.

 

[whippet woman]

Ours like to cuddle up in bed with us :huggles: , we never used any crates and they are all perfectly house trained, and will ask to go out if they need to :thumbsup: . If you are starting to sleep on the floor near the cage it might be better for you to get the cage near your bed if you don't fancy having a whippet warmer in the bed! At least you should get some comfortable shut eye.

They still come in with us every night, we love it and so do they, I couldn't bear to hear them cry and whimper for want of a bit of affection. My sisters think it is awful that they are allowed in the bed, but my dad is cool about it when we all stop over with him, he's 86 !

WW

 

[grendel]

Thanks to everyone for the kind responses and PMs. After taking some of the advice received the last couple of nights have been much easier for us all including kelpie. I was concerned that I could be conditioning him into getting up at 3am. He was still sleeping at 3am when I woke him up so I will try leaving it a bit later as time goes on. I did feel a bit mean taking him from his toastie crate out into the cold night but he did his business, ran straight back into his crate and burrowed under his blankets. At 6am when I got up he was still sleeping. He had a brief and very half-hearted whine around 5ish but we just ignored him.

I am sure that everything will be good once he is vaccinated and we can go out for walks and a sniff around the neighbourhood. So far he has been a joy and if he is representative of whippets in general it is very tempting to get him a wee playmate once he fully settles in.