Sleepy puppy!

[minipin]

We got our little girl pup on 21st Jan, she is now 11 weeks. She is our first dog, there is so much to learn! I'm a bit surprised how sleepy she is, during the day she has long naps. Is this normal?

[Ilovecaindingle]

She is conserving her energy in order to ransack and wreck your home in the near future
It's called the calm before the storm. . . .
It is normal tho.

[pigsDOfly]

Yes. Think of her in the same way as a small baby. She's still tiny and will spend a lot of her day sleeping. Even adult dog, unless working dogs, tend to sleep a good deal of the day away.

As long as she's playful, bright a curious when she's awake, she's fine.

[minipin]

Thanks. Also could I gauge opinions on dealing with howling at night? Most dog people we know are advising me to ignore it, as if I go down to her it will reinforce the howling. She sleeps happily in a crate at night, with the door open but in a closed playpen with access to water and a puppy pad. She has slept through a few nights but howled last night.

[BiteyShark]

Yes and make the most of it as mine tended to be either asleep or running about at a great speed

[BiteyShark]

Is she howling when she wants to go to the toilet do you think or just woke up and lonely?

Personally I checked mine didn't need to toilet but I wasn't using puppy pads otherwise I just ignored until he settled himself but most people on this forum are very anti that.

[Thewolfsjustapuppy]

I never ignored howling and as a result my puppies have ended up in either my bed or my oldest DSs. I value my sleep and I don't mind the dog in the bed so it works for us. In both cases the pups have grown up to be confident happy dogs with no separation anxiety and are happy to sleep at night anywhere in the house as adults.
Enjoy your pup, they are amazing.

[minipin]

Just finding it all very difficult, despite having read and researched so much before getting her. Toilet training is going rubbish ly. Feeling very down today like it isn't going to improve.

[pigsDOfly]

She's very young, could she be howling to go out and wee? She won't want to wee in her crate unless desperate and she's unlikely to be able to go through the night without needing a wee at her age. P.uppy pads are not ideal as it teaches them to wee in the house and then you have to teach them to wee outside.

I never ignore my dog at night if she barks, not a howler, and if she does bark it means she needs to wee, or as on one occasion a few months ago when she had a horrible stomach bug. Glad I didn't ignore that one.

She's only just left her mum and litter mates chances are she's missing them and feeling a bit lonely. Some people deal with that by ignoring it, others, and I'm one, won't be able to listen to a puppy in possible distress.

I think a lot of people feel a bit low at times when they suddenly realise what they've taken on with a new puppy. It takes time and can be tiring and demanding. Puppies are gorgeous but often very hard work and it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Bit like having a new baby.

[BiteyShark]

I also didn't use puppy pads as thought that would be confusing and increase toilet training time. Instead I took him out at frequent intervals in the night and gradually increased the time in between over weeks. So pick up from crate take to wee then back in crate with no real interaction as it was sleep time not play time. It was rubbish for my sleep but that is the way I was most happy with.

If he cried and didn't wee when taken outside it was back in crate and ignore the crying and he did settle.