Puppy night time advice

[bethanamos]

We brought home our much planned for Labrador puppy on Thursday. She is absolutely lovely but we are struggling at night. Please be kind as I haven’t had much sleep for the past few nights! Our long term plan is for her to sleep in the kitchen in her crate. In the day she has pottered in and out of her crate and will nap in there, eat in there etc. However, at night it has been a different story. The first 2 nights me or my husband slept on the floor next to the crate and she was unsettled on/off. We expected that. However, last night we put her in the crate and my husband lay in the floor a few feet away and she just would not settle with shushing. Crying barking etc. We thought that maybe it was harder for her to settle knowing that someone was close but she just kept barking/crying. In the end my husband came upstairs to bed as she was crying whether he was on the floor next to her or not. She eventually went quiet from 1 am until about 4:15. We thought she may need the toilet so we put her outside and then tried to resettle her in crate but she cried/barked until 6 am when we came downstairs and she conked our on the sofa next to us. I feel as if I’ve read so much conflicting advice - to leave her to self-soothe or to keep sleeping next to crate (even though that didn’t help). We really don’t want her to be upstairs. We have a reasonably sized house and I want the dog to live downstairs.

[Moveslikejagger1]

Hi, we had similar issues with our pup. We got him at two months and brought his crate up to our room and he slept in there for the first 2 weeks. We then started to move him gradually to the door of our room, to the hall, top of stairs and eventually downstairs under the stairs where we wanted him to sleep. This was advice given to us by a pet behavioural therapist. He was waking twice a night for toilet until about two weeks ago. He is now 5 months and sleeps 11-5am and then out to toilet and sleeps again until around 8. We hope when he’s another month or two older he will sleep till 7am as he should be able to hold his bladder that long.

Some people say their dog slept downstairs through the night straight away but for us it was a process over two months to get to where we are. It’s only been 3 days for you so I think you’re expecting far too much. I’m sure two months seems like a long time to you right now but if you think in the context of having the dog for hopefully 15 years it’s only a small investment to ensure dog is comfortable and settled where they sleep.

[Wolfie11]

I had my puppy in a crate beside my bed. I kept my hand in the crate with him until he fell asleep. The first couple of nights he woke up once for the toilet and if he cried at all I put my fingers through/hand back in and talked to him. He was sleeping through within a few nights in his crate pretty happily. He is now 19 weeks and is allowed to sleep where he likes except the living room and DS’s room. I don’t have an upstairs so I obviously didn’t have that issue to consider although when I stay at my partner’s house he sleeps in the kitchen with no problems. I‘m not 100% sure if I am just lucky though!

I personally wouldn’t leave a puppy to cry, she is just a baby and will be missing her mum and litter mates. There is a Facebook group that has lots of great advice called Dog training advice and support, you could have a look on there. Good luck, I hope she settles soon for you, sleepless nights are the worst 🐶.

[Girlintheframe]

We did the same as the pp. we had pup in a crate next to our bed for the 1st 3 weeks.
We never woke him for the toilet but as soon as he stirred we took him outside. By the end of the 2nd week he was sleeping through the night.
After the 3rd week we started inching the crate out of our room bit by bit until he was in his own room aka the office.
I couldn't ignore a puppy crying, it just wouldn't sit well with me. At the end of the day they are just babies missing their mum and sibling.

[Bethanemethane]

Thanks for the replies. She’s been much more settled (though we did end up snuggled on the sofa at 5:30 this morning 🤷‍♀️)

[Hardtoknowwhat]

Hi OP
We've had our labrador puppy for 12 days now and she's now settled with us but still up at least once (more often 2 or 3 times) overnight.

She sleeps in her crate downstairs and happily takes herself in there during the day for naps etc. She goes to sleep in there no problem but will then cry/bark when she awakens until we go to her. We then always take her outside and she will wee and/or poo. I feel your pain with the lack of sleep; I find it hard to relax knowing it's only a matter of time before she cries/barks next. I do keep telling myself it's early days yet though and she'll soon settle into a routine.

I've joined a group on Facebook called Labradors UK (I think) and found it really helpful.