Got a new puppy and he is awake all night!

[kid]

How on earth do you go about training a puppy to sleep through the night?

He is an adorable, 8 week old Springer/Cocker Spaniel. He had already been separated from his mum before we took him as he was still trying to feed from her but all her milk had dried up and she was getting sore.

He isn't kept in a cage and has the run of the downstairs of the house. We are all sleeping upstairs, well that is the plan anyway!

Another thing that I am unsure of is, he whines when he is eating! I wondered if it could be his teeth hurting?
I am giving him biscuits (for puppies) with moist bits in and I put water on it for him (as advised on the pack for under 12 week old puppies) I do have some puppy meat for him too, I just don't know how much I should be feeding him.

I know puppies are hard work, but I hadn't realised how hard! His beautiful little blue eyes more than make up for it though
Its just like having a newborn baby, but he doesn't stay where I put him!

Hang in there!

When you're trying to extinguish a behaviour (i.e. stopping it by not rewarding the behaviour) it can often get worse just before it gets a whole lot better.

If you backtrack now, it will go on so much longer and be so much harder to stop.

Put some blankets over the crate - dogs like to feel enclosed and secure and it may also muffle the noise a bit

I have put a blanket over his crate (which he is now trying to pull off) and popped him in there earlier and said 'bed'. No idea if it will work, but am willing to try. I will lock him in it when I go out later to see if is calm when I return or howling. He only has 2 toys bless him, really need to get him some more. He doesn't even have a lead or collar yet.

His mum is a sniffer dog, he most certainly isn't! I gave him some meat earlier but put it on a plate instead of his bowl as I have biscuits in soak for later. He could smell the meat but was looking for his silver bowl. He kept going near the plate but then walked away. When he finally realised that was his lunch, he practically jumped onto the plate.

The start of another bad night. If I leave the crate door open, he follows me around. If I shut the door, he yelps and howls. At the moment, the door is open, I am on the settee and he is on the floor, out of the cage, napping. He will move as soon as I get up.

I'll give it a few minutes then move him to crate.

We are in the third week of puppy ownership (Amos is now 12 weeks), and have not gone down the crate route (dh thinks it is cruel). We have a room for the pup to sleep in, and a bed there and in our main room. We have a bedtime routine, the pup goes for a walk at about 11ish or so and then I take him into his room, stroke him until he is calm and sleepy and say good night firmly. He is waking at about 3.30/4ish for a pee, and then I settle him back down again, and he will sleep through until 5 or 6, when dh gets him up and they go and sleep on the sofa together.

To start off he was very sad about going in his room, whimpered and whined and had to be settled again and again (very baby whisperer), but after a few nights he seemed to get the idea that night time was for sleeping, then we had a while when he let us sleep for longer but made a mess, and then a couple of very disturbed nights when he decided pees were for outside, but now the length he can go without a pee is gradually getting longer and so we should be on one night time wake up pretty soon I think, as dh gets up early in any case.

I think it really is quite like having a baby crossed with a toddler. Certainly dh (SAHD) was taken aback by how much work it's been, but as with babies give them a routine that is familiar and be consistent and it should get better. We found with our pup that the most important thing for family harmony was lots of short walks. He is so much easier to live with when he is not wild!

How was he last night?

him whining and whining and you turning up is reinforcing that whining at night gets him what he wants
When you go to him at night, pick him up, pop him outside go with him for 2 mins, paying him NO attention, then pop him back in his crate and leave him again
If him whining means he gets plopped outside instead of reassuring cuddles - he will soon stop it.
Why have a crate of you leave the door open?
It is not cruel at all to close the door, so long as you answer his need for toiletting

Have locked my boy in his crate for naps,he wont stay inside it otherwise as he prefers sleeping on my feet.He complained bitterly the first 2 timesat least a half hour of screaming/yelping.Now he moans for 2 seconds then goes to sleep.We cover the crate with a blanket as he settles quicker with it.

You could go cold turkey though,warn the neighbours and invest in earplugs.Ignore his yelps unless its a toilet break needed and he should be 'cured' in a couple of nights.

He isn't yet toilet trained, he is 8 weeks old today. He is getting the hang of using newspaper as he will walk on to it and then wee. Unfortunately, only his front feet are on the paper!

My garden hasn't been puppy-proofed yet and he hasn't had his injections.

He did sleep really well in the crate last night, with the door open, with me on the settee just out of sight. He may have stayed there even if I had gone back upstairs to bed, but I couldn't be bothered to have to get back up again to deal with him.
I thought that I would use the crate so he had somewhere he felt safe to go.

Our walls are very thin, the neighbours will report me for cruelty to animals, or to the HA as I didn't tell them I was getting a dog.
I am sure I am allowed a dog, but just incase!

He is off to the vets shortly for his first set of injections. Then he can start going out in a couple of weeks.

We do pretty much what piffle suggests, and as it is below -10C outside at night I think that's a good incentive not to make too much of a fuss! But our first week was very hard (dh suggested returning him to the shelter). It does get better as they settle in your family and feel familiar and at home, and then just as they grow up, with bladder capacity/control being the key factor. My puppy book says an eight week old can only last for two hours (it's 3-4 hours at 12 weeks though, which means just the one outside visit per night, which is quite civilized really).

He can't even manage 2hours, it's like he has a leak! Vets went well, he is a very healthy and friendly pup. He didn't even flinch for the needle. He did however do the biggest wee ever all over
y lap on the way home!

Oh dear! Perhaps it is a pity that you can't get puppy nappies for those first few weeks.

Kid - would your crate be big enough for a small bed at one side and a puppy training pad at the other?

The crate has his bed on one side and some cardboard covered with newspaper on the otherside. There is also space for his water bowl which I put just a little bit of water in.
He also has his blanket that came with him from the breeders house which he loves to chew on.

I introduced him to my neighbour tonight and right on cue, he did those sad puppy eyes at her. I think she loves him! I appologised for all the noise and explained that we are trying to train him to sleep downstairs. I promised it won't go on for ever. Please reassure me that it won't go on for ever!

No, it won't go on forever! He doesn't need a water bowl overnight - you can safely take his water away from at least 10pm. Might cut down on the wees! At worst, I would expect him to need one or two wees a night at this age, and if you don't want to get up to let him do those then just let him do them on the paper. What you must try to avoid is him realising that crying is a sure fire way of getting you to keep him company.
Hope last night was better

I changed tactics last night, poor pup might end up confused but if it means we all get a good nights sleep then it will be worth it.

I decided that he doesn't need to stay downstairs overnight, instead he can sleep on his bed in my bedroom. He has no way of getting on to the bed so thats good.

He settled really quickly last night and only did one wee all night and that one was on the paper.
I have started to let him in the garden and he usually does a wee out there, eventually!