What was your first night home with puppy like?

[totallyliterally]

Can you tell me how it went? Where you and the puppy slept? How many times you took them out for a wee? Did they cry so you went in and let them out?

New arrival here on Thursday and trying to get my head around all the possible options!

I slept in bedroom near the kitchen. Puppy was initially in a playpen as we were waiting for crate to arrive.

Every cry I went and let him out for a pee then straight back again. I had little sleep for the first month because after he had settled in I then followed the rule of puppy holding it at night for 1 hour for each month of age plus 1 so set an alarm. I also had baby monitor so if he got up and was restless I would also take him out for the toilet.

Put him to bed in his crate at 11.30, covered the crate with a blanket, and left the radio on low and then expected to not get much sleep. At 3am I woke up and had to resist going downstairs to check he was breathing. Went down at 6am and took him out, he hadn't even done a wee and has always slept all night ever since we got him and has never had an accident at night. He was 8 weeks old when we got him.

Oh I should have said I knew mine could not hold it for all night because I forgot the alarm once

Crate went on the landing next to our bedroom door. We put one of the kids soft toys in (making sure we eas something without sewn on eyes or anything she could chew off on) a blanket in and a towel over the top. We sat with her for a bit while she settled. We got up every hour the first night. Didnt talk to her just went out with her until she went. Then slowly increased it.

After the 3rd night she didnt mess in her crate at all. After 2 weeks she could go all night without going.

We also fed her in the crate during the day for the first couple of months.

We kept a stash of clean blankets next to the crate so if she did mess we could just lift it all out and replace it.

She loves her crate now (she has just turned 1) and prefers being in there when we go out and at night. She is very unsettled if we dont put her in and ckose the door.

I got my puppy at 11 weeks. Crate training was a huge fail and she'd do a pitiful cry and I was worried about disturbing neighbours ( very thin walls- I can hear them pressing the start button on the microwave they are that thin!)
She ended up on my bed. She's slept there ever since I used to let her out every few hours, three months on I let her out before I go to sleep at midnight and I let her out at 7 when I get up. Luckily not many accidents.

She won't bark to go out and doesn't show any indication of needing to go ( quite frustrating) so I just let her out frequently. I've tried for three months to crate train but she hates it l, she hates me leaving her as she has major separation anxiety ( she had a rough start before I rescued her)

If you stick to it it shouldn't take long for your puppy to settle into their routine, good luck

I woke up at two am - he didn't wake me - and tried to take him out. He wouldn't go and his crate was dry. Put him back in crate. Got up at 7, took him out, he went then. He never once woke me up or needed to go in the night, he'd been crate trained at the breeders and was obviously used to that from very early on, thank you breeder!

Oh and the crate was in my room next to the bed so he knew I was there so didn't cry.

Thanks all!

Plan is crate in the kitchen and I think I'll sleep in living room next door for first few nights so I don't have to stumble down the stairs.

Got the added chaos of 2 cats who will likely go out in middle of the night if she does. But they'll just have to stay out. Have visions of chasing puppy and cats in garden at 2am!!

Got our puppy at 9 weeks. Because of a nightmare journey home with him (we live in Essex and his breeder is in North Wales) we didn't get home until 1am so all our good intentions went out the window because we were both tired.

We started off with me and OH upstairs and puppy downstairs in crate. He started crying and almost screaming. Went down to him, took him in garden, put him back in crate, went back to bed and crying/screaming started literally immediately.

I then went down, moved the crate next to the settee and slept on the settee. He whimpered a couple of times in the night and I spoke softly to him and stroked him and, apart from once, he went back to sleep. That one time I took him in the garden where he peed and then put him back in crate.

Me and OH spent about 2 weeks taking it in turns sleeping downstairs with him, gradually moving the crate further from the settee. We didn't want him sleeping in our room.

He was used to crates as his breeder uses them and even now at 5 chooses to sleep in his crate a lot of the time. We did intend to get rid of it once he got to a year old as it is big and in our living room but as he likes it so much we haven't!

Join the FB group Dog training advice and support and have a look at their puppy files. Great advice on toilet training. Crates. Puppy biting. They do!
My pup slept in her crate from the start but I slept next to her on the kitchen floor
After three weeks she would go to bed fine and sleep through (about 12-6) so I went back to bed.
One thing that helped was taking her straight to the garden when we got home. Don't introduce pup to house with a full bladder. Get that first pee or poo outside!
Re the cats. Stairgates have been really helpful here. At night puppy goes out through kitchen back door. Kitchen door shut. Cats can't escape.

I slept on the sofa in the living room, with puppy in his crate, for the first few nights so I could quickly reassure him if he started to cry.

We did intend to get rid of it once he got to a year old as it is big and in our living room but as he likes it so much we haven't!

We were exactly the same. Planned on getting rid. Dog loves it so much we didnt

1 puppy slept right through, no whimpering at all. 2nd puppy whimpered a couple of times and went to loo once. No big dramas with either!

Btw I didn't use a crate so I think I had no problems because they could come and see me if they wanted. Both prefer to sleep downstairs now but I think keeping them out of the crate made them more secure

I didn't get rid of the crate until I moved house years later because my dog seemed to like it (he found a new special place to sleep when we moved). We still use a crate on holiday and he sleeps in it very happily (he's ten now )

Put pup to bed, hear pup crying, hope it stopped, didn't stop, went to check, poo everywhere. Repeat every 10 min it got better very quickly though thankfully!!

Got pup at 8weeks. She has slept with teenage DS from the first night with no accidents . To be honest she would have slept in the kitchen in her crate as she came crate trained, or at least she came perfectly happy to sleep in her crate, but DS wanted her with him and after warning him of the worst case scenario I left him to it. She is very happy if she is left in the kitchen now and we have never had any separation anxiety so no evidence of making a rod for our own back.

First night I slept next to crate on kitchen floor, 2nd night i slept in kitchen but out of sight.. 3rd night I went upstairs to bed and she was fine all night.. I have never woken up puppy for a wee.. I put her to bed at 10.30 and she gets up around 7.30. Never once had an accident in crate. The whole thing was so much easier than I had anticipated. Enjoy

Bluepuppy decided he wanted to do doggy co-sleeping in my bed and being the obedient whippet servant that I am I obliged

In all seriousness my biggest stress was that he didn't like the (expensive ) kibble I'd bought him or the kibble the breeder had given me. Don't be surprised if puppy is off her food the first day or so and try not to panic about if they seem otherwise active and healthy.

I handle first (and subsequent) nights as described in this guide except I have the pup in bed with me rather than in a crate. Initially I sleep downstairs so I'm closer to the back door and can whip them out as quickly as possible.

Once they're nicely settled into the bedtime routine and sleeping through we relocate to the bedroom at night. This is the point where you'd start very gradually getting them used to sleeping where you want them long term.

This is the collection of puppy-related files that Wolfiefan mentioned and I totally agree that it's well worth having a good read through them all and joining the FB group itself.

1st night was OK I think she was exhausted, hard work came after that. Howled and howled the 2nd night in her crate. 3rd night I set up an air bed next to her crate and slowly moved it away every night there after until about the 7th night I was back in my own bed and set an alarm according to her schedule so I woke before she woke me up and therefore she wasn't in the routine of waking me up if you see what I mean

First night was okay. I slept downstairs on the sofa with her asleep in her bed on the floor next to me. No howling or crying.

I set my alarm every half hour day and night to take her out for a pee/poo. The first week was exhausting but she became house trained SO quickly

Facebook links are great, I had picked them up from other threads here before but a good reminder.

I think for me (as with most things in life!) I like to know the right way, but that doesn't exist with puppy's. It is the right was for you AND them.

I think I'll get the air bed out for just in case, but will try her in crate in kitchen and me on sofa and leave door open into kitchen (have gate)

I'll probably end up with the cat on my head but ho - hum

I'll report back here!

Eric was a model puppy at night time. He was the last to leave the breeder so she had moved his mum out two nights previously so he was already used to sleeping alone. Dh slept on the sofa, Eric had a basket inside a puppy pen in the same room as we didn't want a crate.He took him out for a pee at midnight and settled him down.Eric slept without making a murmur and I took him out at 6am.
That routine stayed for the next couple of days and since then he's slept in his basket or on the sofa alone (pen went when he was twelve weeks and reliably house trained). I think he's woke us up twice in three years (and we never got up to pee or poo) once because he needed to toilet and once because there was a fox looking in the window (he went bonkers that night)

Pup in a box beside our bed so I could reach down if he cried. Took him out when needed, which was usually only once each night (get your pup in early summer)
He was completely housetrained by fourteen weeks but did sleep on our bed as soon as he could jump up. I would never never leave a new baby pup alone downstairs at night, neither I nor neighbour's would get any sleep.