How long did your puppy whine at night?

[weeblueberry]

I totally get it depends on the dog but I'm interested to find out, from those of you who crated in your bedroom, how long the night time whining lasted?

We got rescue pup on Saturday from the SSPCA kennels and he's amazing but, despite the crate being right next to my bed at night and me reassuring him both verbally with by making sure to stroke him when he does calm, he's still very whiny. Last night he cried for a solid 2 hours before calming. We're offering as much reassurance as we can in the quieter moments because I don't want to encourage the crying by soothing when he's at his peak!

Now I genuinely have no issue with this - I get that the poor wee sausage is getting used to sleeping 'alone' but I'm interested to find out how long it typically lasts in this situation? I'm happy to wait it out to get him used to the crate but interested to find out if we're looking at weeks or months of nighttime upset?

For info he's approx 12/13 weeks old and hasn't been with mum for about a month.

I don't want to encourage the crying by soothing when he's at his peak!

I don't think you can do this. See Patricia McConnell on how you cannot reinforce fear: www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/you-cant-reinforce-fear-dogs-and-thunderstorms

I crated Battendog in the room at night and on the first night sat on the floor outside the crate with the crate door slightly open and my arm inside the crate stroking him. I repeated (ad nauseum) "hush now, settle down, good boy, settle down, hush now baby, settle down..."

It took him about 20mins to start to go quiet and doze off. I then - over a period of several mins - slowly withdrew my arm but kept talking. Then moved into bed with my arm down by the crate, still talking. Then withdrew my arm, still talking. Then shut up.

I did this everytime I had to put him back in the drate post-wee and found I could withdraw quicker and quicker each time. It took about 4-5 nights before I could just use my voice to sooth but not bother sitting with him.

From then on, he voluntarily went in his crate each night to snooze with no trouble.

Although yours has not been with mum for weeks, he is very fresh into a new home and likely to take several day to settle down.

Thank you for replying! I'll certainly read the article - most of what I read suggested soothing when crying was the worst thing I could do but I would be happy to read otherwise since it's extremely difficult!

I did try to sooth with the door open like you've suggested but he kept keening to come up and be snuggled in my arms. So I tried similar with the door closed which didn't quite cut it in his eyes sadly lol.

I'm totally prepared to keep at it - I do believe in the long term benefits of the crate so will persevere. :)

I used to sooth pup through the sides of the crate.
I can't remember how many nights he whined for so it can't have been too long.
As soon as he started crying I would talk to him and stroke him, just to let him know I was there and reassure him.

We got our pup younger, 8 weeks, so maybe easier to settle than slightly older pup? She took under a week, I placed her crate right next to my bed and put my hand through the bars at the base to encourage her to lay down and cosy up to her blanket. Through the night when she woke I took her for a loo break (approx every 3 hrs) now she goes 8 hrs and goes into crate and self settles, she is still in my room but is happy there and I'm ok with it

At the first whimper I lifted our pup onto my bed, where he slept soundly, only waking for a wee once nightly for the first week.

Mattmagnolia
I love you !

Thanks all.

To be honest if it had just been me I'd have had him on the bed for cuddles that first night. DH is adamant he won't - this is largely because he's a rescue with unknown parentage and he's worried he's going to get massive and take over the bed.

Glad to report though that night 4 was excellent. Happily went into his crate last night and I popped off the light and put a podcast on low. The ambient noise seemed to make a difference. :)