Night time crate training 😴

[Outbutnotoutout]

Question

So we started night time crate training and we are on day 9.

Predictably she cried quite a bit day 1 and 2 and 3, we let her out a few times so she could pee.

Then she settled down quite a bit, she goes in at 11pm crys for about 30min to an hour and we get her up at 6am as she disturbs for a wee and poo

HOWEVER, she is waking up at 2am every night

Should we:

A) Get up let her out for a wee
B) Leave her to cry herself back to sleep

She is now on better food and has three meals a day, wee and poo straight after.
I have given her extra blankets and turned the heating on so she isn't cold.

She is 16 weeks old

Added a picture for cute value 💕💞

I don’t like crates.
Is there any way you can leave her in a puppy proofed kitchen instead ?

Would it be a problem if she wasn’t in a crate at night? We have two dogs, one sleeps in a crate and one doesn’t. The crated dog is very anxious and chews and wees if left out overnight. He often sleeps in it during the day with the door open, and is loudly demanding (big dog loud bark) if needs a wee during the night. He definitely feels safe and secure in there and we always get up in the night if he barks.
The other dog will sleep anywhere and has always been more chilled.

16 weeks is still very young, maybe try what pp said and leave her in the kitchen instead?

I was never keen on crates either but I think it depends on the dog (in my limited experience). I am also daft enough to have a bedtime routine for him, so outside for a wee, crate, then turn the lights out and sit in the room for a few minutes till he lies down and settles in for sleep. I may have made a rod for my own back with that one

@DinosaurDiana

I don’t like crates. Is there any way you can leave her in a puppy proofed kitchen instead ?

How do you puppy proof a kitchen, when you have all the doors to chew.

She is safer in the crate.

If she isn't in the crate, she will want to be on the bed and that isn't happening.

If I did put her in the kitchen, there's all the doors to chew, cupboards with stuff in.

She would also sit by the door and scratch and scream.

At 16 weeks we were still getting up during the night to go in the garden for a wee.

@Flaunch

At 16 weeks we were still getting up during the night to go in the garden for a wee.

Thank you 😊

I kinda wanted to see if we were wrong getting up with her, but if this is normal then that's ok

Yes, she'll still need the toilet at that age - ours never had overnight accidents but he was getting up to go to the toilet until about 5-6 months old

Yes at 16 weeks I would get up at 2am for a garden trip.

Leaving to cry for 30 mins to 1 hour? That sounds like a lot!! Are you sure you can't leave her out of the crate? Our puppy doesn't chew anything at night - just sleeps

Our puppy doesn't chew anything at night - just sleeps
I was just thinking this myself. IME they just sleep at night not wander round chewing doors.
If she's 16 weeks and you've only just started crate training where was she sleeping before?
At 16 weeks my pup was in his own bed, would occasionally wake me for a wee but mostly dry through the night by then. No nighttime chewing or cupboard ransacking

Can you get up just before the 2 am crying and take for a quiet toilet trip then straight back to crate so she doesn't need to cry?

She shouldn’t be crying in the crate at all , can you not get a big pen instead and try that .

How would she be if the crate was in the bedroom? You can always go back to a separate room as she matures. I just think that allowing a dog to cry for such a long period, where it is obviously feeling anxious, could be setting you up for separation anxiety problems. I think teaching them to be confident on their own is a good foundation for later on, and this also comes with age. They get to a point where they will stop looking to you all the time and being clingy. At the moment your puppy needs the reassurance of being able to see you.
I am on my 2nd puppy in under 5 years, bought as a companion to the older dog. Neither of them cried or cry at night because they can see me all the time. I also do a 'winding down' process in the evening so by the time I go to bed the puppy is either very sleepy or asleep.
Both with my last pup and now this one I was getting up at night for several months, i think at least 4, so they would have been 6 months before going all night. It gradually got later and later until they could go all night. However, they are both small breeds with small bladders and pee for England.

So it was night 10 last night

Much better, she whimpered for about 10mins, and a 1min whimper at 2am, but went off so we didn't get up. Then up at 6 for wee and poo and came up with us for a few hours.

To answer some questions..

She is a whippet
I don't want her wandering around if she wakes up
I would like her safe in a crate
She would only come up to us in bed anyway
The crate won't fit anywhere else but the dinning room, we have a very small cottage.
The crying for an hour was after the first few nights in, she is settling a bit better each night.

I think we will keep at it

Ah - I had moved back to my bedroom, after sleeping next and then in next room to, our pup after about two weeks. She was needing to go wee twice in the night - 3hr intervals. By 16 weeks, I think I was setting my alarm for 4 hrs after bedtime to let her out for a wee. That went on for a while, until I started to see if she would be able to go through to early morning. Couple of times she woke me up (polite single bark) as needed to go out, but the important thing was she trusted that if she needed me, I would come, so she relaxed and is now a great sleeper and very calm in the morning at 10mnths.
It's a pita but the time passes quickly. Her crate is big, and has a blanket over the top so nice and quiet and safe at night.

Keep going!

No advice but she looks like mine as a young pup. Is she a lurcher?

We used a crate as a puppy. But we did get up and let her out for a wee in the small hours.

@SnaccidentsHappen

No advice but she looks like mine as a young pup. Is she a lurcher?

She is a whippet

Thank you everyone

It's so tempting to bring her up with us, but we will keep going

Is there something in particular that is waking her up at 2am like dishwasher finishing or neighbour coming home etc? Might be worth thinking about. Good luck. It’s tricky in the first few months but it will get easier.

@CatsForLife

Is there something in particular that is waking her up at 2am like dishwasher finishing or neighbour coming home etc? Might be worth thinking about. Good luck. It’s tricky in the first few months but it will get easier.

I thought perhaps the temp might drop around 2am, so might move her into the lounge, it's sort of joined to the dinning room, but she will have three walls round her and next to a radiator.