Puppy night time issues

[cocktailclub]

Hoping for some kind advice. We have a 3 month old GR puppy. He's crated at night and happily goes to bed about 10.30 after a toilet break. He then wakes at about two am for the toilet but goes back in the crate happily. He wakes at 5am and after a wee will not go back in the crate but does sleep as long as one of us is downstairs with him. Otherwise he barks and cries so no one gets any sleep. He has two fifteen minute lead walks in the day, zoomed in the garden and lots of playtime as one of us works part time and we both work from home. He does puppy play twice a week and puppy school once a week plus has the chance to meet other dogs on the lead in our neighbourhood. So I think he's tired enough. We don't use the crate during the day but at night we can't really trust him not to chew something he shouldn't.

We're suffering from broken nights and early mornings so any advice gratefully received. He is not our first dog (he is currently our only dog) but it's some years since we raised a puppy.

themuttyprofessor.co.uk/2017/07/20/crate-debate-crate-not-crate/
Apparently crates stop dogs being destructive. In my opinion they can potentially do the opposite.
If a dog’s environment is so tightly managed through crating that they never get enough opportunity to touch, see and sniff things, then that environment remains novel for far longer than it would if they experienced more of it earlier on. The longer an individual is exposed to something, the less novel it will become. If a puppy feels familiar
enough with their environment through adequate exposure then they’re less likely to want to explore it intensely.
And guess what? Many puppies explore using their mouth, and the older they get the more damage their jaws can do.

Dogs are polyphasic sleepers. This means they sleep in short periods, like to get up and move around as well as changing positions.
Changing surfaces that they sleep on also helps them regulate their temperature.
Therefor, crating dogs goes against their natural way of sleeping and removes all option of them fulfilling this instinctive behaviour.

Early starts come with the territory of puppy ownership, unfortunately.

Mine didn't reliably sleep past 7am until he was at least 6-7 months old, and he would still get up early once a week or so until he was around eighteen months.

I would say one of you needs to deal with the night wakings and one of you do the early starts for now - it is really tiring but it won't last forever!

Mine is almost four now and has to be turfed out of bed in the mornings

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but our pup has just turned 6 months and has only just started sleeping through the night. She stopped needing the toilet through the night fairly young but needed reassurance for much longer. With hindsight I wished we'd spent less time trying to get her to sleep alone and more time doing what maximised our own sleep!

Thanks all. I also posted on a golden retriever site and they've suggested a couple of things like a snuggle puppy and taking water up at 9pm.
Some nights he does sleep through and we were just working out if it's on the days he has more to do such as puppy school.
In terms of the crate, it's big enough he can adjust his sleeping position and has a bed, vet bed and plain flooring so he can regulate body temperature. As I said he's not crated during the day so can explore everything around him but for his own safety he goes in and night (and quite happily)

Please don't restrict water.

What you can do instead, is give ice cubes instead of water in a bowl, so they can still quench their thirst but they don't end up with that urge to pee.

I think that is as to be expected. Your dog is still and has lots of growing to do. In Four weeks it will be better.

We got our large breed dog aged 8 months in June (not this year). Basically he was up at first dawn and wanted to play- goodbye sleep! So be glad it's not June

He wasn't crated but that is because he was a rescue and he had been fostered for two weeks so this game were uncertain for him. He is crated now at night and sleeps all night.

What I've learnt from our rescue dog is that he needed time and consistency and my husband has done an amazing job in providing that.

Enjoy the puppy snuggles.

Ah I don't miss this at all and I feel for you so badly . If you have Facebook go join some golden retriever groups . My pup also a gr was worse than this . We were having 2 hours sleep a night ! It was the crate he hated . So then we put a baby gate in the kitchen for him and he stayed out there but would bark non stop for over an hour then settle but up every hour just for one of us to come down . Then I thought bugger it he can have free run of the house and even sleep in bed with us which he did and didn't wake once ! Now he just loves the sofa and we don't hear him all nigiri

Thanks for sharing. I'm inclined to do this but I am concerned about the stairs while he's so little.

What worked for us was dpuppy slept fine in crate from 11-5 then dh went out with other ddogs and left dpuppy on our bed.. She curled up and the bottom and slept until I got up!! At 2 she loves a sneaky cuddle in our bed. She outgrew the crate at about 6 months.

Is that enough of a walk, 2 rounds of 15 mins seems short. Our lab would walk for 30 mins min before he showed any signs of tiring as soon as we got him home for the breeder.

@cocktailclub

Thanks for sharing. I'm inclined to do this but I am concerned about the stairs while he's so little.

Just carry him upstairs with you and either use babygates or closed doors to restrict his movement.

Our beagle has slept upstairs from day one and we just used to carry him up until he was around six months old :)

Is he sleeping during the day? At 3 months he should be having daytime naps too - you may need to encourage this to prevent him becoming overtired.
My cocker puppy woke early til around 5-6 months, he's good til 8am now. You'll get there!

Mine was the same, we ended up with me going to the sofa at 5am where he'd curl up and sleep at my feet. He's not 5m5 months and just this week has gone into his crate overnight and is sleeping through til 6 ish in there no problems.

I have no regret whatsoever that we took it slowly and kindly. He is a very sweet, cuddly and people focused pup and needed reassuring and to be near his people. He's now old enough and has his feet under the table enough to know he's safe and we are going nowhere. And I think that's helped? Once we are past the chompy crocodile stage I will leave the crate open and he can have the kitchen/diner and utility to potter in overnight.

Thanks everyone. It is starting to improve already.

Regarding the walks we were told five minutes for every month of age so we've been trying to keep walks short but I agree it doesn't seem enough. Our vet said this was the correct time though.

He does happily go into the crate and recently he's been sleeping right through until 5.30 or 6 which is fine. Once we know he won't bite through any wires or do anything dangerous we will leave the crate open at night.

He's just getting too heavy to carry upstairs now at 14kg already.