Puppy Routine

[Parkmama]

We have a 2.5 year old Labrador, she sleeps on the sofa from 7pm, we go to bed and she'll stay there until we come down to her in the morning. All good!

We also have a new Labrador puppy who is 10 weeks old. She currently in the crate in the dining room from around 10:30pm until she barks and whines at 5am (often will also bark and whine at 3am but we ignore this) Our older girl was also crate trained and would happily wait for us to come down and open up, never barked or whined.

I want to stop giving the barking and whining attention but it's waking the whole house up and so I'm in a routine now of responding to it by letting her out, she goes for a wee and then joins my older lab (after a quick play) on the sofa in the living room to rest until breakfast for both at 7am.

How can I break this 5am wake up cycle? New puppy doesn't seem desperate for a wee, she will go but after quite a bit of hanging around in the garden. Should I move her crate into the living room with my older lab? I think the barking to be let out might be even greater knowing the older girl is just there or should I try letting them sleep the night together in the living room?

I want to break the cycle of time responding to her barking, me getting up at 5am for her to go back to sleep until 7am. What have others done for sleeping arrangements with an older and a younger pup? I worry they will play fight all night without me being able to gently break them up and encourage rest!

At ten weeks, she's barking because she's telling you something - she needs a wee, she's hungry, or she's done sleeping and wants to get up and play

I definitely wouldn't put them in the same room together unsupervised all night.

The 5am wake-ups with a young puppy are normal and at that age you absolutely do need to be responding to her and taking her outside - however I wouldn't be letting her in with your older lab - I'd be putting her back in her crate and going back to bed, otherwise I feel like you're rewarding the barking.

Thank you, I think you're right that having been out at 5am she needs to go back into her crate for a further snooze and I should leave my older girl resting. I think it's tricky as it's summer and fully daylight outside. When we went through these early months with my older girl, it was winter and still very dark at 5am!

If she's barking and whining at 3am I'd take her out then, rather than pushing it to 5am when it's starting to get light. She should then hopefully settle back to sleep better. That's certainly what we found with our pup last year.

I think at 10 weeks being dry in a crate all night is too much. Take her out at 3am - quick wee and put her back in again.

Or ditch the crate.

You need to get up at 2.00 and take her out on her lead, then when she has weed quietly put her back in her crate until 6.00. She's very young, a baby, and currently I would say she is going too long.

You need to understand they’re 10 weeks old and are telling you they likely need the toilet!!
Won’t be long until she sleeps through