Puppy . . . tell me it gets better

[Parkmama]

Labrador pup is 13 weeks, crated and we're up MULTIPLE times a night with her. She does a good stretch 9pm - 3am which feels fairly reliable and then she's barking for us to take her out which we do and she usually does a wee and poo. We then put her back into her crate as it's 3:15am and she just barks and whines until eventually we the neighbours can't take anymore and we get up with her. She soon finds a spot to snooze in and goes back to sleep but this relies on us now being up with her. It's not sustainable, we are so tired. We have an older Lab and she never did this, was a dream sleeper and never barked! It's slowly breaking us to be honest and I'm just not sure what else to try. We tried letting her sleep freely out of the crate with our older girl but she just messes around and starts trying to play fight etc so we have to sit with them to supervise the resting until it's an acceptable time to get up. We feel broken

Hi - we've got a 3 month old Samoyed, she's actually ok at night but we have a few other issues like house training to deal with and chewing things. We've signed up for puppy training classes, have you considered this, and getting some support there?
It's like having a toddler with a puppy isn't it ... it will get better though

I'd ditch the crate and let her sleep with the older dog, that's what she is after and isn't that what you eventually want?

She will settle.. she may annoy the older dog for a while but gives older one a chance to put her in her place if she's pestering.

I'd do the 3.15 and then head back upstairs ignore until 6am for another let out.

We have 4 dogs and from day one with all bringing home they go straight with the pack and settle, she's a pack animal and you've separated her at nighttime so she's goi g to fuss and whine.

I hope she settles for you, I can't imagine the cuteness!

You need to work through the barking.

Either ignore her completely (not what I would do) or move the crate into your room so she settles better after going out to the toilet.

I would have her in your room. My last pup never settled in his crate at night, despite being alongside our older dog downstairs. We slept downstairs for a few weeks with him, but he still wasn’t happy, so we made sure the room the dogs slept in was extra puppy proofed and left the crate door open in the end. Not a peep out of him after that.

With our new pup, his crate is next to my bed and he sleeps through 11.00 pm to 6.30 am, sometimes 7.00 and has done since he was 13 weeks old. He wakes up and sits up to check I’m still there, but doesn’t make a fuss and goes straight back to sleep once he’s reassured. It’s made a huge difference to our puppy experience this time around as we aren’t as exhausted. (It helps that he’s small though, as our last pup’s crate was too big to fit in our bedroom.)

It will get better! As her daytime feeding routine changes, so will the times she needs to go to the loo and she should sleep longer and longer through the night. When we were getting up with our pup for her nighttime wees we kept the interactions with her very minimal which seemed to work though she would settle back down DH but not for me so I ended up. sleeping on the sofa next to her pen for hours. Sounds like she wants to be with the older dog. if you are worried could you sleep in the same room for a few nights?

Our labrador pup never slept consistently through the night until she was in the same room as us. She wasn't a terrible sleeper, she would just always want some reassurance at 3am after which she'd go back to sleep. She now sleeps on our bed! Not the plan but the months of interrupted sleep floored me and when we discovered she'd sleep until 8 in the same room as us we chose the easy life!

Surely way too hot for a confined space right now?
When our dpuppy got big enough she was left to sleep with our other ddogs.
Peace.

I would look at time of last feeding just to check the puppy is not waking up hungry.

I would NOT leave the puppy loose with the old dog - it is not fair on the older dog also you want to build reslience in your puppy and not make it dependent on older dog.

If you dont want the puppy in your room then set an alarm at 3.00 before your puppy barks and you go and let puppy out for wee. Then popo back into crate and you sleep near the crate . Over time set the alarm later and later and move yourself further away from the crate. I never have puppies in my room ever much against MN rules.

You dont want the barking to be the signal that you are coming down to your puppy hence you coming down before the barking starts.

I do hope you get a good nights sleep soon - some puppies are very hard work.

Dogs need to move around to cool, she's probably too hot and I think you should let her sleep somewhere cooler.

Thank you everyone for your comments / ideas / suggestions . . . I'm also hoping once we're out and about this week for walks (weather permitting) this might help stimulate her mentally / physically too. We're going to try moving her crate to the bedroom and setting an alarm ahead of her usual waking and see if we can reduce the barking

Hi, my pup was the same. Up wanting to go to the toilet, sometimes even did it in his crate if we didnt notice in time. We were knackered. After a few weeks, when he was fully toilet trained we let him sleep upstairs with us. Hes been pretty great ever since. Your pup will slowly get out of the routine of needing to go in the night as she will be able to hold it in eventually. And I would try having her in your room if thats possible. She just wants to be with you so having her in your room will hopefully stop the barking.

New pup- just a few days. He's sleeping lots and we're trying to establish an eating routine. Any tips on toilet training. I know it's been a few days but we're in the garden a lot and haven't seen much action. He wees in the house too quickly, I don't get a chance to let him go out. A soon as he eats or drinks or as soon as he wakes up within seconds he wees.
Got the puppy training spray and the stick in the ground thing but it's all far too quick and doesn't seem to work. Any tips?

@MrsThaskala for the first couple of weeks we spent a lot of time outside, offering kibble in tiny amounts for every wee / poo done and lots of praise. Every time she toileted inside we just lifted her up and popped her in the garden, we didn't scold but we didn't praise. She got there quite quickly in the end, we still have the occasional accident now but feel more confident at recognising the signs. Usually they sniff quite frantically and pace a lot when they're about to go. I always encourage her out when she wakes from a nap or eats (if there is time)

Update on the constant waking and barking through the night . . . I took her crate to my bedside and we had a good night! She stirred at 2:30am and I woke to her snuffling before she let out a full bark so was able to get her out and into the garden to toilet and then she went back to sleep in her crate peacefully without fuss until 5:30am. This is progress!! I hope it wasn't a fluke but being closer to us seems to be what she needs to settle. Wish I'd done it sooner

Learning the times now and most wees have been outside today. He likes running/rolling in the bushes of the garden. Don't want him to eat leaves! Normal pup behaviour?

Also, we gave him a shower once we got him home, but how often do you shower your dogs?

Me again! Puppy biting everything. Our trousers legs and not letting go. Any tips? We've tried distraction with his toys.

@MrsThaskala you need to start your own thread

Oh dear. May have to. Was just hoping others were going through the same and could share.

Puppy from four months slept in his bed in our room with older dog on bed,slept through night from day one.He sometimes when he's hot goes downstairs and sleeps on the tiles in the fire place.We just let him have the run of the house.

@MrsThaskala no need to start your own thread 🙄 . . . many themes relevant to the title!

The biting will pass, we give a firm "no" and make an over exaggerated "yelp" every time she does it to put her off. We also offer a toy to redirect when we can. They're so mouthy when they're teething, but it's not meant with malice when they're puppies. It will pass

@MrsThaskala we are having similar. Our pup is 11.5 weeks and has been home for 10 days. Constantly biting my dresses etc. We try to distract with a toy and just say "NO".

It is bloody hard. I knew it would be, I know we have to hang on in there.... But blimey. We are all tired and my two youngest kids are wary of him, which may actually be a good thing as they give him space and don't overwhelm him.

Toilet training - perhaps a 60% success rate. The big saving grace for us is that after the first two nights he was mostly OK in his crate at night.

Won't walk on a lead though. Swings and roundabouts 😂

@parkmama thank you! Didn't mean to overtake. Just as we're all at this at the same time.

Doing all the things you've both mentioned. So reassuring to know I'm doing the right thing and it's all normal. Bless him, he's doing really well, just hard isn't it at the start.

Good advice. Pup will get through it and redirecting worked really well for us - toy or eg lamb braid/puppy suitable chew (JR Pet Products do good ones) but it does feel relentless when you're in the thick of it and those puppy needle teeth hurt! We always made the sharp intake yelp and pup then started to soften how he mouthed at our hands and now I can pretty much put my hand in his mouth safely and he's very, very gentle.

Come join the puppy survival thread

www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/4496297-Puppy-Survival-Thread-muddy-footprints-into-Spring-2022?page=10&reply=118910228

Is she getting enough play time and stimulation during the day? Sounds like she is like a newborn who has the nights and days confused a bit. She wakes up 3am ready to party and then falls asleep during the day. Try keeping her awake more often during the day. I know all dogs are different. But our dog was a dream sleeper from day 1. The first week, I woke every night 3am myself to take her out for a wee. But half the time she didn’t want a wee. So after a week I slept until 6am and woke up early to let her out for a wee. She slept through and not a peep. Realised pretty quickly that she was fine to sleep until 7am. But during the day I made sure she was out of the house by 8am and playing with other pups in the park. When she was tired we went home and of course she slept a bit. But once she was up she was ready to play again. We let her play w the kids, took her to play w other dogs etc. let her run around on the grass to explore (we never forced her to walk, as I know it’s not good too much exercise for them as pups). We left it up to her. But gave plenty of opportunities along w her time to rest etc. Also, gave her dog chews as well for during the day, did training etc.