Puppy at night

Laceydad

To allow us to sleep, we keep our puppy in her crate in a spare bedroom at night and move it to the living room during the day.. Is this right? Or should we keep it in our bedroom (with the other dog's crate) so she can see and smell us? We fear this may lead to more sleepless nights...

Also, most training vids we have watched never mention having to get up in the middle of the night to walk puppy (10 weeks old). We feel this is imperative since her bladder is so small.

Any advise would be GREATLY appreciated..

briteday

I don't think it matters where you keep the crate, as long as it works for you.

We tend to keep the puppies in an area close to the bedrooms, so we don't have to wander the whole house when the alarm goes off for night time potty trots. Sometimes crates are in the bedroom, sometimes they are not.

Since we have a multi-dog household we now keep crates in the family room as well as where ever they sleep. They use the ones in the family room during the day if they want to nap or play with a toy by themselves. I can also easily put the dogs in those crates if I have to run out for an errand vs. taking each dog to a different area to their own sleeping crate. I watch craigslist and garage sales for extra crates.

A 10 week old dog should be taken outside at least every 2-3 hours, 24/7.

Chindo_Gae_Cerberus

Laceydad:

Well every single dog and house hold is going to be different, so try to do what fits for you and this individual pup.

Usually I keep the crates in my bedroom. I find that most often the dogs stay silent at night, while we all sleep in the one room.

A pup as young as yours most certainly should be taken out at night to releave themselves, it will greatly help with the house training process!

Laceydad

Thanks for the great replies.. One other question.. Should we have bedding in her crate? I know puppies like to pee on absorbant material and we were told to only add bedding as she gets older. Any experience with this?

jesirose

You could try it and if she pees on it remove it. Use an old towel or something. Sadie has beds in both her crates and hasn't peed in them. If she did she'd still have to sit in it lol.

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Poly

Laceydad:

The problem with bedding in the crate isn't that she will pee on it - the problem is that she may chew it and choke on a piece. Even a towel can be problematic - puppy teeth are sharp as razors.

We stay away from bedding in the crate until whatever puppy or dog is using it has shown to be a reliable non-chewer of other things. Keeping it simple.

When will that be? Concerning puppies, they are losing or growing teeth throughout most of their first year, so they tend to change from chewing machines to not chewing so much and then back to chewing again at almost any time. As long as you are watching her, you can always intervene if she starts chewing on something she shouldn't. When you're sleeping, you can't do that.

So watch her around the house. Give her chew toys that she likes. If you still see evidence of her chewing the rug or a towel she grabbed from the bathroom or whatever, chances are that she will chew her bedding as well. If she seems to be restricting herself to the chew toys, introduce her to a pad or a towel or something like that in the crate under your supervision and see what she does with it.

Puppies actually don't need bedding to sleep. If you want to start introducing her to a crate-pad or even to a bed now, you can certainly do that - but do it under your supervision.

She may have some kind of safe chew toy in her crate - something hard that you will inspect regularly to make sure it is still OK. There are lots of brands.

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