How to get my puppy to sleep

Moey · 01-08-2007, 03:17 PM

I have recently brought home a new Dachshund puppy. She is not taking to the crate training as well as I'd hoped. She will cry all night long and I try to calm her down as best as I can but I don't know if I should let her cry herself to sleep or if there is another aproach I should be taking.

I've never had a puppy before and all the books I read never delt with this subject.

MagicToller · 01-08-2007, 04:24 PM

When the puppy is crying, don't try to calm her or praise her - this will reinforce the behaviour. Most pups will fight anything new, so have patience! They will scream their heads off, and any sign of attention that they recieve will fuel her yapping.

Try to take her on a nice long walk before putting her to bed to burn off some energy. Assign a word like "crate" or "bed" and then when she enters, praise like mad - keep the crate environment very positive. Have some toys and rawhides scattered inside.

Here is a link with some extra tips and guidelines, hope it helps! Good luck

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/ou..._training.html

Moey · 01-08-2007, 04:28 PM

It's hard to be strong when she cries but I see what your saying. Thanks.

Moey · 01-08-2007, 04:39 PM

I've read the article about crate training and it sounds like it will take a few days. I'm ok with that but where should she sleep until she is confortable with the crate?

MagicToller · 01-08-2007, 05:51 PM

Well, I think you should get her used to sleeping in the crate as soon as possible. Allowing her to sleep in your bed or in any area outside the crate will get her used to it and crate training will be harder :/ I know how loud it can get, my newest pup did NOT like his crate, and it took a couple of weeks to fully get him used to it, but you can't give up.. just try to brunt it and deal with the yappiness - eventually they get used to it and begin to like the crate

Moey · 01-08-2007, 06:35 PM

Thank you for the helpful hints.

mistyinca · 01-08-2007, 06:58 PM

My dog did this for the first three nights. Aside from taking her out to potty during the night, just ignore the crying. It will stop eventually.

Moey · 01-08-2007, 07:35 PM

Ok. So when she cries I will let her cry herself to sleep. When she wakes up later to go potie, should I get her out while she is crying or should I wait until she stops and then get her out?

animalcraker · 01-08-2007, 08:08 PM

As far as the potting at night, you should plan to get up every few hours to let her out. Personaly if she is crying by then I would still let her out, most likely she whould have started crying because she heard you get up. When you do let her out at night take her straight outside, do not let her run around the house, carry her out ther if you have to. Once she's done her thing praise her like she just found gold, then take her straight back to her crate to sleep. She'll probly start to cry again but you just have to ignore it. The more consitent you are with your training he faster she'll learn.

Stella · 01-09-2007, 12:12 AM

My pup was a terrible whiner. She was a rescue pup and had severe separation anxiety. It took MONTHS of ignoring her at night (and not getting any sleep!) but eventually she got over it and now she loves her crate ("Great crate!" is the command we use here.) and she goes right to bed at 10pm. I don't put her in the crate as much now, but whenever I need to, she does with no issues whatsoever.

Moey · 01-09-2007, 01:46 PM

Last night i had every intention of putting her in there and just ignoring her. Right around 8 PM she fell asleep in my lap wraped up in her blanket. I then put her in her cage and left the door open so she could get used to sleeping in there. Every once in a while she would wake up and look out at me so I put my hand in there and rubbed her head and she fell right back to sleep.

I decided to try this new aproach and continued with it all night long. I took naps on the floor in the living room where her cage was. After she got up and went pottie I put her back to sleep and slipped her in her cage. Right around 3:30 AM she wanted to play so I put her back in her cage and closed the door. I laid back down on the floor where she could see me. She did wine but she didn't cry or yap. After 20 min. of this she settled down and slept until 6 AM.

I know it wasn't the tough love aproach but I know she got the rest she needed and everyone else in the house got to sleep. And I did let her cry herself to sleep at the end.

What do you guys think about this new aproach?

Curbside Prophet · 01-09-2007, 02:02 PM

I think your approach is very gentle, and very loving...you should be commended for that. However, is sleeping on the floor what you want? One thing that I think is important to understand is, and maybe you do, but puppies are not babies. Puppies should not be babbied like we would a human baby. In the dog world, being babbied elevates status. Elevating status in the human world is excellent for confidence, but confusing to dogs because they expect or want structure. Most dogs are natural followers and need constant leadership...they need to know what their role is in the pack. If you baby this dog forever, she may challenge your rules, and it will be tougher to fix them later than to establish them now. What you call tough love is actually the structure any young dog needs. I agree that if you decide your dogs potty schedule, and ignore the whining, the whining will cease sooner than you think. It may not feel right as a human to do this, but when your dog is older, and by practicing NILIF throughout your dog's life, it will feel right.

Moey · 01-09-2007, 02:14 PM

I know. I just figured that I would get her used to sleeping in the crate first. I figured that if the crate was a scary thing than see would never see it as her den. I guess I am a bit of a softie.

puppymom · 01-10-2007, 01:52 PM

We found that putting the puppy crate in another room at night helped for us. As long as puppy could see us or hear us, there was no sleep for anyone. We moved the crates into the kitchen and it only took a few nights before we were all sleeping through the night. We made it a point during our nightime potty breaks to not pay much attention to the pups. That way they were not stimulated and did not want to stay up and play. They went potty and immediately back to bed. After a few nights of crying and whining they were sleeping through the night. They now go to bed at 9pm and sleep through until our alarm goes off at 6am. They are 12 weeks old and we have never had any messes in the crates during the night. Hope this helps.

Moey · 01-10-2007, 07:42 PM

Last night I combined my "soft" aproach with letting her cry herself to sleep. When she fell asleep in the 8 PM hour i placed her in her cage and closed the door. When she woke up at 10PM I let her out to pottie and put her strait back into the cage and closed the door. She settled down in about 20 min. I again slept on the floor but it was so i could let her out again without waking the whole house. After her pottie break in the 3 AM hour I repeated the above step and she settled down more quickly. We both slept until 6 AM.

I think that tonight she is ready to sleep in the bedroom and I think it will go easier tonight. Now that I have listened to her whine some it is more annoying than worrysome.

I will write back tomorrow and let you all know how we do.