How to have puppy settle down after nighttime potty?

1005 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by huskylove1995, Oct 22, 2017

snailrat

Discussion Starter · Oct 21, 2017

I take my 9 week old puppy out twice a night to pee and poop in the backyard. Generally at 1am and 4am. However, after she's done she'll be up and ready to walk around, play, and just generally not want to be in her crate. When she's sleepy or calm she settles down in her crate very well, but when she's "up" and ready to play, she doesn't like being put in there.

Of course, at those hours, after letting her do her business I obviously want to sleep. But when I put her in the crate to go back to sleep, she starts whining. I don't reward this behavior and only pay attention to her/let her out when she's quiet. Last night I solved the problem by letting her out and then scattering a little bit of kibble in her crate, and when she finished eating it and started crying, I rewarded her for quiet breaks in crying by opening the door and petting her, and shut the door and ignored her when she started to cry again. She seemed to get the idea after a while and settled down and went back to sleep.

I just wanna know what you guys have done that seemed to work. I think I'll need to train her to really love her crate but it's difficult when she doesn't like any chew toys or Kongs slathered in peanut butter that I put in there. Any ideas would be appreciated.

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abcd1234

· #2 · Oct 22, 2017

Mine did not whine much at all (he is 12 weeks now; I got him 2 weeks ago-at 10 weeks)
He whined only during the first 2 nights. What many people told me, and it worked with mine too is to IGNORE. Buy a pair of earplugs and ignore her.
Set an alarm clock close to your ears so it would go through the earplugs and wake up when you decided to - at 1 and 4 am,
take her out (no play, just a quiet " good girl" and put her in) and then...again IGNORE.
Mine got the message very easily.

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snailrat

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 22, 2017

abcd1234, did you crate train your dog? I'm afraid that forcing her to stay in her crate while she whines would make her have a negative association with it; that being in the crate means she's trapped. What you're saying seems like the right thing to do but I'm just concerned that it would make her dislike her crate.

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abcd1234

· #4 · Oct 22, 2017

Yes, I am using the crate.
Maybe you are right.
I know that in my case it worked. Whenever he whined I woke up, took him out, said in a quiet voice " good boy" and then put him back in, and give him a treat.
So there was no way for him not to go back in if it was 3 am. Plus he got no interaction during the night hours. No playing, no talking to him, no petting...

I also use an ex-pen during the day. He is free in the kitchen only under supervision. When I am in my office he is in an ex-pen with me.

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gingerkid

· #5 · Oct 22, 2017

Using a crate is NOT the same thing as crate training.

"Crate training" is when you take the time - as long as it takes - to help your pup feel happy, safe, and secure inside their crate, making sure they're not afraid of it or upset by it.

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snailrat

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 22, 2017

I'm crate training her, keeping kongs full of treats in there so she likes going in, leading her into it when she's sleepy during the day so she knows that that's where she goes to sleep. She sleeps very peacefully in there and she likes being in the crate, which is great. I'm just worried that keeping her locked in the crate while whining at night is going to make her think crate = bad

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abcd1234

· #7 · Oct 22, 2017

gingerkid said:
Using a crate is NOT the same thing as crate training.

"Crate training" is when you take the time - as long as it takes - to help your pup feel happy, safe, and secure inside their crate, making sure they're not afraid of it or upset by it.

I think my pup is fine. He goes by himself there when I say "crate" as he knows he gets a treat once inside. He does not whine, and he does not show any signs of being upset. Once inside he settles and starts chewing on a nylon bone He stays in the crate only during the night or when I need to know that he is safe.
Otherwise, he is with me in the office, or in the kitchen / hallway. I really don't think he is upset at all by the crate.
But I had to let him there 2 nights - other than going out to pee whenever he was whining, I did not let him out from the crate between 12 am and 6 am. It worked for me. Right now he runs happily around the house with my older one.

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huskylove1995

· #8 · Oct 22, 2017

I have a puppy that does this he whines and cries. I just ignore it or tell him to lay down and go to sleep about ten minutes later he is asleep. I would just ignore it. It's perfectly normal for his age and they grow out of it

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

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