Tried to read through previous posts but couldn't find a similar situation. I have a ~10 week old lab puppy which we brought home at just shy of 8 weeks. She's been sleeping in a crate next to our bed. Obviously the first few days were tough but she became better and better and ultimately was able to sleep through the night entirely (10PM to 5AM) with an occasional bathroom break. This lasted almost a week. 2 days ago a new pattern started where she sleeps fine for ~3 hours and then starts whimpering, which graduates to a grunty sounding whine, then a full whine mixed with occasional high pitch bark and that grunty noise. She will then constantly shift around only staying in one position for a minute or two at a time. She'll do that the rest of the night even if you let her out to use the bathroom or lay down next to her for a bit. We've tried ignoring it and she doesn't stop (full 5 hours last night). She moves around a ton, and will even continue to whine once comfortable and even when she's seemingly "sleeping." It's been 2 straight sleepless nights. She acts differently during the day now as well, whining a bit when playing until she's too distracted to think about it. Even just an hour ago she was sitting in my lap with her eyes closed but doing the weird grunty whine. Took her to the vet to make sure she wasn't injured, she didn't see any issues and didn't really offer any advice.
Lab Puppy Whining Regression and "New" Whine
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Wow, I am having a similar situation. My lab pup was born Dec 14 and we brought him home at exactly 7 weeks. Of coarse the first few nights were rough but he got better and had a routine of sleeping, eating 3 times a day and going out every 1-2 hours and eventually sleeping from 10-5. But the last few nights he has regressed. I think he wants to be close to me and our other dog. The breeder/ trainer said that if I crate train, I need to be very careful of manipulation to get out of the crate because labs are very smart and will realize that barking to pee or poop gets attention. I really dont know how to handle it because sometimes I think he must only want attention, so I leave him, only to find pee in the crate. He is also growing SOOO fast that I wonder if his bladder can keep up with his body? I think there could be a few issues. I do play a lullaby station on Alexa which I think calms hims because he isn't as aware of other sounds reminding him that he is separated from his "pack". So, the restlessness in the kennel is similar, but I dont know about the grunty whine.
I read somewhere to put a piece of your clothing that you've worn in the crate with the pup so they can snuggle up to something with your scent. Tried it last night with an old t-shirt I wore a couple nights to sleep in along with a white noise app (thanks for the Alexa lullaby idea) and our pup did much better. Still waking up around 1 AM for a potty break (totally fine) but went back to sleep after returning to the crate. She did wake up one or two more times to do her weird grunty whine but eventually fell asleep. I've been putting in ear plugs after the potty break which has definitely helped!
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Glad things were better last night. Bear did better last night too. I think it had to do with the fact that he played outside in the afternoon for about an hour. I have to be out with him the entire time because we dont have a fence. He was tired and definitely calmer. Ive also read that routine is super important. There are lots of puppy schedules online that schedule time down to the minute. I'm trying to be more consistent so he knows what to expect. I'm having a hard time with the feeding. He was really fat when we got him so I have been playing with food amounts. Then he got a little skinny. But I noticed that some of the times he was barking, he was licking his lips. I think some of his restlessness was that he was really hungry.
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