[Da.Pendl]

Hey, I know this is a long post but I'm just trying to describe everything for a clean answer. I'm a first time dog owner and I've been crate training my 9 week old pit bull mix Ash at nights and getting him comfortable with it during the day, just made it through the 4th night now. He will gladly eat his food in the crate whether its in a bowl or I'm playing training games with him like tossing the food or chew or treats into the crate, also trying to get him to wait at the door until I say it's alright to come out. I should say I'm crating him in my room due to living in a 2 bedroom town home because I don't want to make my room mate endure the brutal attack of sounds that comes from Ash. This also makes it easier to take him out for a boring potty break to try and keep his energy down.

He gets a ton of exercise during the day. I play with him and do small training sessions during the day until about 11 or 12 then bring him to work. I work at a gymnastics facility so he gets to run around the gym before and after classes for as long as he wants to get his energy out before we get home around 8-9pm then try to get to bed around 10-11pm.

First question is how long did you all have to wait before the full night time of whining turned more tolerable? Currently the whining consists of howling loudly then whining a bit then some silence but mostly just him being extremely loud. He speaks a lot during the day but doesn't bark or howl for some reason but he definitely saves it for the night time...

Second question is has anyone used something to keep the crate den like and also sound proof for him and for my room mate and my sanity so we dont start speaking to shadow people due to sleep deprivation lol. Obviously trying to keep it still breathable for obvious reasons. Right now i layer his crate with blankets like a crate cover then shove towels at my room door to try and block the sound from escaping the room too much. I ordered a moving blanket after doing some research on sound proofing so planning on hanging that over the sides of his crate instead of the blankets when it gets here.

😄 NIGHT 5 UPDATE 😄

Here's an update on the nightly happenings. I got afraid of the chair/ desk idea, too much worry about him knocking the crate off and hurting himself. Almost through night 5 currently, it's 4:30am and randomly woke up around 4:20am to silence which was out of the ordinary. I forgot to set my alarm but I have been waking up at the smallest ones he makes the last 4 nights so I wasn't worried. He was even asleep when I woke up. I'll have to ask my room mate when he wakes up If he heard any commotion but I didn't hear any. At 4:20am I took him out for a potty break which I woke him up for. I feel bad about waking him up but since he's transitioning to new more high quality food he's free flowing if you know what I mean. Anyway after the potty break I put him back in his crate, maybe 1min. of whining later and he's asleep again. Breakthrough or coincidence or luck? I don't care he (and I) had a good nights sleep!!!

My theory is since I've been taking him to work the last two days and keeping him mostly awake during the day besides the naps he needed after some long exercise and training, plus him whining so long the previous nights he finally realized night time is for sleeping. I guess we'll see about the coming nights but me and my ear drums were happy to get some rest.

 

[Lillith]

The reason they whine is because they want to be near you, so some people will start by putting their puppy's crate on a chair near the bed so they can see you. After a few nights you remove the chair and the crate is on the floor. Continue to move the crate farther and farther away from your bed until it's in the place you want it to be. There will probably still be some protest (hopefully it's minimal) and it can last a few weeks.

Fleece blankets are best for anything to do with dogs because they don't have string or threads in them that can get tangled in a dog's intestines. It can easily cause a blockage or rip things apart and become life threatening. If the dog ingests a fleece blanket it is much less dangerous because they tend to pass through just fine. I like to buy fleece remnants from craft stores and use those as crate covers and pads.

 

[Da.Pendl]

The reason they whine is because they want to be near you, so some people will start by putting their puppy's crate on a chair near the bed so they can see you. After a few nights you remove the chair and the crate is on the floor. Continue to move the crate farther and farther away from your bed until it's in the place you want it to be. There will probably still be some protest (hopefully it's minimal) and it can last a few weeks.

Fleece blankets are best for anything to do with dogs because they don't have string or threads in them that can get tangled in a dog's intestines. It can easily cause a blockage or rip things apart and become life threatening. If the dog ingests a fleece blanket it is much less dangerous because they tend to pass through just fine. I like to buy fleece remnants from craft stores and use those as crate covers and pads.

Thanks for the response, some great things to try, I have a fleece blanket which is the one I put directly over the crate. I read that was one of the things I need to watch out for. Luckily he doesn't bite things that hang in his crate or around it anyway. He bites shoe laces and pant legs but that's about it and I lure him away with a chew or make something more interesting for him to play with. The first night I slept by the crate on the ground but that seemed to cause him to freak out even more by biting the crate and throwing himself at it to get to me but that chair idea might work well as long as I can MacGyver a way to make it secure just incase he does try to knock it over. From what I've heard from my roommate he said that there has been the most silence last night over the others so maybe he's starting to get used to it? Slowly but surely.

 

[storyist]

I've raised 7 puppies and not one has whined or howled at night, and every one has been beside my bed in the crate. It's hard to remember back, but I think only one crate was raised at all. The others were on the floor from the start. I don't think it's a matter of seeing you, after all the bedroom is dark. It's your nearby scent and sound of your breathing and just knowing you're there, but anyway, it worked for every one. Actually it always worked for adult rescues I fostered too.

I also never set an alarm and got up at regular intervals for potty breaks. I count on them making noise when they need to go out, and they all did - restless movement, low whines. If I didn't think those sounds would wake me, I guess I'd be stuck with setting the alarm and waking the puppy.

I sleep in my clothes so that I can just get up, stick my feet in shoes, and go. In winter, I grab my coat as I'm on my way out and don't even stop to put it on until I'm outside with the puppy. I carry them out until they're too big for me to carry.

I use wire crates and have never covered them except the top. That can be necessary in my bedroom to block morning sunlight from being a bother - I'm not an early riser.

 

[Lillith]

Thanks for the response, some great things to try, I have a fleece blanket which is the one I put directly over the crate. I read that was one of the things I need to watch out for. Luckily he doesn't bite things that hang in his crate or around it anyway. He bites shoe laces and pant legs but that's about it and I lure him away with a chew or make something more interesting for him to play with. The first night I slept by the crate on the ground but that seemed to cause him to freak out even more by biting the crate and throwing himself at it to get to me but that chair idea might work well as long as I can MacGyver a way to make it secure just incase he does try to knock it over. From what I've heard from my roommate he said that there has been the most silence last night over the others so maybe he's starting to get used to it? Slowly but surely.

If the chair is too much of a safety issue, you can put it on the floor as Storyist suggested, but if the pup is still not liking that very much and needs a slower adjustment, you might try a sturdy coffee table.

And yes, they do get used to it. Slow and steady.