New puppy and overnight problems

[Shutts318ci]

Hi, we got our labrador pup Orlando 4 days ago. After reading various things on the interent and in the interest of preserving furniture overnight, we bought him a crate, one big enough for him as he gets bigger.

We are currently dog sitting for a family member, an 8 year old boxer who gets on famously with our new addition.

Orlando is 10 weeks old now, and is doing well at using a puppy mat a the toilet. He loves his crate and has his meals in there and is not concerned by it at all. It is in our conservatory just inside the door next to our living room. The puppy mat is by the door of the conservtory that leads to the garden.

I set the crate up with his bed at the back, water next to the bed and a puppy mat at the front of the crate for him to use during the night.

However, he cries for most of the night. I want to make sure that I am doing the right thing for him. Should I go to him in the night when he is crying or will this just make him cry more so we give him more attention? Is this just a separation phase and he will learn that we are not leaving him forever?

Would it help if the Hugo (the other dog) slept in the conservatory with him? And if so should we not lock the pup in the crate? And if we did would he be back to the same when the other dog goes home in a weeks time?

Please please help, this is my first puppy and I want to do the best for him without him destroying our furniture or him hurting himself.

Thanks in anticipation, Paul.

[Renee750il]

If you're going to crate train you need to be consistent. I'm not a fan of them, especially for larger, athletic dogs as too much time spent in the crate can interfere with proper skeletal and muscular development. I've always used a puppy-proofed room until the pup was dependable about not wanting to gnaw on things like electrical cords.

The correct time a pup can be left in a crate is an hour plus another hour for each month of age - up to a reasonable point. You obviously wouldn't leave a seven month old pup imprisoned for eight hours!

If you're going to crate him at night, do NOT give in and go to him when he's whining.

Orlando needs to learn to sleep alone if you're going to continue having him sleep in the conservatory. Since Hugo will be going home at some point you don't want to get him too attached to having Hugo sleep with him. Don't keep them apart necessarily, just don't go to any special lengths to facilitate it. You just need to teach him what you want him to know throughout his life.

Hope that helped some . . . Now, don't forget to post photos for us in the Members' Gallery pages!

By the way, would that be a BMW 318 in your 'call name?' :D

[Fran27]

First, I wouldn't get him used to peeing on the mat, because it will be much harder for him to pee outside eventually, and he will be confused, and not know if he's expected to pee inside or outside. To make sure he doesn't want to pee at night, remove the water 2 hours before you go to bed. Also, if you leave a mat at night in the crate, he will learn that he can pee in the crate too, and that's not good.

For the crying, you need to ignore it, it usually stops after a while (it can last one week however). If you go to him when he cries it will just make him cry more to get your attention. Having the other dog might help, in our case it didn't with our new puppy, but you might want to try to see if it does for yours.

Good luck!

[Doberluv]

I agree with Fran. Once he thinks it's ok to go pee on the mat inside, well....that's still inside and it's confusing for him. That is..if you want him to go outside. Just take him out often, after he eats, drinks, plays, sleeps and about every 45 minutes or an hour...just in case. Give him a command while he's going which you will use each time and praise him a lot when he's just finished. While inside he needs to be supervised literally constantly and watch for signs; circling, sniffing, looking behind furniture for a place to go. If you see that, wisk him outside and don't forget to praise when he goes outside. You can even pick a special spot outdoors where he always goes. Some pups need to walk around a little before going.

I did use a crate for my dogs when I couldn't watch them. When I had to take a shower or whatever.....That way they won't tend to foul their "den." When I'd let them out......outside right away for pee pee. Four hours was my maximum time I'd keep my larger dogs in the crate except for night time sleeping. That's the way I did it and it worked quite well.

The crying will stop eventually. You just have to ignore him unless you're quite sure he needs something. Try to be sure he's just gone to the bathroom and that he's had enough to eat and drink so you know he's comfortable. Don't feed or water him too close to the time he goes to bed at night. I put my crate in my bedroom so my pup was close to his "pack" (LOL...me) but not exactly sleeping right with me. That soothed him and at the same time didn't make him too dependent. (well....as well as can be expected with a Doberman. They are quite dependent anyways. LOL)

So, good luck! :)

[YorkieLover]

We crated ours at night but never with a potty pad inside the crate. I set the alarm clock for every 2 to 3 hours and got up and took her out of the crate to the potty pad and sat on the floor until she pottied on it. We got her during the winter months with lots of snow and were afraid to outside train her. Well let me tell you, what everyone has said about confusing them it is true. Cocoa knows to go outside now but yet she still thinks it's o.k. to go inside as well. If I were you and since it is very nice out I would take that pad out of the crate, set my alarm clock for every 3 hours and take your pup outside to go potty. When your pup potty's outside give it lots and lots of praise and possibly a treat. You are much better off crate training with outside housebreaking. Just my thoughts.

[Fran27]

It's funny, I've been lucky with both my pups, they haven't had any problems holding 5-6 hours at night as long as I remove water 2 hours before sleep and that I take them out before going to bed (they have dinner at 6pm). Boris never had an accident at night, and in two nights Tips hasn't either, and he's only 2 months. So I'm not totally convinced that it's necessary to wake up evert 2-3 hours, 4 or 5 should be enough as long as water is restricted before bedtime.

What you can do if your pup is used to the pad now, is put the pad outside and let him pee there, maybe he will understand that he's supposed to go outside then. But you should definitely take advantage of the summer for this, when I got Boris it was snowing, and it was much less enjoyable to take him out at 5am, lol.

[Doberluv]

I agree. I didn't wake up in the middle of the night with my last pup. (I can't remember as far back as the other ones....old age you know. lol) Once in a while I thought he better go out...if he cried. (that is once he got over the first few days of crying) But for the most part, I recall Lryic sleeping through the night, from about 10 or 11 p.m. to maybe 6 a.m. And it just stretched out longer as time went on. I fed him about 4p.m. and picked up the water about an hour or two before bedtime. But I guess they're all different. I wouldn't wake the pup up though to take him out. If he's sleeping comfortably, then he probably is fine. Just like the saying goes, "let sleeping dogs lie." LOL.

Another reason I like the pup in a crate in my bedroom is so I can hear him if he wakes up and seems to need to go out. But it is hard at first when they cry from being seperated from their litter mates and in a new place...hard to tell for sure.

What you can do if your pup is used to the pad now, is put the pad outside and let him pee there, maybe he will understand that he's supposed to go outside then. That's a great idea!