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Crate puppy at night or let him sleep with wife and I???

2K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  atomic 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
So, where to start. I have a 6 week old puppy who is doing great so far. He has had a few accidents in the house, but usually is alerting me by wimpering that he needs to go outside and use the bathroom. My question is with night time

I got a crate and during the day, I keep him in that while I am at work. I have people come over and let him out so that seems to be working well.

My issue is I have a 2 year old daughter. I know at night (the last 3 nights) I have been sleeping on the couch with him. I can tell by him moving around that he has to go outside. He does ok, but gets a bit nippy at points during the night while I am trying to sleep. I am not getting a lot of sleep.

I am thinking about crating him at night, but I am worried that his barking will wake my daughter up from her sleep when I put him in the crate at first and every time I have to take him out to use the bathroom....

Any ideas on how to transition him or does anybody have any puppy sleep ideas?
 
#2 ·
i'm not sure why you posted this twice.

we started our pup in the crate from day 1. you have a problem, though - you brought your puppy home 2 weeks too early, and may have difficulties with this (and a number of other issues).

i would not expect to get much sleep for the next few weeks, at least. puppy should be eating like 4 times a day right now and probably needs to go out twice a night between your normal bedtime and your normal wakeup.
 
#4 ·
If he's only had "a few" accidents, consider yourself lucky. I rescued a 6 week old puppy many a year ago, and we almost didn't survive each other. Concerning nighttime, like falnfenix said, expect to take him out at least a couple of times during the night. Put his crate in your bedroom, so you'll be able to hear him before he has to raise the roof, and take him out, let him potty, tell him he's a good boy, then pop him back in his crate.

It's really too bad that he couldn't stay with his mom and littermates until he was at least 8 weeks old. They miss out on an important social skill learning period when they are removed too early.
 
#6 ·
I won't harp too much on the "too young to be away from mom and littermates" except to say he will also need a lot of help with bite inhibition and nipping. I would keep interactions with the 2 year old very limited. Only when they are relaxing on a couch or the floor. No running around together. I would also get A LOT of chew toys, bully sticks... for the puppy to chew on. He does need to eat 4x a day and taken out once or twice at night.

I would probably wait until the weekend to start crate training. YOU WILL LOSE SLEEP. DO NOT go to the puppy if it's crying because it doesn't want to be in the crate, that will only encourage it to cry. You just have to deal with it. Make sure the crate is only big enough for the puppy to stand, circle and lay down. The life stages crates are nice because they can be big but have a removable wall that goes inside to make it adjustable to size. Chewy.com is a great place to find deals.

Good luck
 
#7 ·
everyone does things a bit differently. For example, with our kids we never whispered while they were asleep. We went around our normal routine. We conditioned them to sleep through people talking and regular noise around the house. The reason we did this was we didn't want children who were light sleepers, who would wake up at the slightest noise. When we bring a new pup in the house it is in a crate on my side of the bed. This way I can take care of any problems right away. Puppy stirs and I determine if it is just turning around or does it need to go outside. We have a 10 x 10 x6 portable puppy pen that we can move around. I set this up right outside the back door In the area that I want to train the pup to go. I do this so it makes it easier to scoop the yard when you have multiple dogs. All have been trained to use the same basic area. Though I can tell who's pile belongs to who by where it is located. Which is handy in keeping track of the health of your dog. If the puppy cries in the crate the first thing I do is stick my fingers in the crate and wiggle them and most of the time the pup will come over to investigate smells you and calms down. The pup usually also has a couple of stuffed toys with them. One of which came from the breeder. I don't allow them in bed till they get big enough that they can get into and out of the bed on their own. (it avoids injury during the night.)
 
#8 ·
information. THe crate I got him is huge, but I figured he would grow into it.. .maybe I can put a box in it to take some of the room away???

Bully sticks...?? Never heard of those. I keep hearing keep him away from rawhides.. .but besides ropes and stuff is there anything I can give him to actually chew on? I know rawhides keep dogs occupied for hours... what is comparable to that for puppies?
 
#10 ·
A box is fine as long as you don't think he'll chew it up. I used a stability ball in my dobes crate before I had a life stages one.

Bully sticks aren't raw hide, they are uh, bulls ball sacks or sometimes they are tendon lol. The dogs LOVE them! Raw hides aren't good for adult dogs either, too hard to digest. No rope toys, they can chew them up and then eat the rope. As far as toys go Bumi's are good, as well as kongs type toys. I fill my kongs with frozen dog food or every once in a while peanut butter...
 
#9 ·
With the size crate I’ve seen for dobes, usually a plastic file box you can buy at an office supply place will fit just fine and make the puppy’s area about the right size.

A lot of people teach their dogs to sleep in crates and it has a lot of advantages--keeping the puppy and growing dog out of trouble when you are not there, as well as making the dog more used to staying in strange places like vets, kennels or hotel rooms where they will have less space--but I have alway used a dog safe room like a kitchen or bathroom for my dogs. And it is easier to handle a young pup’s potty training if they are in bed with you and you can hear them stir and get them out the door in time.

BUT A WARNING--once in your bed, they will ALWAYS expect to be in your bed. LOL So be sure you are OK with your dog sleeping with you even as an big adult dog before you even start with that privilege. And remember that it IS a privilege--if your dog starts to show signs of “owning” the bed--won’t get off when you tell him to, for example--make sure he loses that privilege until he has better manners.
 
#11 ·
if you are going to expect him to sleep in his crate at night then I definitely wouldn't put him in bed with you. My dog does sleep with me, but that is because I like it that way. If you let him in the bed now, crating at night will be harder later. I liked having Stella in the bed for the same reason you mentioned, I could tell immediately when she started stirring it was time to go out and go potty. I find having her in bed comforting so I never used the crate at night, but that is just my preference.
 
#12 ·
From what I read they say it's best to put a puppy in a crate NEAR your bed at night. The bonding by allowing the puppy to sleep near you is vital. The crate protects the puppy from getting into trouble while you sleep plus it gives the bonding experience.

Later as it grows into adulthood letting the dog INTO the bed is a personal choice. Some find it wrong and others love it. Some think it can cause dominance issues while others sleep together without issues.
 
#13 ·
Crating in the night is definitely helpful and is great in general for toilet training. The fact that your puppy is so young is something you have going against you and you'll have to wake up multiple times in the evening to take them out -- its just the responsibility you've taken on.

You can't put your puppy in a crate and expect him to like it -- mine certainly didn't to start with. There is plenty of information on how to get your dog to take to the crate, if you choose to crate.

I kept my boy's crate in my bedroom and slept on the floor with him (he was in his crate with the door open) for the first night and eventually moved up to my bed and moved the crate further away every evening to the position I wanted it to be in and started closing the door for bedtime (still next to my bed but a little further away).

I wouldn't let a puppy that young on your bed as they don't really have bladder control yet and something soft like linen can entice them to go toilet there. Also, once they're on your bed, good luck getting them off or back in their crate! I let my boy sleep with me after he was 4/5 months old and he resented being put back in the crate to sleep, so I folded up the crate and let him sleep with me ever since. Admittedly, I always wanted him to sleep on my bed with me and he has pretty good bed manners. :p
 
#14 ·
This is only my opinion--- lol. I have a Doberman cause I love the loyalty and their protection. In my opinion is hard to guard a house while sleeping under my covers lol. I had my puppy in a crate until she slept threw the night- about 14-15 weeks old. Now that she sleeps all night I have her in the upstairs hallway in her own doggy bed. When I fully trust her she will have free roam of house. She has another bed on main level. All my bedroom doors are gated so she can see me just not get into anything ( still teething). Whatever your choice is stick with it. Just remember it's cute to sleep with a puppy but not enough room for a grown dobie in my bed. Best of luck
 
#17 ·
Such great information on this site. He is doing great with potty training... If I catch him going to the bathroom in the house... I pick him up and tell him no... then take him outside... most of the time he will finish there. Seeing how he is only 6 weeks old.. I think he is doing fantastic.
 
#18 ·
I know dobes grow quickly, but be careful even letting your young pup just hang out on the bed. When I first brought mine home (he was 5 weeks, I know it was too early but it was me or the pound) and I had him on the bed with me and even though I watched him diligently, he did manage to roll off and hurt his paw. He cried and wouldn't put any weight on that leg so I rushed him to the emergency vet, THANKFULLY he is mostly just a cry baby and was walking fine on it and didn't demonstrate any pain or tension while we were there. However the vets secretary informed me someone else had brought in a puppy who fell off the bed and hit his head in just the spot that it killed him :(. It seems so silly but they really are so fragile at this size. Also don't keep him in the bed if you don't plan on him staying there lol! Now that mine is bigger and older he sleeps with me but all of my dogs have/do. Otherwise others have given you pretty good advice :). I also wanted to warn about bully sticks. I got one for mine to occupy himself in the car because he would cry and not stay put (I think he would get nausea) and the one I got was long and skinny, flat. Well we arrived to where we were going and I discovered all six inches of it about to disappear down his little throat. So while he did love it and it did settle him down nicely, they have all kinds of different shapes so pick one that isn't so hazardous. Good luck with the little one and where are pictures??? :D
 
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