[longshot4me]

Hey guys. Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but it seemed more puppy related than training related. Feel free to move it if you need to!

Last night was our first night with the pupster. It was all going so well in the evening as we were winding down.. She was in her crate on her own accord, sleeping away. I woke her up to go for the last potty run before bed, and put her back in her crate (lots of loves and a small treat for being in her crate!) She settled right down and went to sleep.. then the screaming started. Relentless. Nothing I could do from the outside would quiet her. I thought she would eventually calm herself and sleep.. but she started chewing on her paws, and screaming LOUDER, pain, I assume. this cannot be normal. I took her out and put her in bed with me. She snuggled so close and settled right down but she was whimpering under her breath for a good 15min, like I had traumatized her. I tried again later in the night with the same results. I'm really at a loss here. I read up on crate training (this is my first time crate training) and nothing really prepared me for how awful that was! Any tips? I don't think its okay to keep her in there if she's going to hurt herself (Anyone with experience on this??)

 

[sam&macksmom]

Boy those puppers can train us humans! LOL

Where is her crate located? Can you place her crate in your bedroom so she's close to you?

 

[kwhite30]

Describe the biting herself? My pup does that all the time not hurting himself but he'll occasionally out his whole foot in his mouth but he never hurt himself. Crate training takes time. I've had Diesel for 4 weeks and were still working on it. You would think I was cutting off his legs when I put him in his crate. It takes time and lots of training. Diesel loves his crate when the door is open but not when it's closed. Maybe get a toy or a bone that is only for the crate. That's what we've been doing with Diesel and it keeps him busy for a little. Also try doing crate games with her. Crate training doesn't happen over night it's a process but do not give into the whining and crying. You need to teach her that she can only come out when she's quiet. Trust me it will break your heart but it's the only way she'll learn. Also keep your crate somewhere where she can see you. Diesel likes being able to see me.

 

[longshot4me]

She has a comfy blanket, and a couple of toys in there (a kong with goodies and an 'unrippable' stuffy) and its pretty big for how small she is. The crate has replaced my night stand, so she can see me and I can put my hand in the crate.

Kwhite- shes much like Diesel! Shes in there napping, sought it out herself. I can close the door and she'll be okay, but as soon as shes up I'll hear about it

It looked to me (at 2am in the dark, mind you) that she was gnawing at her pads- like they work at a bone. The screaming intensified when she started this. Maybe she was trying to use her foot as a pacifier?? I don't know.

I'll try to hold strong tonight. Makes me feel like a monster to leave her in there crying, but its for her own good.. Is there any point that I SHOULD take her out? Or do I just ignore the crying entirely?

 

[kwhite30]

Just hang in there. Watch her with the paw biting. Diesel bites his actual paw not his pads so just make sure she doesn't cut herself. It really just takes time it will get better. Remember she's also getting used to everything. I let diesel sleep with us at night cause all my dogs have also slept with me (when their invited) so I'm sure night time is tough. Try to do some during the day too. Good luck!

 

[kwhite30]

Oh I forgot to answer the last part haha I'd take her out if she actually is hurting herself other then that let her cry it out but I really do suggest doing small crate sessions during the day to get her used to it. Diesel does about 15-30 minutes twice a day we do fun crate training games I actually got in the crate with him at one point haha

 

[sam&macksmom]

Perhaps she had to go potty again, in the middle of the night? At that age, I think I was up every hour with Sam to go out. I don't expect them to hold it through the night when they're that young.

oh the puppy days.....:nicejob:

 

[Nubis'sDad]

Simple answer imo : she is missing her littermates. She has to get use to her new life.
She is not in pain, as it was evident after putting her in your bed.
If you give in by her whimpers, it will make crate training more difficult. Let her know by your soothing voice and goto sleep. take a piece of your clothing with your scent on it and put it in there. If she wakes up and whimpers, take her out to p or poo. Back to crate, and tell her goto sleep and when quiet, say good girl. If after several minutes still crying, say sleep and no more. If she continues, let her cry all night, and give her activity till she is falling asleep and place back in crate and comfort her by tone to soothe her to goto sleep. And when quiet good girl, she will most likely cry again, same ritual. When she is drop tired, she will fall asleep in there.
If you let them out, when they are being vocal, they know exactly how to get out of the crate.
I got lucky with Nubis the first night but in preparation, we put his towel he was craddled in when we drove home with him and Nubis'sMom's sweater in the crate. He woke up in the middle of the night, whimpered I took him outside to p. He whimpered after being back in, but I said its okay, goto sleep a few times and poof...he sleeps like a rock during the night.
The next night we removed the sweater and left the towel in there. He just learned pretty quick, if he whimpers, I will not let him out but i always take out to p, to rule that out.

 

[CashKO]

It wont take long. Just don't give in. Your agony will turn into joy when she will goto her crate with pleasure. It only took a couple nights before my boy learned to like it. This is one of those times you just have to ignore the cries and whines. My first two nights... I got absolutely no sleep and there was no time to sleep during the day either. It gets better, trust us!! I thought the same thing you are thinking now and it sucked

 

[Nomad60]

We started out with a pen; what a mistake that was. Damon would whine and scream like someone was cutting his legs off - even if he was in the same room with someone. Then we changed to a small crate at night which we put in our daughter's room, beside her bed, and he was ok with that and slept through the night.
We also have a larger crate upstairs in the living room which we used to crate him while we were busy and couldn't keep an eye on him. For the longest time, Damon would not get into that crate by himself and hated being in there. But after reading some of the post here on DT, I made sure to give him a treat every time I put him in there and one day, out of the blue, he walked in there by himself and sat down. I gave him a treat; he came out, walked back in, sat down, and looked at me ("well, that was easy, now where's my treat?" LOL). Another treat and after that, he started going in there by himself and now, we say "go home" and he goes right in and when we put him in there during the day or at night, he doesn't complain. The original crate is too small for him now so he sleeps upstairs, in the bigger crate which is in the living room and he sleeps all night till I wake him up at 5:30 to go out. As others have said, stick with it and don't give in to the whining although it can be horrible for the first few days/nights. These dogs are intelligent and they'll figure out really fast that if they whine, you'll come and get them.

Good luck!

 

[the_discowhore]

Don't give in! Be prepared for some sleepless nights.

If I were you, I would play crate games with her to get her to enjoy her crate (Crate Games Part 1: Zelda 13 wks - YouTube).

Make sure she is tired in the evening, puppy classes can help with this if you aren't enrolled in one yet! Doing some training/playing before bed time can help too. Ensure she is fed not too close to bed time, and it may be worth picking up her water half an hour before bed so she doesn't guzzle right before she goes in (I leave water in with my puppy overnight, but she doesn't whine or get up during the night so I don't mind).

Make sure her crate is comfortable (not too hot, not too cold), comfy bedding, I would put a blanket over top to make sure it's nice and dark. If you have a blanket from her litter, or perhaps one of your worn T-shirts this could help calm her.

Take her out to the toilet before she goes to bed, put her in the crate with a couple of treats then shut the door and go to bed.

Do not respond to her initial whining! If she has been to the toilet, you know she doesn't need it again... Put some earplugs or headphones in if you need to wait out 20 minutes of whining... It will stop eventually!

If you do think she needs to get up and go to the toilet, don't make a fuss about it, don't say anything, get her out on lead, tell her to go to the toilet, don't let her mess around and play/bite the lead, if she uses toilet time as play time, put her straight back into the crate. She will learn very quickly that middle of the night is quiet sleep time. Don't go overboard with the toilet praise at 4am, I find it just gets the puppy too excited... Just a treat and a quiet good girl, then straight back to the crate with a treat.

 

[longshot4me]

Thank you so much everyone, for all the wonderful advice and support. You guys are an amazing resource! I'm going in tonight armed I'll get it done! I think I just overreacted to my sweet baby crying and making a fuss.. the little drama queen, lol

 

[Dave_L]

I would get your pup used to the fact that if she cries, she goes outside.
Not if she cries, she gets access to your bed.

I don't even let my pup put her paws on my bed let alone sleeping on it, she has her own area to sleep which is an arms length away from where I sleep.

It's a tough thing to do though. Lexi has learned what bedtime means now and will go straight to her cage. Hang in there!

Just be careful, I woke up one morning and Lexi had torn the stuffing out of her bedding...so now she sleeps with nothing but her bone to chew on.

 

[Nubis'sDad]

Right on Dave, but I hope it is a nylabone, anything else is taking a choking risk unsupervised. I give Nubis a Kong and a hard rubber dumbbell type toy.
He also has a blanket but he never rips it, occasionally a nail might Rip a thread and I cut them off to not give him any ideas. I tried a dog bed but a close call with puncturing a nickel size hole in it and pulling out the insides. I think the game is pulling the stuffing out of it. Now I thought I got smart and bought a tougher chewing bed, first thing I did was take the zipper handle off it and closed it tight. Next I look at it, no rips, then I see the zipper is open 6" (Houdini), but the inside bed bag Is intact. So I think I get smarter and take inside bed bag out and put his blanket in there and flip the whole bed around so the zipper end is at rear of crate. Next morning he reversed the bed around but zipper was still closed and he ripped a hole in the outside bed cover but left the blanket in there.
Needless to say I stored the bed and he only gets the blanket.
I have to watch how I open and do things around him, as he just wants to figure out everything.

 

[MeadowCat]

Second the suggestion of Susan Garrett's Crate Games. You can find some of them on youtube, but even better would be to pick up a copy of the DVD.

 

[longshot4me]

Last night went SO much better! Although.. I did end up sleep on the floor with my hand in the crate, and my back is now (loudly) protesting. She'd cry every hour or so to go out, but we never got to the level of crying we had the previous night. I think she had just worked herself up to a frenzy, poor thing. Last night hen she cried I'd talk to her quietly, and if it continued I'd take her outside (on leash! no monkey business!) and that was usually what was up. Thank you guys so much! I think we've got the know-how now to have a crate trained puppy in a few weeks :nicejob:

 

[Nubis'sDad]

Right on keep the same routine and it will get less and less. When I first got Nubis, I would crash with him, during naps,and sometimes nap myself or sneek out, or fake walking out and if he whimpered, just quietly said goto sleep. I think he got the idea, I was always there and accepted he was safe and not caged up and defenseless.

 

[Dave_L]

Right on Dave, but I hope it is a nylabone, anything else is taking a choking risk unsupervised. I give Nubis a Kong and a hard rubber dumbbell type toy..

Yes it's a nylabone for sure. Also an empty kong.

Edit: in all honesty, as cute as puppies are, I'm not sure I would go through it again! lol

 

[longshot4me]

in all honesty, as cute as puppies are, I'm not sure I would go through it again! lol

THIS. My husband said he overheard me grumbling about how I'm never getting a puppy ever again while I was on my way out for the fourth middle-of-the-night, 30 degrees outside potty trip :roflmao:

I think I'll be getting rescues from now on! Or at least until the trauma fades from recent memory

 

[Axel's Mom]

A little space heater by the crate helped Axel fall asleep in his crate. Warm puppies sleep better than cold ones!