8 week old puppy - how can we get her to settle in her crate

Hello!

Sorry for posting another question! we have just got our beautiful staffy puppy, Ruby at the weekend, and she's doing well, although at night, she's making a terrible fuss in her crate, she settles for a couple of hours, (we put the crate by our bed) then at 2 am she starts whingeing - we've been sticking our fingers through the bar and whispering sshhh and good girl, gently, but she won't settle, and if she does it's just for a minute, then she starts again. it's a big crate with paper at one side ( as we're not starting to housebreak her until she's got bladder control) so it can't be that she needs the loo,

How long will this go on? I'm very tired and we're only 3 days in!!!!

Thanks again guys, for any suggestions

Shaun

i never crate my i never had a problem, she prolly still missing her family so give her alot of love another week or so when she forgotten her mum and boys and sister she should be all good

Hi Shaun you wont find many dogs that will soil their own bed, i would never advise putting paper in their sleeping quarters, she obviously does'nt want to soil her sleeping place, she's telling you let me out for a wee! She's a good clean girl bless her. Reduce her water intake after last feed to a minimum of a few licks now and then.
And i'm afraid sleepless nights come with having pups unfortunately
my biggest gripe was lack of sleep It will get better eventually honest lol

Id say staffsrock hit the nail on the head, when she wakes i would take her to do the business where you want her to, ie certain place in kitchen or just outside the back/frontdoor, then give her loads of praise and put her back to bed

im sorry i cant help, i never had ceaser in a crate, i slept on the couch with him downstairs so we were near the door if he needed to go out, i gotta say i never had any trouble with him (apart from when he needed to go out). hope you get some shut eye soon,x

I think Staffsrock and Zeebo1uk have said it all. Shes only waking up cause she needs to go to the toilet.
As for the sleepless nights We've all been there...give it a few more weeks and she'll be fine.

Im just trying to find a crate big enough for my 4 year old son, he keeps sneaking into bed with us of a night, not much fun sharing a bed with 2 cover hogging midgits, rather have the puppy to deal with, specially if the little fella had to much to drink before bed and uses my back as a toilet

Gross

Thanks guys,

the crate is massive, and the vet advised us to put paper at one end and her bed at the other at night, until she developed more bladder control, so she has room for both and can wee freely in the night - (the crate is disinfected and partitioned on a morning, and she uses it as a den in her 'nursery' ) once she's bigger, she'll probably need the whole thing!

so are you saying that she'll probably be OK in the night, even at 8 weeks, and that I should keep it partitioned, and not let her use the other end at night?

the thing is, we can't seem to catch her to get her to 'go' outdoors, and when we try, she just larks about and has no interest in doing her business! we thought we'd have to wait a few weeks before we could properly housebreak her?

also, last night, she was quiet till 5.30 this morning, which was GREAT!

Great to hear she let you get some sleep
When you say that you take her out but she doesnt do anything...i think you just need to be patient. I know its hard at 3am but she will eventually go. With Tyson we used to take him out and we'd keep saying "go wee wee" and as soon as he'd go we'd give him a treat and lots of praise. Eventually he figured out that "go wee wee" meant i need to pee and then i'll get a treat afterward and problem was solved. I suggest getting rid of the news paper and only give her enough room in the crate at night to sleep comfortably in. Every night try and take her an hour later then the night before and hopefully soon she'll be sleeping through the night without having to go.
Good luck

thanks esther, we'll give it a go, I think the breeder was a bit rubbish, because she's not even paper trained, and we find it hard to predict her little 'accidents' as she just goes whenever and wherever! I cant decide whether the kitchen smells more of wee or the odour remover we bought... I think i'm losing my mind!

cant wait til she's had her injections, I think that'll make it easier!

best
skellyngtonx

Hi skelly Esthers given you good advice
5.30am is a good nights sleep you're lucky
I would not encourage her to soil her crate its teaching her the wrong thing, thats probably why she goes 'anywhere'.
Usually puppies are used to going on newspaper as thats whats usually in the whelping box.
When she starts sniffing around the floor take her straight outside and praise loads when she goes.
Put paper down in the kitchen near the back door, if she goes to wee somewhere else place her on the paper, praise loads, take the soiled paper outside (with her scent on) and encourage her to 'go' on the soiled paper in the garden.
She will get the message eventually.
If you teach her to soil her own bed she will be a dirty dog and soil your house anywhere when grown too, because thats what she learnt as a pup.
Good luck

Thanks for your reply - the vet suggested that we do this, which is why I went ahead with it, I want to make very clear that the crate is MASSIVE and her bed is at one end, and the paper at the other during the night - every morning it's disinfected with odour remover and partitioned up again - she doesn't ever do business on her bed, and we don't make her soil it, that would be cruel.

during the day she sleeps in the bed (partitioned) and doesn't soil it

From tonight we'll be keeping the partition up, and hopefully getting down to the serious business of housetraining - my GF and I are now both off for 2 weeks, this is our special project!

thanks for all your help
Shaun x

You're soo lucky you have two weeks off. I remember having to go to work after not sleeping all night. I dont know how i didnt have an accident. My boyfriend and i were sleep deprived for the first 2-3 weeks

well last night was fun - after her teatime feed I took her to the back garden for 25mins - she didn't do a thing, then went back into the house and she did her business on the kitchen floor! at 3 in the morning she woke up so I took her to do some business but she tried to play for ten minutes thinking this is great fun - much to my dismay (to try telling a 9 week puppy not to have fun - it's impossible!). Then I put her back in her crate and she immediately soiled her bed. Which was awful for her and us, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying my best here, but I'm worried I'm failing her in some way!

going to speak to the vet this arvo - and she's getting her first injection - 2 weeks or so til she can go on walks!!
x

Dont stress, your only on very very early trainning, its consistance that you need, save back a peice of soiled paper and take it out side tonight for when she wakes up for the toilet, leave the paper outside for her to smell, this should make her go, if she does then give her loads of praise, maybe even a little treat, just keep it up and dont blame yourself as miricles dont happen over night.

[quote]Then I put her back in her crate and she immediately soiled her bed. Which was awful for her and us, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying my best here, but I'm worried I'm failing her in some way!

I did try to advise you Skellyngton about not letting her soil her crate, now she has learnt that this is the place to 'go'.

[quote="staffsrock"]

Then I put her back in her crate and she immediately soiled her bed. Which was awful for her and us, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying my best here, but I'm worried I'm failing her in some way!

I did try to advise you Skellyngton about not letting her soil her crate, now she has learnt that this is the place to 'go'.

And I took your advice and changed what we were doing! Sorry Staffsrock,

I really want the best for little Ruby - that's all - I don't need an 'I told you so'

i was only doing what the VET told me to do, I dont know any better and she hadn't soiled her bed before. only paper. I think this is something that has been an issue with the breeder and we're reaping the whirlwind. anyway it's early days and it was an unfortunate accident. she will learn if we give her the right cues!

sx