Advice please - crate training at night

We bought 8 week old Alfie home on Friday last, put him in his crate for the night along with toys and also left training pad for any accidents. He wimpered for ages getting very agitated, i know i shouldn't but eventualy gave in and came down stairs, waited for him to drop off then snook back up to bed. Saturday night slightly better but still had to come down again untill he dropped off. Sunday night same, Monday night same.
I know i shouldn't come down to him but it is terrible listening to him whining especially when the wife has to get up at 4 am for work. Tried leaving radio on for him.
Is it wrong to leave training pad in the crate as i know they dont like to toilet near their bed.

Advice please.

My Saffy cried for about 5 nights basically all night (howling). Then all of a sudden she just stopped. we didn't give in once and now she just accepts it lol. She will have a little whimper sometimes but only for a few seconds. But I honestly know how you feel.

Just hang in there, honestly I don't think it matters what you do, they will still whinge. As long as they are comfy, warm and safe just ignore it. Also only take him out for a wee when he isn't crying or he may cotton on that crying more will get attention.

The first couple of nights will be bad, as he is separated from his mom and siblings, and may suffer a bit of seperation anxiety. It will take time. I'd advise you to rather take him out for loo breaks every couple of hours, instead of having training pads in the crate. All you are teaching him is that it is ok to do his business in his crate, which is not an ideal situation.
Can you maybe move the crate into your room, at least he will have a sence of you being there, which could make the crying a lot better. They like to be close to people

Zeus done the exact same thing for a week. he cried/howled relentlessly, at times I felt really bad, like I was torturing him but I knew it had to be done. After the week, he realised that we will always come back for him in the mornings and he stopped. He pee'd in his crate for the first 3 days and then learnt to keep it in until we get him in the morning!

Well we've just been through it with Tommy and it wasn't much fun. Tilly seemed to settle very quickly , for both of them we always put some paper down in the crate for toilet and it has been needed. Tilly settled much quicker but never really went in her crate by choice though she never objected and at around 4 months she was very clean (never many accidents in her crate apart from the first week or so) so based on this she came on our bed and has never moved off it since
Tommy was a howler for ages for the first 2 weeks, now he wakes up has a whimper and realises nobody is going to pander to him so he goes back to sleep, unless we decide he is crying for the toilet ( purely a time based judgement). He has been accident free in his crate for the last 2 weeks but we let him out 2 maybe 3 times a night depending on how early or late we go to bed. He has 2 crates , 1 upstairs in my daughters room shich is his nightime crate and always is half bed , half paper but not needed and his downstairs crate for through the day when he or we need time out and that is just full of comfy blankeys.
I talked to the OH last night and if we have another dry week then we will fill his crate with bed and see how we go from there

Have you tried placing a blanket over the crate?

jstaff wrote:Have you tried placing a blanket over the crate?

That worked really well with Bella. She had a blanket covering 3 sides of her crate and she settled quickly with that.

jstaff wrote:Have you tried placing a blanket over the crate?

Have done the same with Zeus, put a blanket over his crate which covers 3 sides apart from the front. I get the feeling it puts him at ease and makes him feel comfortable, as whenever we take it off, he doesnt relax as much as he does when its on.