New puppy.... crying at night??

Hi everyone,

My pup Dakota is 8wks old today!! She only came home to us yesterday and it was a long first night!! Ive never had a pup this young so its all new for me. I didnt expect her to cry all night long even after my efforts to reassure her throughout the night. Is there anything i can do to try and help her at night with settling? Am i supposed to answer her every cry or let some of them go? How long does this stage last for?

Thanks

dakota12 wrote: I didnt expect her to cry all night long even after my efforts to reassure her throughout the night. Is there anything i can do to try and help her at night with settling?

You actually encouraged the crying by reassuring her!

Can you leave something with your scent on it with her? A dirty t shirt or something like that? Plus maybe leave a radio on softly so she doesn't think she's totally alone?

Then, I'm afraid, just let her cry. Sounds awful, but if you go to her when she cries then she'll know that she can get her own way whenever she wants!

Some pups will settle after one or two nights, some will take three or four nights, but they all settle in the end! It'll be a couple of sleepless nights (I use ear plugs! ) but once she feels safe & secure & realises that you'll come for her in the morning (in your own time!) she'll be fine.

For the first couple of months I normally get up in the early hours (about 3 or 4am) to let the pup go into the garden to relieve itself, and then go back to bed.

She is just a bit scared and unsure of her enviroment. If you are using a crate place a blanket over it and set a radio or TV turned to a low volume near the crate. Place a chew toy and something with your scent on it in the crate with her.

If you go to reassure her everytime she cries she will learn that crying will make you come to her. I know it sounds a bit harsh but we all go through it. You could also move her crate into your bedroom and than gradually place it farther away once she is comfortable. You will either have to let her out every 2-3 hours to use the toilet or have a crate large enough to seperate the sleeping area with an area she can use as a toilet.

Our pup is now 10 weeks, when we first got him the first night we put an old duvet down beside my fiances side of the bed on the floor, and let him lay there. He ran around our room for about 45mins just looking around blah blah and then ran over to the soft duvet and layed down. He slept there pretty well all night he cried occasionaly and my fiance put his hand down his side of the bed and stroked him a few times and he settled down again. We did this for 3 or 4 nights, then we bought a crate/cage and put it in our room - covered it 3 sides with a blanket put a pillow in there for him to lay on and some newspaper on the other side. Again he cried for about 10 mins but when me or my oh spoke to him like " its ok puppa" he'd be okay again.. now (11 days since weve had him) he sleeps in his crate perfectly fine and we dont get woken up more than once and only for a couple of mins - not from him crying but from him squeeking a toy by laying on it or something. Hope i helped a bit x

My advice is the same as above. Try to have minimal contact as possible or you will make a rod for your own back! Lol

Saffy cried for about 5 nights straight all night, I mean howling the place down. We crate trained her from the off and literally on the sixth night she just went to her crate and slept. I only let her out for a wee maybe once in the night and then it was back in the crate. She goes in her crate herself now when we are getting ready for bed. It's a routine.

Now she sleeps through from 11.30pm - approx 7am. And she will only get up cos she hears the alarm. Just keep at it. They soon learn.

Honestly, I think puppies crying is worse than babies crying! Good luck!

We warned our neighbours before we even picked ruby up that we were ignoring all crying through the nights. It took 3 nights of a lot of crying, and then nothing. We let her out at about 11.30 when we went to bed later than usual so she had less time to wait, and my husband gets up at 6am for work so she was left 6.5 hours. After the 1st week she just held it over night. Shes now 21/22 weeks and goes easily from 10pm-7am, and we need to literally pull her out of bed of a morning to make her go out for a pee shes quiet as soon as she goes into her crate and drops off to sleep. Definitely avoid going to your pup when she cries, they soon learn thats what gets the attention they want.

Thanks everyone for your input, i feel completely lost with the whole puppy owner thing
Well we had a better night last night, I was really surprised. I was getting ready for another long night ahead of me, but it went really well. She went to bed when i did about 11pm and stayed in her bed until morning. She only woke up once crying and that was when my youngest woke up crying, so i had two bubs crying at 2am, lol. I took her to the toilet at that time and she happily went back to her bed.
I was even suprised tonight to see her hop into her bed all unprompted when the kids went to bed. It seems as though shes settling in well, which im so greatful

dakota12 wrote:I was even suprised tonight to see her hop into her bed all unprompted when the kids went to bed. It seems as though shes settling in well, which im so greatful

That's a sign of a happy & contented puppy!

Can pups that young and who has only been here two days be settled that quick? Sorry might be a weird question but i really thought it would take longer than this for her to be that settled.

I agree with Caryll, just need to let her cry, the more you go in to reassure her the more she begins to learn that crying will make you come to her.
I started off getting up at 3-4 hour intervals to let the pup out to the toilet, then increasing the intervals over time, until they can sleep the whole night.
Every pup is different and some will take longer than others, my first pup the crying stopped after a few nights, my second it lasted over a week, he didn't settle until he got to have the company of our other dog over night.

Really unpractical, but being a softy i couldnt resist. I'd lay down and let kenny fall asleep on my chest, i belive hearing a heartbeat can be soothing. He didnt cry once

kenny d wrote:Really unpractical, but being a softy i couldnt resist. I'd lay down and let kenny fall asleep on my chest, i belive hearing a heartbeat can be soothing. He didnt cry once

Cute

kenny d wrote:Really unpractical, but being a softy i couldnt resist. I'd lay down and let kenny fall asleep on my chest, i belive hearing a heartbeat can be soothing. He didnt cry once

i did this with my 1st ever pup of my own, i was 16 and she cried at night and my mum got mad, so i did exactly the same as you...10 years later she still suffered with terrible separation anxiety i dont know if it had anything to do with the fact i never left her alone as she cried as a pup but she would cry the house down every time we left the house. since then, ive always let pups cry for a few nights...just incase it was that. it may not have even had anything to do with that but i wont risk it even tho i do feel so mean letting a cute little pup cry

dakota12 wrote:Can pups that young and who has only been here two days be settled that quick? Sorry might be a weird question but i really thought it would take longer than this for her to be that settled.

Some do! Depends on the pup. One of Yorkies didn't cry at all. And just settled in. I think she was pleased to have a good nights sleep away from her litter mates tbh

dakota12 wrote:Can pups that young and who has only been here two days be settled that quick? Sorry might be a weird question but i really thought it would take longer than this for her to be that settled.

If a pup feels safe & happy in its environment it can often settle really quickly with just a few cries at night because it misses it's siblings.