Puppy howling at night - need advice

Person_one

I wouldn't lift water, some people do but personally I think animals should always have access to water, they only drink if they need to. I'd just set an alarm and get up a few times in the night to let her out, she's too little to last all night and will be for a couple of months most likely.

Are you definitely opposed to having her in your bedroom for now? It really is the best thing to do with such young pups.

catkins

When we got our dog at 9 weeks we didn't want him in the bedroom so we took it in turns to sleep downstairs on the settee. Our pup was in a crate - his breeder uses crates so he was used to them - and we started off with the crate next to the settee. If he cried in the night we would talk softly to him and stroke him through the crate. Often he would go back to sleep but if he didn't we took him in the garden to toilet.

We gradually moved the crate further away from the settee. I think it took about 2 weeks in total.

Your puppy is just a baby and in a new to her place without her mum and her siblings. It would be for the best if she either sleeps in your bedroom or you sleep downstairs with her for a while.

Feral_Moon

She should be crated overnight to prevent toilet accidents and either place the crate in the bedroom or sleep downstairs on the sofa with her crate next to you. Then you can reach out and comfort her if she cries.

This is what I did for the first 2-3 weeks and I'd take my pup out to the garden every 3-4 hours so midnight, 4am and 7am to go to the toilet. We never had any accidents in the house.

By week 4 (14weeks) he was going through the night without needing to go out to pee and settled well in his crate from around 9pm with just two pee breaks at midnight and 7am so I was happy to return to my bed to sleep by then.

devils_vixen

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up on the couch at 1am after leaving her at 12. I put her in the crate, moved it to beside the couch and there wasn't a peep until 6am.

Should I wait until she is used to the crate at night before putting her in it during the day for the periods when I'm out the house or should I do it just now?

I've made a rule that she'll only get her kong when she is in the crate.

Also does anyone have advice on the growling when picking her up - she doesn't do it all the time just when she is really hyped up and I'll go to pick her up to remove her from chewing the shoes or washing she does it. I give a firm no but like the kids it goes in one ear and out the other!

MallyGirl

RockOnZombies wrote: »

I've got an Alaskan Malamute that howled/cried at night, best thing I found was to cover his crate with a blackout sheet and it seemed to calm him down, not an ounce of trouble out of him.

My 1st mal screamed all night every night when crated - and soiled the crate too. People kept saying she would give in and accept the crate in the end but she never did. We gave up and let her sleep in our room in the end. Now there are 2 of them in with us - not great in the summer when they pant all night

Gotta love malamutes

bugslet

Don't restrict the water at night, she needs to drink when she needs to drink. As her bladder gets older, she'll get better at holding it in!

I seem to be the odd one out here, I don't use crates much. As I have several dogs, when I have had puppies, I've used them when they were very young when I went out for a few hours, just to make sure the others weren't overly rough or whilst they were in the chewing everything stage.

They also all sleep in the bedroom with me, personally I think that dogs are pack animals and I'm part of the pack:o

Feral_Moon

devils_vixen wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up on the couch at 1am after leaving her at 12. I put her in the crate, moved it to beside the couch and there wasn't a peep until 6am.

Should I wait until she is used to the crate at night before putting her in it during the day for the periods when I'm out the house or should I do it just now?

I've made a rule that she'll only get her kong when she is in the crate.

Also does anyone have advice on the growling when picking her up - she doesn't do it all the time just when she is really hyped up and I'll go to pick her up to remove her from chewing the shoes or washing she does it. I give a firm no but like the kids it goes in one ear and out the other!

I initially used the crate during the day when we went out to ensure his safety but never for more than four hours. I think he was around 4-5mths old when he decided he no longer wanted to be crated and broke out of it :rotfl:

We came home to find him laid at the top of the stairs where he could keep an eye on the door waiting for us to come home. He had a huge smile on his face as we walked in. He hadn't got up to anything naughty or had any accidents anywhere so from that moment on we ditched the cage and allowed him free run of the house. Of course by then he was already sleeping on our beds at night and still does

catkins

I was lucky because, as I said above, my pup was used to crates as his breeder uses them although he had never been in one with the door closed.

I kept the door of the crate open during the day and would put a filled kong in it or a few treats or even just a toy. When he went in of his own accord I would praise him and go and sit by the crate - I never stopped him coming out when he wanted to even if that was after 1 second. Again I was lucky in that I do not work so could be with him all day.

I found he very quickly would go in his crate if he wanted to sleep or if he felt unsure or if he didn't feel 100%. One day he banged his leg on the patio door and only wanted to go in his crate, not even wanting cuddles from me. He was checked by the vet and was fine but I guess it frightened him and maybe he bruised it?

When we had had him about 3 weeks I started putting him in the crate, closing the door and going outside so he would get used to being left. I started at literally 1 minute and built it up. I couldn't risk him being loose if I were not there as we have a small open plan house which was literally impossible to make completely puppy safe.

We fully intended getting rid of a crate by the time he was a year old but he is now just over 4 and he still has one. It's pretty big (he is a big dog) and neither me nor OH really like it in our room but our dog loves it. He spends quite a bit of the day in there and now if he sees me get my coat or handbag he goes in there of his own accord! I don't close the door and he is often still in there when I get home (never leave him for more than 4 hours)

bugslet

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Of course by then he was already sleeping on our beds at night and still does

Out of my four, only one of them occasionally sleeps on the bed - I feel spurned:rotfl:

Person_one

devils_vixen wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up on the couch at 1am after leaving her at 12. I put her in the crate, moved it to beside the couch and there wasn't a peep until 6am.

Should I wait until she is used to the crate at night before putting her in it during the day for the periods when I'm out the house or should I do it just now?

I've made a rule that she'll only get her kong when she is in the crate.

Also does anyone have advice on the growling when picking her up - she doesn't do it all the time just when she is really hyped up and I'll go to pick her up to remove her from chewing the shoes or washing she does it. I give a firm no but like the kids it goes in one ear and out the other!

I would start putting her in the crate for short periods of half an hour or so throughout the day, whether you're in the house or not, with the kong, to get her used to it. I agree with keeping the kong for 'crate time', my dogs have run of the house when I'm out but they only ever have their songs if I'm not there, I don't know if it works or not but I like to think it creates a positive association with me leaving, that its not all bad!

As for growling when picking her up? Well, why are you picking her up? Dogs don't generally like being picked up so its always best avoided unless absolutely necessary, even if the dog is tiny and its tempting! How are you picking her up? Can she see you approaching? Are you looming over her intimidatingly or are you behind her and suddenly she's in the air? Getting puppies used to being handled starts with you being on the same level as them, get on the floor and fuss her and start lifting her feet gently, looking at her ears and teeth etc. then move on to lifting her every so slightly. Always make sure that she can see you clearly and see what your hands are doing as you do this. When she's used to you and feeling secure she'll know that you and your hands pose no danger and she'll relax.

The growling could be a bit of resource guarding too if it happens when you're trying to remove her from something she shouldn't have! That's not my area of expertise but a poster called Kylyr knows a lot about it and will hopefully read this. From what I've read, its better to convince the pup to give up the 'forbidden' item by offering something better, then praise like mad when they drop it.