HI there, our new puppy got here today and she is so lovely. She has had to be separated from our other dog as he has not taken to her that well - he's very jealous.  She is now howling the house down as we have gone upstairs to bed. I have read two schools of thought on this - one lot say sleep with the pup on the first night - others say (acutally the leonberger book says) that you have to ignore the yapping otherwise she will do it every night if it succeeds in bringing a human to hand!

Help... what do we do?

Mine always slept next to my bed in their crate when they were babies.  I couldn't leave them to cry - couldn't with my children either.

Actually wihtin the time i have posted she has stopped crying. so many people say start as you mean to go on, and we do not want a giant dog upstairs! she is also not potty trained in any way shape or form yet (unfortunately her breeder didnt start toilet training) so its just not viable to have her upstairs.  Doesnt stop us feeling bad about leaving her down there though.

The reason I had my pups with me for their first nights away from Mum and siblings is because I wanted to start as I meant to go on and not let them get upset or learn to cry at night.  The crate can be moved eventually and they will settle in it happily.  As for house training,  puppy is bound to need to go during the night so another advantage of having them beside the bed in a crate is that they wake you to tell you they need to go to the toilet.  It is a much quicker way to get them clean and dry at night.  After several disturbed nights it became increasingly difficult to wake me so my pups learnt bowel and bladder control at a young age. ;)
Sally

If you can't take the crying then by all means put it in with you, in a crate (or whatever) and settle it down, over time you can then gradually move it further away e.g landing, bottom of stairs, kitchen.
I couldn't leave ours howling as we live in a terraced house and boy was she loud !! now she'll sleep anywhere.
I did have to keep settling her down in the bedroom for about an hour because she kept wanting to get in bed with us but she soon realised she couldn't and went off.

Best of luck!

I must agree with Sally, by keeping our girl in our bedroom she was house trained within a week, and was dry on a night after 2 nights (this is exceptionally quick i know maybe i was lucky but she was 12 weeks when we got her).
She woke me up about 5am for a wee the 1st night then she just slept through till 7am (when we got up) i put her straight out and it all helped towards the training.
IMO if our girl knew we were only in bed and hadn't vanished off the face of the earth then it was reasurance for her.

I have never let monty sleep in the bedroom. He first came home and slept in a crate in hte kitchen while i was trying to sleep on the living room floor. He was howling and whining for about a week which was unbearable, but i didnt go in. After that he was fine. Housetraining was a doddle as it was summer so i left the back door open.
Had it lucky really i think!!! Now he's reached the kevin stage, i am paying!

You will get mixed reviews on this forum. Just go with what you want. But do bear in mind you will have a very large teddy bear in years to come :)

Sam x

Well we left the little dear on her own (old dog did not take nicely to her in the end and is desperately jealous - dont blame him - so we had to separate them to make sure he wasnt nasty to her). she had her own cosy bed and toys in the back kitchen and only cried for about five minutes and gave up. from the short time we have had her (since yesterday lunch!) it appears thsi little girl has some superior brains in the learning dept.

As you say samw - she is going to be one HUGE teddybear (and knowing Lean-on-bergers like cuddling) its imperative she doesnt get used to sleeping upstairs! acutally in the leonberger breed book it says just be strong and have her in her own place at night and not to sleep with them or have them in your room. she doesnt seem any worse for wear today which is great. She's living up to her name.. Boudicca (shortened to boo!).

Oh wow i must be really paying for it then allowing my Great Dane in the bedroom :rolleyes:
There is no right or wrong it's what suits you/dog best, i'm happy that he's settled well done!

My Belgian girl was in our bedroom for a few weeks i think and we took her out at night and first thing in the morning; then we moved her downstairs and because she was so secure and had never been left, she was totally fine and confident. Maybe we were lucky but i like t think it was the initial security that helped :)

Lindsay
X

<<she is also not potty trained in any way shape or form yet (unfortunately her breeder didnt start toilet training>>

Splutter, trying to regain power of speech/typing   (  :)  )

Even if her breeder had managed to get her fully house trained that would not carry over into your home.  Everything is different and you have yet to learn to read her as to when she needs to go.  I doubt she is old enough to be able to "hold" it yet anyway

No - although i dont know the age wehre they are old enough starts? (she's 11months).

The great thing is that we dont freak out when she pees in the house and we just take her outside every hour or half hour and she usually does it outside when we do this, so we praise and sometimse reward witha goody. she's just the most delightful little thing.

she can't be that little if she is 11 months and should be housetrained at that age!

I assumed she was a baby pup, not an older one :)

If she has been a house dog then she should be mostly housetrained it is just a case of you learning to "read" her and her signals to go out - house training is often lost for a while when a dog goes to a new home till everyone gets used to each other.

If she has been a kennel dog then you will need to treat her as a baby pup and take her outside every 30 - 60 minutes and as soon as she starts, use whatever word(s) you are going to use as an elimination command and praise.  If you do this then untimately she should go on command.

Sorry ladies i just had a bit of a Homer moment. I meant 11 weeks. sorry!! she is only 11 weeks. I realise that she is no way going to be housetrained quite yet.
Sorry for being so gormless!

As in Simpson not the Iliad :D

Oooh talking of the iliad... cant wait till Troy - the trailers for it look awesome, with incredible music!

best to leave them to howl if you don't want them upstairs, i personally don't like the idea of dogs upstairs in bedrooms if they will sleep on the landing thats not so bad!

You can have them upstairs for just a bit and them move them downstairs, it doesn't have to be forever ;)

Lindsay
X :)

I bought a bigger bed to share with the hooligans!!! :O

Yep - me too.  King size water bed.  :D

Glad I'm not the only one :D

Avoided the water though!

I followed the advice in The Perfect Puppy book, and let mine sleep upstairs (in her cage) for the first week, then moved the cage downstairs after that first week.  Never had a peep out of her at night except on the rare occassions she wanted to get up early (or late) to wee.  She didn't fuss on her first night, got straight into bed and went to sleep, which she continued to do every night, and never made a fuss when she was downstairs on her own.  However, she did seem to wake up every two hours when I followed all the normal advice of leaving a radio on etc - but leave her downstairs on her own, in the pitch black and total silence and she sleeps like a baby, hurrah!

HOWEVER!  LOL!!  We made a fatal mistake the other week, when my mother-in-law came to stay.  She always sleeps downstairs on the settee and to avoid her being woken every two hours by the little monster in her cage, we decided to take her up to sleep on our bed (the puppy, not the mother-in-law ;-) ).  She'd slept there a few times in the past when we'd had bad storms and had woken up in the night so we didn't think much of it.  Mother-in-law stayed two nights, and on night 3 when we returned Millie to her cage downstairs....yes, you've guessed it....she was having NONE of it, and would whine her heart out until about 1.30am when....yes, you've guessed it...I would give in and take her up to bed!!!   After a week of this, I decided to bring her cage upstairs.  Really i want her to sleep in my room on her own bed eventually anyway, so I don't know why i was leaving her downstairs on her own anyway - probably because most people say its the right thing to do.  After the first initial indignation of having to go back to sleeping in her cage, and not on the comfy big bed, she has settled down now and has accepted that if she can't be on the bed, well right next to the bed is probably the next best thing.  It's been a week so far, and besides, I don't know what she's worrying about, when 'dad' gets up at 6am for work, he takes her outside then brings her back and puts her on the bed with mum for a few more hours kip in comfort anyway!!!

Hi

My girl Luna is lying on the floor next to my bed. The door is standing a bit open, so the cats can walk in and out, but Luna can't.

This is to 1.: prevent her from chasing the cats all night and 2.: (mostly when she was little) to get her housebroken.

She has NEVER peed or anything on her blankets, and when I first got her, I woke up because she stirred, and then I had time to just go down with her.

I live on the 3. floor, so couldn't just "pop" out in the garden!

I like having her on the floor next to my bed, except of course when she has gas - although it does seem to make me sleep better :-)

Jeanette

I have had Dora for 4 weeks now, and for the first few nights i tried to settle her in the kitchen, i put her bed down, some paper and plenty of toys, i even left the radio on very low and her cuddly toys and chewys.
She howled constantly.
I really tried to ignore her but she went on and on.
I ended up bringing her and her things into my bedroom and she settled down straight away.
It has been 4 weeks now and she is a really good pup, she peepees on her paper and when we come to bed she carries her favourite teddy with her.
I am happy and Dora is happy.

dora that is so adorable! what sort of dog is she?
Boo (boudicca!) was sooo good last night. she likes to wake up at dawn though - i think her thinking is that all the birds are waking up,s o why cant she?

Mad march,
Dora is a troll who doesnt know whether she has a dog or not!
Sam x

Would someone please please enlighten me....? Troll????????

A troll is a sad person who has nothing better to do than put fake posts on the forum, usually trying to start flamewars. I must give dora her due tho, she has put on some normal posts. Not the usual drivel we get :)

Sam xx

How do you know if they are fake sam?

Glad you asked that Lauren....have been dying to know that one for ages....but never dared ask :)
Jo
x

Generally because the stories vary from post to post. The truth doesn't change. Fabrication does.
:)

Have a look on the search option for posts by a person, put in their name and look at the posts. Dora one min says she has a dog, then not, then its a different dog etc etc.
Usually trolls are easier to see as they put a post about something cruel about the way thery treat a dog or something just as brainless!
Sometimes its entertaining, other times its just pathetic :)

Sam x

Riihhhhgt...the penny is dropping......I suppose another giveaway...is the fact that they don't mind being called 'trolls'  LOL....mind you...I've been called way worse than that and never flinched ;)
I don't want to get too cockey here....but I think I may have spotted a new one....however...I still have my 'L' plates lodged firmly in position, so will reserve judgement and follow your instructions
Cheers
Jo
:)

Hmmm, me too jo :)
Sam x

Thank you, i now know what to look for, am new to the site as have just aquired my first puppy.