Hi All

I have recently become the proud owner of a bitch choc lab puppy who is adorable however she constantly cries at night even when we've feed her & taken her outside for toilet! I know she may be a bit unsettled to begin with but she sleeps fine during the day, is this where we are going wrong? Should we try & stop her from sleeping in the day? She sleeps in a crate in the kitchen but we don't fasten it shut!

Any suggestions on this or any other tips you may have on bringing her up would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Hi Gemma
Congratulations on your new one. How old is she? She sounds like she is just needing time to settle in. If she is a baby she will be missing her mum and litter mates. She probably is sleeping better during the daytime because she knows everyone is around. Its a lot quieter at night so she is maybe feeling a little lonely and still a bit unsure of her surroundings. Did you get a blanket from the breeder that has mums scent on it? She will settle in time.

Kat

Hi

She is 8 weeks old so I'm putting it down to just settling in but wondered if anyone had any tips if she carries on.  We've got a cushion & a blanket which she had whilst she was with her mum & siblings which she does carry around with her.

Think I'll let her settle down first & take it from there!

Thanks! :)

Yeah

She'll be fine. Just needs some time thats all :)

Kat

How would you feel about having the crate in your room at night?  This will generally help the puppy to settle in.  YOu can then move it out the room at bit at a time until she is placed in the room you want her to be in.  I have done this with both my puppies and I have had no problem.  If you can imagine that she has been taken away from her mum and her siblings and now has to sleep alone it must be very daunting for her.  This will certain help the situation.  Hope this helps. Good luck.  She sounds lovely and be sure to enjoy your new addition.

Annie

Our pup was 7wks old when we had her and did the same thing we allowed her to have the crate in our room to sleep in and she now sleeps downstairs at night so it is time and patience but you may be in for a few sleepless nights.Good luck.

We leave a TV on, have the kennel covered and also ignoring her when she does it helps in time. If you go down she will elarnt o do it to get your attention. But you have to learn to hear the difference between the I'm lonly and the I've got to pee cry.

hi have you tried covering the top and sides of the crate with a blanket to make a den for pup at night I always cover pups crates at night it makes them feel safe.

that's a really good idea - forgot about that.  It makes a lovely cosy little den where they feel safe.

annie

I had this too, with my black lab puppy.   I found leaving a radio on, very quietly, also helped.  As did an old tee shirt  (not washed!!) of mine to sleep on.

It does get better!!

Could you please explain the safe, cosy den idea to my terrier who never opted to lie in her crate covered or otherwise.  No need to explain to my Lab though, who got in the terrier sized crate and declared it home.

Hi
we had this problem ourselfs with our west highland white pup who cried at night we where tempted to give in and bring him upstairs but we did not we perservied and we did what some one has suggested put a blanket over the crate we also put in a hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket, slowly the crying got less each night, now he is fine.

Hi
Thank you all so much for your advice, I've tried the covering up of crate & hot water bottle (however the weather has been too hot for her to sleep in the crate the past few days) & they seem to have worked.  She had her first vaccination the other day & I suggested to the vet about bringing her upstairs until she gets settled but she advised not to as it will take longer to train her to sleep through.

She's very bouncy at the minute & is prone to trying to bite when in play, vet advised yelping like her litter mates would have to prevent this, any other ideas?

Thanks agian

Gemma

I put my puppy in his crate about 11pm, and cover him over with an old duvet cover, then i put the tv on and turn out the light :-) and he sleeps all night until about 7am

when i fetched my pup home i too had the same problem. i put a duvet down at the side of his crate and slept on the floor beside him for the first week. then the second week i layed down next to him til he was asleep and jumped back into my bed. by week 3 (9wks old) he was happy enough to go to bed and sleep until morning or until he needed out for a pee. :-)

hey Gemma, the vet is right. yelp and look offend and stop play and turn your back on her like in a huff. useualy the puppy will come and lick you to say sorry. worked with the terrier cross ;)

hiya, i think everyone has this problem when getting a new pup home...we used a strange method... wrapping an old fashioned alarm clock in a blanket and putting it in her basket... apparently the soothing 'heart beat like tick tock' does the trick!
goodluck.

Hi everyone

Thank you all so much for your brilliant advice, little Molly has been sleeping for about 6-7 hours straight this week & has stopped crying for the sake of it, she's just whines if she needs to go out which I have learnt to recognise!

She had a 2nd jab today & has been chipped & we are looking forward to taking her 'walkies' in a weeks time, we are slightly concerned about how much exercise to give her though whilst she's still growing!  The vet recommended a half hour walk in the morning (my job!) & same again early evening & continue to play with her as we are doing, do you agree with this? I know you shouldn't over exercise her whilst she's still growing but she has so much energy I'm concerned half an hour twice a day might not be enough!

Any advice or past experiences would again be much appreciated!

Thanks is advance, Gemma & Molly (woof!!!)

Hi Gemma, well done on getting Molly settled :)

Re the exercise, the general rule of thumb is 5 minutes per month of age - so that's 15 minutes in total daily for a puppy as young as Molly.  A half hour walk for a 12 week puppy would completely exhaust it and certainly not help it's little growing bones and joints - you'd think vets would know better but seems to be a common mistake :rolleyes:

All the playing and bounding around that puppies do in the house and garden is more than enough exercise for them anyway but obviously taking them out is vital to socialise them which is the real benefit of early trips into the great outdoors ;)  By all means take her out for 30 minutes or an hour or even more but only having her physically walking for a maximum of 15 minutes.  Why not take her somewhere she can walk for say 5 minutes and then sit on a bench near a fairly busy shopping area (like a precinct or outside a supermarket) and let her see lots of different things and have people approach her etc. but she's not walking around so not being over tired or straining herself.  Then do the same thing again later in the day etc.  You'll find that just seeing all the new things around her tires her out too because she'll be thinking about everything she sees and hears and tired minds make for tired puppies :P  HTH, Teri 

edited to say oops, wasn't all meant to be so BOLD :D  -  that's better  :P

Yes I would stick by the 5min per month and do not over do things.  take her by car to the shops and walk her a couple of minutes there this will all help to solialise.

Thank you for your advice, I think a little walk to the end of the estate & back would be fine for the time being as there are plenty of other people walking their dogs also, it's only a 10 mins walk to the nearest park also so I could try that as she gets older.  Thanks again! Bit annoyed with the vet now :( esp seen as I expressed a genuine concern about exercising whilst she's growing!

Hi All

Molly has been sleeping longer & loves going for walks now, I've decided to take her to a small park which is about 2 mins walk & let her walk around for 5-7 mins getting to know other dogs & familiarising herself with the surroundings & then coming back, I'm doing it in the morning at the minute as that's when it's coolest.  She does tend to go to sleep pretty much straight after we get back however I'm hoping this is more mentally tired than worn out!  I've got to admit though I am so looking forward to taking her a long walks esp seen as we live so close to the Dales!

She seems to be growing so fast also, everytime my parents visit they are amazed by how much she's grown.  Since we bought (a month ago) she's put on about 3-3.5kg, was 6.5 when we got her, is this normal?

Again any advice would be appreicated :)

Hi Gemma,

Your posts are going to be really useful for me - we pick our black Lab puppy up in just under 2 weeks - sounds like I'm in for some fun!! Can't wait!

Good luck with your puppy
Nicky x

Hi
I hope its ok to post one tip for a pup spending its first night in a crate.
I asked my breeder if she had an old blanket with the smell of the mother on it and I laid that blanket in the crate for a few days when I first had Bruce. The smell made him feel at home and he settled down really well, not even a cry or moan.

Good luck...you're gonna need it Nicky but I can assure you it's worth every single minute...if I can be of any help at all pls let me know, I'm only a novice myself but I'd be speaking from very very recent experience!!!!