How wonderful our baby girl boo has finally arrived, she has now been with us for two days. The journey went very well we took a nice warm sheepskin bed and blanket, obviously she was a little anxious at first, but after 10 mins she settled down and fell asleep in my arms until we got home, bless. She is settling in really well, we have only had one accident in the house and that was the first day, other wise she sits and looks at the door (many thanks to the breeders) we are so very very proud of her:-)
Just one little itsey bitsey problem, night time! She is crated as i write, and does so buy herself day and night. But come bedtime we sit with her until she falls asleep and snores, we then tiptoe off to bed leaving on a night light and radio 4, only to be woken an hour or so later to her crying:-( both nights have been spent camping on the dinning room floor next to her crate, we have tried comforting her and going back to bed only for her to start again, we have also tried covering the crate (not totally) but to no avail. Any advice on crate training would be very welcome
                  Many Thanks

I am afraid you either have to harden your heart and ignore her and in a few weeeks she will get used to it, or give in and let her sleep in your room, I dont think theres any happy medium but someone else may have some. when we got ours I got no sleep listening to him crying for 2 weeks ,it was awful and had I lived alone i would have had him in with me but my partner wouldnt allow it, (now hes 3 he sleeps where he likes!) I think its best that they learn to be alone for when you go out etc.

Ooh, a new baby puppy how exciting :D Make the most of her while she's still teeny, they grow up QUICK!

This is something I have saved as I think it is a good alternative to crating from the very beginning, it worked very well with our latest addition and is a tried and tested method used by his breeders.

The thing to remember with your new pup is that he/she has never slept on their own, they have always had either their mum or their litter mates there so it is very scary when they have to start sleeping by themselves.

The method we used was to get a cardboard box, with tall sides, place a thick wedge of newspaper in the bottom and cover with a blanket or piece of vet bed/fleece. We found this box useful when bringing Idõ home too, and we still used it up until a time when he wouldn't fit into it and began to learn how to ride in the car with the big girls!
The box is placed next to your bed, or settee (I slept on the settee in the living room for 3 weeks after we got Idõ as it meant I was a very short distance from the back door for when he needed to go outside.)
If he was at all unsettled during the night I simply dropped my arm into the box and he snuggled up instantly. If he still seemed unsettled then I'd pop outside with him for a wee and then put him straight back in the box. Remember not to talk to him, unless it is to praise for 'toileting'.
Take him outside as soon as he wakes on a morning, this was around 6.30am with Idõ because he was used to having breakfast at 7am!

When we thought he was more settled at night, ie going from 11/12 at night til 6.30/7am without going out then I cut away the front of the box and put it inside his crate, which he had been used to going in and out of during the day since we first got him.
By now he knew the box meant 'sleepy time' and we had no problems with him settling in it and for the past 6 weeks or so he has no accidents at night, and he now asks at the back door when he needs to go out, which is the whole point I suppose!

This method is very kind to the puppy, with our last pup we had her in a crate from the first night and she howled the house down, but there was nothing we could do as she we knew she had to learn to accept the situation, I still got up 3 or 4 times during the night to take her out and it worked but I found this method is far nicer and we have still ended up with a pup that is settled at night, it just meant that we got some sleep too!

I now have a dog that will sleep all night long(well he is 14 months nearly but has been like this for most of the time we've had him)and is happy in his crate, in a bed, on his own, with the other dogs or with me...either way he sleeps all night and this method caused the least stress and has not ended up with me having a dog that MUST sleep in my room :D :D

I hope this helps you, ask me for more info if you don't understand something.

Emily :)

Edited to say, you must still, during the day make a conscious effort to seperate yourself from her...otherwise you may end up with SA issues in the future. There's loads of info on here about that if you have a little search :)

Hi there

congrats on your new puppy - its so exciting!  Mines 20 weeks now.  When we first got her she cried on a night for 3 nights, it was awful.  We were very hard and ignored her.  She wasnt locked in her crate at this time and pee'd on paper.  As long as their not hungry and doesnt need to pee she should be ok to be left.  I think if you lock the crate when there are young, you should really get up and let them pee.  Obviously as the weeks go by they can hold themselves.  Be hard and it will pay off.  My pup now sleeps crated 10.30 - 7ish which is not bad at that age. We dont bother with lights on or radio either, you cant do that forever.  Good luck and best wishes

ps - put a few treats in the cage during the day so she asociates the crate with something nice.  Sometimes in the day when youre around let her go in the crate without locking it

Oh those lovely first new puppy days! Lucky you!

However, you will have to harden your heart about some things and I'd start with NOT staying with the pup till she falls asleep. Don't make a drama out of bedtime either with too many fond farewells since the pup will pick up on your anxiety about her missing you. A cheerful  "Night, night pup" before leaving her is enough. At the moment she's settling into her new home and you want to just shower her with love and security and it's so hard when these baby pups cry! But do bear in mind that any "temporary just while she settles down a bit" routines you start now may be surprisingly hard to break later.

Hi,
Thankyou all for your advise, it has, as usual been invaluable. After two nights camped out on the dinning room floor, we can now return to the comfort of our own bed (ah bliss) as Boo now sleeps right through from 10 or 11pm till 6am with no noise or accidents.This morning she started howling at 6am, we dont know weather she heard our alarm clock, or if she thinks she is our alarm clock. Yesterday we left her crated during the day for 45mins while we did a bit in town, i left the video camara running to see what she did, apart from a little look around as we left she lay in her bed quietly until we returned.(Total result)
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are going to start 'clicker' training her, this should be fun as she seems so eager to please at the minute, she is already going to the back door to ask to go to the toilet and sits and waits by the kitchen door as her meals are being prepered. I will keep you all informed of her 'clicker' progress and no doubt be baack for some more advise.
                     Once again, Thankyou for all the help.