My friend has a new 12 week old puppy and they are having problems with him sleeping through the night. He is downstairs and cries for them, they go down don't talk to him but let him out he then does a wee and wants to play. They put him back in his crate but he continues to cry (last night for 3 hours!)

Any suggestions?

I would sleep in the crate and let him have my bed!!

Maybe they could leave a radio on a low volume and if they have dimmer switch a low light too and an article of the owners clothing with thier scent on.  Tell the puppy he/she is going to bed, say night night, give kiss and cuddles and leave the room not going back in.  Unless that is they don't mind the puppy sharing their room for ever, then of course it does not matter, just take it to bed with them :)

I agree. It's a baby I'm afraid and will behave like one.

Consistence and a LOT of patience!  :D

How long have they had him?  Going to a new home is a traumatic thing for any pup, they've gone from littermates and mum to being by themselves (most of the time) in a strange place.  It is very daunting and stressful.

As Perry says, getting pup into a routine is the best way - and dogs love routine, he should pick it up in no time.  When my middle two were pups, if they cried, I'd take them outside to make sure they didn't need to do anything (including poo, not just pee), and if they kept going I would ignore them.  I had the cage next to my bed so they didn't feel totally alone.  Look at it from pup's POV: imagine if you were plucked from your family and put somewhere completely unfamiliar and left totally alone, in the dark, with nothing familiar around you - you call for people, they come and let you out, then disappear again in a short time - how would you feel?

I didn't use a crate for Opi - I had her in a puppy pen at night for the first few weeks, then she slept loose downstairs.  She was one of those pups that just would not accept being crated at night - no trouble during the day, she could be in there hours and no problem but not at night.  Even now she'll sleep in it if it's up (she's 4), never did figure that one out!

I can vaguely remember our little darling when we bought him home but he slept through the night straight away not even a murmur!

Do you think that they should be getting up to take him to the toilet? I can't remember the age when they actually have bladder control

They are very patient people, in fact i'm really glad they got him they are very kind people with lots of love to give!

They have had him only a few nights, they aren't stressed about it just asked for some tips...so thought i'd cheat and come on here!:rolleyes:

When they do go to him and have him back inside after toileting they should ignore his overtures to play but stay and put the kettle on etc waiting for him to get bored and settle and then quietly leave. 

It is very early days yet, but when he realises that calling them will not result in play time, but he will be comfortable if he needs to toilet, he will settle.

Yes, they have done the completely wrong thing in going down to him, you only have to do it once you know :-)  and the pup will continue to cry and howl, knowing they will eventually come so he has no reason not to stop, he will continue to howl all night long now.

I've personally never kept a pup in a crate overnight, nothing wrong with it, but I have always had a crate left open and then a gate across a kitchen or utility room to give the pup space to come out of the crate and pee on some newspaper as pups do pee and poop an awful lot, it saves having to keep getting up every few hours to let the pup toilet, it also helps a pup to settle and learn to sleep in the nightime as no-one is coming for company.

Of course many put newspaper down one side of a crate too, for a pup to pee on, which works just the same but can get messy with puppy walking in it.

They have to be tough, pop him in the crate between 11pm-12 go to bed and do not go down again until approx 5am to give him the message that no-one will come. Warn the neighbours that they are breaking in a pup and they have to be tough for the next week, otherwise the problem will not go away. :-)

When the pup is a couple of months older and has stopped crying and sleeps well on a night, they can then encourage early toilet training by getting up at 4am to let their pup out, as he gets older and older he will be able to hold his toileting for longer and longer, so after 1 months at 4am, it can then progress to 5am, then after a month to 6am.

Mitz was whining alllllllllllll through the night when we first left her crated downstairs to go too bed, she had some relaly funny sounds coming out of her but we were strong and stayed away, she soon shut up!
Luckily we never made the mistake of going back as they got you then in theyre little paws!! :)

When we got our puppy home, we set up a crate in our bedroom. He settled nicely and slept through the night from day one (8 weeks old). When he was about 4 months old and house trained, we got rid of the crate in the bedroom and now he sleeps on the floor or one of the dog beds...

Personally I don't like leaving new puppies on their own at night, I feel it stresses them out too much as they must feel so abandoned.. must be so traumatic for them after leaving mum, litter, people they know moving into a place they don't know with people they don't know. They get comfort from being near people at night and can be moved later to the place where they are meant to be.

Vera

Problem solved crate left open and he slept through!

i have also got a new pup as has 1 of my friends.she has a very similar problem to ur friend - the new pup howls through the night.on a few occasions shes said how stressful for it and then asked if i thought so.however,i have had a few probs but not with sleeping.i have my dogs bed next to mine and at first i dangled my arm down the side but now he just goes straight to sleep and sleeps all night.he doesnt even get up for a toilet.hes not had 1 accident in my room,but i have to make sure i get him staright doewnstairs in the morn or he does it at the top of the stairs.i will eventually get a crate,have that next to my bed til he gets used to it then gradually move him to the stairs in this then in the kitchen (i might not even bother with the crate depending on how things go).i dont allow him onm the bed and we dont put him on to the bed either(even if he wanted to get up he couldnt just yet).hope this helps!

I remember very clearly bringing our last pup home He whined and carried on for hooouuuurs in the kitchen on the first night,then all of a sudden it stopped! I thought yay he's finally got the message,but then i heard a little snuffle next to my bed and i reached down and there he was fast asleep on top of my clothes quiet as a mouse.He managed to push open the louver kitchen doors(no crate)and that's where he slept from that day onward with out another peep :D

It must be quite a squash because all your dogs sleep in your room, don't they? Was he left in the kitchen because it's easier to mop the floor - I find it so much easier that way too. :)  When we brought one pup home our older dog has just been promoted from the kitchen to sleeping in the living room. The pup was put to bed in the kitchen and protested loudly - so we moved a very disgruntled older dog back into the kitchen again! She was miffed at the relegation but we (dogs included) all slept well!

I think Ktee just has two border terriers JG, they could fit in most bedrooms without a squash :D  

I do the same as you Jan, pups stay in the kitchen until house trained, with the next youngest to keep them company.

Oops, my mistake! For some reason I've got it in my head that she has four dogs! :o No idea how I got that impression. Sorry!