Sorrry - yet more advice needed....there's so much to learn as a first time puppy owner!  Our 14 week old puppy tends to fall asleep at around 9-10pm each evening.  We take her outside and then lock her in her crate at about 11-11.30pm and she generally then sleeps through until about 5.30 - 6am ish the next morning.  Great thing is that she has never soiled her crate in that time.  Bad thing is that once we have taken her out for a pee when she wakes in the morning she will not settle again.  Once she is awake, if we lock her in her crate again she will bark for hours.  Trouble is, I need that extra hour's sleep in the morning.  Should we try and keep her awake longer at night and hope she sleeps later in the morning or would we be better off waking her up in the middle of the night (say 3.30am) to take her out in the hope that she doesn't then get woken early by a full bladder?  Any ideas anyone?  PLeeeeeeease!

It's hard to say - you could try both your suggestions.

If you decide to get up in the middle of the night, I'd advise that each night you make that 30 mins later than the previous night.  That way, eventually you will be going right through the night till 8am but it will be  gradual and not stressful for the pup.

As she gets older she'll probably need less sleep in the evening anyway so she'll almost certainly reward you by sleeping longer in the morning. Both your suggestions sound workable too but if she's waking as late as 5.30am to 6, I'd probably bring her upstairs while you catch that extra hour of sleep! Certainly on the occasions when my pup used to forget it was still only silly o'clock in the morning I found that he'd doze off very happily in the bedroom even though he wasn't prepared to do any such thing down in the kitchen!

My 12 week old Great Dane puppy does this too - she will get up at 6am, go outside, come back in and eat, play for 10 minutes and be ready to go back to sleep but doesn't want to be shut away again.  Many a morning in the last 2 weeks since we have had her my husband has come downstairs and found me, the puppy, a Ridgeback and a Weimaraner all curled up together on the settee fast asleep!  I just accept that I have to get up with her at 6 - she is a baby and will go longer as she gets a bit older..............hopefully... :D

At the moment my husband (bless him) is doing exactly the same thing as you (he isn't working, I am).  She seems quite happy to snooze with him on the sofa early in the morning, but just won't sleep in her crate.  The idea of taking her upstairs for an hour or so is a thought....but it would only work if we don't try and put her in the crate.  My fear is that she would pee on the bedroom carpet or something while we are trying to catch those extra 40 winks!

If she's been out just before she comes up and catches a few more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs with you then she's unlikely to pee on the carpet provided she goes out again immediately you get up. But I'd be weighing up the value of that extra sleep against the possibility of a widdle and I reckon the odds are that you'll get the sleep rather than the widdle! :D

I think you're right.....although whether I'd be able to get to sleep for fear of waking up to a widdle (or even worse!) is doubtful.  I suppose I could always take the bedroom carpet up for the next few months!

I'm afraid I stopped fearing for my carpets years ago! But you could always keep a bucket of diluted biological washing powder and some kitchen roll handy just in case.

You're right......bucket and cloths at the ready tomorrow!  I am now regreting having carpeted a large chunk of our house with a very expensive and pale gold coloured carpet.  A puppy wasn't on the horizon at the time.  Thank God we had the sense to tile a large part of downstairs!

I never crate trained my puppy (only one I think) and he sleeps in our room in his own bed. But we got some extra sleep - well extra time in bed - with 'head puppies'. When the alarm went off at 5:30 (started at 3:00) I took him out then went back to bed and he got to join us. He'd snuggle up and go to sleep after a few minutes of bouncing. I really love head puppy time even though he's a whopping 34 Kg 10 month old now.

I also love that morning cuddle time after the dogs wake up! Mine are older now and are happy to sleep in, but when they were little I used to get up with them and leave the kitchen door open as i snoozed the sofa.

On work days I wake up to a face wash (whether or not I need it!) from a Jack Russell terrier. And that extra half an hour in bed with a tray of tea, my crunchy cereals and a nice warm dog is a brilliant start to the morning!

mine likes a lie in now as much as me but he still hasnt learnt to make the tea.

To original poster

Sounds like your puppy is doing really well and is a gem in the making.  Whatever you have been doing so far is working well.  Just speaking from experience, keeping a puppy awake longer than usual doesn't do much to make them sleep longer in the morning but it does tend to make them stroppy.  If I were trying to stretch the morning wake time up time for 20 mins, if you can and if your puppy can hold on, teaching them to sleep a little later.

Now the mornings are getting lighter you will probably find that your puppy wakes with first light anyway so 7.30 am lie ins may be a thing of the past until the seasons change again.  All part of dog ownership.

That said you are doing great, keep it up.

Thank you for the encouragement - it's nice to know we are not going horribly wrong!  Actually the last couple of nights haven't been too bad.  For some reason she has started waking at about 3am and wanting to go out for a pee (which she didn't do before), but she lets us know and settles straight back down again so it's not too bad.  She slept through to 6.10am this morning and my husband went downstairs and the two of them fell asleep on the sofa together where I found them half and hour later...bless!  You're right that keeping her up later in the evening doesn't seem to make much difference...and the poor little thing can't keep her eyes open much past 10pm anyway!

>You're right that keeping her up later in the evening doesn't seem to make much difference...and the poor little thing can't keep her eyes open much past 10pm anyway!

Glad that things are looking up! As for keeping them up, it's extremely difficult once they've decided it is bedtime and although I know there are huge dangers in comparing human babies with pups there are still a number of distinct similarities! I still remember my Health Visitor (a woman not blessed with children herself!) telling me to keep my youngest child awake longer in the evening when he was 6 weeks old. When I asked how I should do this - offer him a game of Monopoly, first go at the Guardian crossword perhaps? - she had to agree that the practicalities weren't, er, practical! And the same goes for attempting to stir a sleeping pup!

I know, I know!  We've tried waving her favourite toy in front of her nose and making interesting squeaky noises but once she has switched off nothing will rouse her!  Last night I wanted to take her outside for a final wee before going to bed so I carried her outside and she just lay down and went back to sleep in the toilet area!  Mind you - hadn't considered offering an good old game of monopoly - that might work!

Hiya

Libby does exactly the same.  She goes down between 10-11pm and gets up anywhere between 6-7am, normally nearer 6am:rolleyes:  Sometimes she can get up at 4am, if Im 100% certain that shes has done a wee and a poo (i can normally see her outline just, when its dark), I will leave her to wimper (there is no barking YET).  It normally last 20 mins then she settles.  If she wakes at 6am I just get up (kids have to be up for school and doesnt seem worth trying for an hour).  I then go in lounge and sleep for an hour on settee and she sleeps too.  I think shes after company really.  Maybe making rod for own back but we also have to get some sleep however possible.  I think your pup is doing very well for her age.  Like the other poster said, once they get older they wont sleep as much in the evening and lie ins will be something to look forward to again.  Whats not fun is when they have the sh**s and you're up every 2 hours lol.................

Been there with the sh**s every few hours......not something I want to go through again for some time!  And the smell was just horrific!

blackout curtains!!!!!

and don't forget to gag the dawn chorus!

The next door cat on the patio and the foxes making loud mating noises in the early hours of the morning don't help much either!  Mind you, all was silent this morning until about 5.30am at which stage MY HUSBAND decided he needed to go to the loo and woke both dogs up in the process!  Honestly!