# 8 week old puppy



## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

*8 week old puppy*

We have had Bella since Saturday, she has settled well. I just need a bit advice.
Sleeping in her crate at night , pup goes in when I say bed to her. I give her a cuddle and she goes to sleep. About an hour and a half later she wakes going crazy so I go downstairs and let her out for a wee. She is then put straight into her crate and i leave her. She goes crazy and I let her do this for as long as I can cope with the noise. I then go back down and lie outside her crate till she settles. Once settled I go back upstairs and this will happen again 2-3 hours later and so on till about 6 in the morning. Not sure what to do? Shall I leave her to scream? Thought I would be strong enough to not give in and leave her to cry but its harder than I thought. Thankyou in advance


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Yep, either leave her or let her in your bed  Me, I couldn't let my dogs sleep anywhere but with me. But I'm weird!  

If you want her to stay in the crate, then don't respond to her crying. It's tough not to I know, but by coming to her when she cries, she is learning that crying will bring you back.


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## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

It's funny how before we got her I really thought I could leave her crying. I had to do this with one of my sons when he wouldnt settle at night so thought I could manage it. How wrong was I. I wouldn't say your weird for letting yours in your bed, everyone is different, not sure I would want too but am on the verge of putting the crate in our room so she is near us. Just keep thinking its early days and she will settle.
I take my 2 boys to school and back everyday so she has to go into her crate for this period, she goes crazy and jumps around like mad. Yesterday and today she was still crying but not going crazy and she was laid in her crate, when she has stopped crying I let her out. This is for around 30-40 mins but can not be avoided as the boys have to go to school. Maybe I need to put her in her crate for short periods of time during the day to het her use to being in there with the door shut? She goes in no problem, it's when I shut the door and leave her


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

This issue is an entirely personal choice, but whatever you choose, you should stick with it to avoid confusing your pup.

I'm with Ozkar. I've had at least one dog my entire adult life, and I've always invited them to sleep on my bed. I do, however, make sure they understand that it's MY bed. When I ask Willie to move over, please, he does. ;D


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

As mswhipple says whether you let them on/in your bed is a matter of personnel choice.

My choice is that all dogs sleep downstair and are not allowed on human beds. I understand how distressing the crying is Angie -we had it for 5 nights and were almost ready to return him to the breeder. He also screamed if we left him in his crate for an hour or so if we went out during the day.

One day we left the crate door open but he was locked in the kichen where he couldn't do any damage, he had paper to wee on by the back door if he needed to go. We came back and all was quiet, so we did the same at night and we have never looked back. He hadn't been used to a crate when in the litter and I did a very poor job of introducing him to it in hindsight and I feel sure it was just all too stressful on top of leaving his litter mates. The other thing I firmly believe is that he hated peeing/pooing in the crate (I know that is the idea - so they potty train quickly), but in my personal opinion this is somewhat cruel as their bladders need to mature just like children. Don't mean to offfend those who believe in using the crate to speed up potty training - you are probably a lot more experienced at it than me. 

Hang on in there Angie, she will settle soon. You could always go to a hotel for a few nights


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## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Thankyou so much for your advice, personal choice would be to not have Bella in my bed. Selfish as it sounds I don't even like the kids in my bed, not saying I don't mind them cuddling me when they get up in the morning, but the rule has always been that they have their own beds to sleep in. 
Hotmischief, a hotel would be lovely right now!! The comment did cheer me up. Bella is quite chewy, was your puppy like that, if so how did you deal with it. Apart from this Bella is really good, the weeing/pooing is coming along a treat. She has started going to the door when she needs to go out, she hates the rain so that was a big deal for her. She would wee on the training mats instead. I have been taking her in the garden randomly so she gets use to it. She will have to with the lovely English weather we get. It's rained here for days.


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## SweetCaroline (Jul 26, 2011)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Hi!

Congratulations on your puppy!

What we did (in a nutshell) - note: Magnus is now 2.5yrs old:
* Slept downstairs with puppy for the first few nights.
* Went up and downstairs after that.
* Finally decided to have the crate in the bedroom + cuddles in the morning. Problem solved. 

This is possibly not for everyone but it's a good compromise for us between having him in bed all night and having him in his crate.

Cheers! -C.


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## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Hi SweetCaroline, sounds like a good plan. Funny enough when my husband came home for lunch I did suggest putting the crate at the bottom of the bed. What happened when you went out, did you put pup in crate upstairs? Thankyou for your help


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

IMHO, Sweet Caroline's method is the best plan of all, for those wishing to crate train. I just think it's important to bear in mind that dogs are pack animals, and want very much to be part of the pack. There is no greater punishment for a dog than to be isolated from his or her pack.

Of course, sometimes it's unavoidable, such as when you have to go out and can't bring her with you. She simply has to adjust to that. But when you are HOME, awake or asleep, why keep her away from you?  Solution: crate in bedroom.


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## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Thankyou everyone for your great advice and help. After a a lot of thought on Bella and her sleeping we decided to keep her where she was last night and keep going till she has settled. As great at your ideas are we are quite pushed for the crate to be in our bedroom and our kitchen is a combined diner to so if I was to leave her in there with the doors shut, well the mischief she could get upto is unthinkable. 
Last night I put her into her crate at about 11.15, I left her to scream till around 1. Her scream sounded different, not sure why so went down stairs to let her out to see if she needed to go. It took me a few mins to realise she had done a poo in her crate. I cleaned everything up and let her out to have a wee and put her back into her crate and I went back to bed. She cried again but not for long. I woke up at 5.30 and she had just started to cry. 
I think the poo resulted in her chewing random bits up in the garden, hope it's not a regular occurrence. Very happy that she is actually starting to settle and I now no the crying is for our benefit so to ignore her


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Sounds like you ae getting there. You have to find ways that suit you and your circumstances and enviroment.

One of the other useful tips we had from this forum was to cover the crate over with a blanket, it has a calming effect. We also used to leave radio 4 on low and I think the voices used to calm him into thinking he had company in the room.

Keep the good work up.


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Hi Angie!

Looks like you've already got great advices and slowly you're getting there. 
All I can suggest is to try to keep the routine up. Feed her always at the same time, that way you will know when she needs a poopoo break.  : 
I know you suggested you cannot leave her in the kitchen area. Do you have any other room in the house where she would be enclosed but not closed into her crate? With Elza it just didn't work to close her in the crate so we left it open and put it into the corridor in front of our bedroom (entrance hall). Like that she could come out to drink or do her 'business' in the area we set up for her. We live in a flat so obviously it took us a bit longer to housetrain her although she never went to potty anywhere else.

We also don't let her in our bedroom. That is the only place she's not allowed in. We made this decision for our own sake. AND now I actually do have the experience with her in our bed. We were on holiday for two weeks and although we took her crate with us she just didn't want to sleep. We ended up letting her out and make her sleep on the sofa but she would get up every night and try to get into our bed. We sent her back to the sofa but few hours later she would get up again. By then I had enough and let her in anyway. She would sleep until we get up but **** she took all my space!!!  Her paws ending up in my side and stretching from top to bottom. 

Thank you but no thank you!

Of course other times she would just sleep at my feet behind my knees but then I can't move and wake up with a numb side!!! ???

So I understand why you don't let her in your bed. It's nothing wrong with it. 

Good luck with the potty training and be patient. It will quickly get better.


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

*8 week old puppy*



Angie said:


> Bella is quite chewy, was your puppy like that, if so how did you deal with it.


They all are. I was a stickler with Dozer about chewing stuff. Always on him, replacing whatever he was chewing with something he was allowed and a "no" and eventually he got it. But it's also because of teething and testing things out. So some of it will just stop on its own. So now that we're dealing with number two (11weeks) there are some battles I'm too lazy to fight bec i know it's not going to last. Furniture however is an absolute no no. I will never let that slide. A $2 dollar flip flip already covered n paint and chewed on by number one though is another story. Just keep replacing your skin, socks, chairs, etc. with toys.


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## Angie NG (Jun 6, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Last night Bella went to sleep in her crate no trouble at all, she woke up around 2 and half hours later and I let her out for a wee. She was then put inher crate and she did cry for a while but did eventually go back to sleep. She then woke at 4.30am and going was going crazy, after about half an hour she was put out and she had a poo. Then she was hyper, not wanting to go back in her crate. This is the second morning where she has woke up really early with no intention of going to sleep.
My question is how much sleep do they need? She is pretty calm all day with just me then the kids come home and sheis hyper then daddy comes home and she is all excited again. She has a mad half an hour before the boys go to bed(7-7.30) and then she crashes and that is her for the night. Is this to early for her, I have tried to keep her going longer but she gets on the sofa and you have no chance of waking her.


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## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

You're getting there don't worry. It takes a lot of time, patience and even more training. Try to do 10 minutes training with her before you go to bed. Unfortunately she will get up every few hours cos of toilet breaks (she cannot hold it for longer just yet!) and all you can do is being consistent. Do not play with her that time of the day. Send her back to bed and put some chewy toys in too. She will learn it that it's sleeping time. Have you tried the blanket over the crate? It worked for Elza too. I covered 3 sides and the top, leaving just her door open, uncovered. 

I found the best chews were the flexibone and flexiring for Elza.


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

*Re: 8 week old puppy*

Another good tip is when you put her out to toilet in the awful hours of the night don't make eye contact with her or speak to her - let her do what ever she has to do and then back to bed.

As Adrino says maybe put her back with something to chew. I used to fill the centre of a Kong with meat -mince or something soft and then freeze it. It is perfectly safe to give her frozen meat - this will keep her occupied for quite sometime licking away at the meat through the little hole. She will then probably fall asleep as she has had to work so hard to get the meat.

Hang in there you are nearly there


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