First night!

[Lulabear]

Hi to you all,  bringing 9 week old Cooper home Sunday. Haven't had a puppy for 10 years. SO excited and with some trepidation about introducing him to the home, my aged Labrador who will not be overly happy! And still unclear about how to handle that first night out two...
Advice ranges from leave him cry  and cry (no can do!). Bring crate up to my room ( loft room two floors up, husband not happy about that option and too far for night time wees) or mattress by crate in kitchen ... Hmmmm😩
I have decided to put crate within a puppy pen (puppy pen more for daytime to give my older dog space she'll need from little one)
Really appreciate others' experience ...
Big thanks

[Geordietyke]

Hi, exciting times ahead    Monty (now 23 weeks)  is my 3rd cocker pup and with him I had him downstairs in the kitchen.  He had a crate with a puppy pen attached (where he did his toileting).  He cried for the first two nights only (daughter heard him as her bedroom directly above kitchen) but I resisted going down to him. By the third night, he'd settled.  He only ever done his business in the pen part, which made cleaning up the next morning very easy.  He was clean overnight by around 16/17 weeks.

My previous 2 slept upstairs in our bedroom in a crate.  Whilst the first one was no problem, the second developed horrendous separation anxiety, was incredibly difficult to toilet train and ultimately severe behavioural/guarding issues relating to myself, not helped with being with him 24/7.  I decided that for Monty, he'd get used to being away from me, both overnight and during the day.  He still has 2 naps during the day in his crate and has no separation anxiety problems when left alone. 

Whilst my problems with my 2nd one are an extreme case, I just wanted to let you know my experiences and how they differed!  Lesley

[James+Carly]

Aaaww the bringing home day is soooo exciting, although I was slightly nervous, as this was our first dog. The first night OH slept on the sofa with Oscar in his crate, he cried pretty much the whole night, after that we put him in the kitchen in his crate over night. He cried for a good couple of weeks! We would take turns getting up letting him out for wee, but it was hard at first to understand if he cry was cause he wanted to see us or needed the toilet! He was toilet trained quite easily, we obviously had a few accidents along the way, but nothing major. I'm sure Cooper will settle in well soon enough 

[Lulabear]

Thanks for your replies..  It sounds as if you're both advocating a slightly firmer approach re the crying. It's hard isn't it because they're only little and everything is so new and strange for them. Of course they are going to be anxious and frightened...
Again thanks x

[bizzylizzy]

Hi and welcome! Hope you're enjoying the last few days of peace and routine!
After sharing our bed with a German Shepherd mix for 14 years, we decided when Humphrey arrived last year at 10 weeks, that he wasn't going to be allowed upstairs at all.
We had a large travel box for him to sleep in, which I had next to the sofa in the lounge, where I slept for the first couple of nights. Each night I moved it a bit further away from me and after about a week I left the radio playing very quiety and went back to my own bed!! After his last wee at about 11pm, I gave him a kong filled with a bit of liver sausage (he still has it now!), put out the light and left him. We discovered we had a baby alarm on our smart phone, so we set it up so that it rang the phone next to my bed when he woke in the night - usually about 4.30. I then took him out, kept it short and quiet and put him straight back to bed, or, when he started sleeping through til about 5.30, I'd make a cuppa and stay downstairs and appreciate the dawn chorus!
I appreciate we were very lucky, and didn't lose a lot of sleep on the whole as he settled down pretty quickly. Hope your little  one is as kind to you!!
Best of luck!!

[Geordietyke]

Yes, it does sound like I was being harsh with the little fella  but I've found that if I'm firm but consistent in everything I do, he responds really well.  We used to give our last cocker a piece of toast at breakfast time, this time round Monty has had no human food from us (apart from the high value treats such as chicken/cheese etc for training purposes) and he is put in his crate for our mealtimes (he actually goes in himself when we lay the table  ) as we encountered "issues" with our last one regarding food.

Do what is comfortable for you, I had reasons to be stricter with mine but it's all a personal choice 

[rubybella]

I'm an advocate of puppy sleeping in crate downstairs and leaving to cry, but not leaving to cry all night! My routine was last toilet about 10.30 and then into crate, ignoring any crying at this point. If they were then awake anytime before about 2 that was ignored, but after that I would get up, no eye contact/play/talking and straight outside to toilet again. Then back in crate and left, again any crying now was ignored. I don't mind crying to signal needing toilet but not into fussing over them as I feel this just drags the settling process out. I have left the radio on quietly and found that to help any crying but both mine have only taken a few days to stop making noise at night.

[bizzylizzy]

Being (gently) firm and consistent is actually kinder than being too soft, the little ones look to us for guidance so that they know where their boundaries lie - being soft and inconsistent causes confusion and stress because they don't know where they are and what we want.

[Blueberry]

I use a crate within a pen, and Blue will put himself in there for a nap during the day if he wants a bit of P&Q.
I did have some issues with night times - you can find out all about it in my thread entitled 'night time woe', but don't let it put you off, I think my problems were unusual.  Blue still needs to get up for the toilet at 5am, but will go back to bed until 7.  (I'm inching that early toilet visit along 5 minutes at a time, so hope to have him settled all night before very long).
As with rearing children, everyone has an opinion and there's more than one way to do things.  I would say, choose a route and stick to it, consistency seems to be the most important thing.
Blue has no human food, so does not pester at the table, and is given all his food in his pen.
He has a bedtime routine, which involves 'quiet time' and a last toilet visit before his set bedtime, a bedtime dog biscuit in his pen, lights out, and kitchen door closed.  My husband will let him out to toilet again before he comes to bed (a few hours later), and it's straight out and back in again with no fuss.  I do the same again at 5am, then get up at 7.

[BonnieScot]

Agree that we're all different. Bonnie was the first dog I'd crate trained and toilet training was a breeze in comparison to previous puppies. I sat the crate next to the back door, so was easy to get her straight outside in the morning. Only got rid of the crate a few months ago, and she's taken to being free very well (not so much the sofa....).

First two nights home, I slept downstairs with her and that's been it. She's happy all night (from about 10pm to 6am ish) and waits on me coming out of the shower. Only if she's desperate will she shout for me to come quickly through the night, and we've always made it!

Now, if only Bonnie could apply the same wonderfulness to leash walking and bird chasing, all would be well....

[tenaille]

Martha has her basket in a pen in the front room. Routine is last wee around 11pm (when we go to bed) then into basket (reluctantly because she prefers the sofa), lights off and door shut. she gives me one little bark at 7am to let me know she is awake so I get up and let her out. When I can trust her not to chew the furnishings we will do away with the pen.
I think its having a routine thats important, any routine that suits you as they get used to anything really.
She did whine and whinge a bit at first but we ignored it (difficult as it breaks your heart) and it didn't last long. She had a few accidents in the pen overnight but only when she had an upset tum (we eventually found this was caused by the kibble).
If the weather and pup was always warm and dry I would probably let her sleep upstairs but the thought of a wet muddy spaniel jumping on my bed after a morning wee makes that a no no and you have to be consistent.

[Markr64]

I remember last year when we got Dexter, I slept downstairs for the first couple of nights and then we took it in turns to get up for the night time toilet trips which we started to lengthen each week. When he got to just under a year he started getting very unhappy with the crate so we have now let him have a bed which he is happy to sleep on and knows that he has his own space. The crate was fine but he didn't like it for a period and now we only use it for in the car. 

[Lulabear]

Thanks so much to you all! Feeling a bit more confident now (about that!!!)