Sleepless in south west !

[Will]

I have a cocker who is 13 weeks old (aaaaaaawwwwww), until she wakes me at about 1:30 !!!  

she sleeps in a crate downstairs, so she has her own space !

Unfortunately she is crying at night normally about 1:30/2:00 anf then again at 6pm, she has been use to getting up at about 6pm with the breeder, so again barks at around this time !! (wee wee time)

Should I ignore her so she adjusts to the situation? and only go to her at 6pm !?

Yours sleepless in south west !

Any suggestions for good dog training books ! (basic stuff, sit, stay, role over, play dead )                      

[LindaW]

Sorry you're suffering from lack of sleep!  Does your puppy sleep in a crate with the door open I wonder?  I would advise the door should be open and some paper put down by the door so she can relieve herself.  

A good book is The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey.  Can you enrol at a looking training class with your pup?  Always check the classes out before attending with your dog and make sure they use kind reward based training.

Good luck                    

[Gilly]

Hiya Will.....

Everyone has different ideas on this one...and it also depends on other factors (ie, neighbours  ) and if they can put up with the crying   Personally i believe you need to set the ground rules as early as possible, otherwise confusion will arise. At 13 weeks your pup is still very much a baby. I wonder if you have been going down when she has been waking during the night. If this is the case then she will expect you to go everytime she cries  . If you have decided that you want her to sleep in the kitchen...then i think you should stick to that   (my dog sleeps in the kitchen  ) Unfortunately it may mean a few sleepless nights   so some earplugs may come in handy  
I would still continue to go down to her at 6.00am though, as obviously she is very young and can't be expected to hang on to go for a wee. You may find as she gets older she will sleep slightly later than this. What i did try to get some sleep during the crying period was me and my hubby took it in turns in going to bed late   ie after midnight...that way she could be taken out for a wee just before going to bed and would last longer before the crying started. Eventually throughout time and as toilet training improved she would last longer and longer...and then the crying stopped. Now she is totally secure in the kitchen at night and we are all happy   well thats the theory anyway  
Another tip is to give her a nice safe cuddly toy in her crate...but make sure you remove all bits that she may chew..ie eyes etc
Good Luck

Gilly                    

[Anonymous]

Absolutely agree with you Gilly  I am not so sure leaving the crate door open is such a good idea :-  For us anyhow, we purchased the crate so we knew that Indie was safe overnight ie not getting stuck between cupboards, back of fridge or chewing pipes!  If you can put up with a few more disturbed nights than I would say do it, as it will pay dividends in the long run  Although your baby may be very small, believe me she is very very clever  If you don't try and nip this is in the bud within the first few weeks then I suspect it will be harder to break the habit the older and cleverer she gets!  Start as you mean to go on, I guess you have tried all the radio, ticking clock tips??  Sounds cruel to leave her crying, but unless you intend to get up with her in the small hours forever then you have to try and start to get her into your routine and break the cycle  

It's very early days though yet, so don't panic, we have all been there at sometime!

Good luck and keep up posted on her progress!

Emma                    

[Tricialane]

Hi.

We had the same problem with Max although he cried all night for the first couple of nights.  What an awful noise!!!  I was advised to stick with it and luckily after just a few nights he stopped.  He sleeps in his crate downstairs and I took the advice to cover it with a blanket at night to make a cosy den for him.  I felt cruel leaving him to cry for the first few nights but eventually he got the message.  After about a week he progressed to just protesting for 5 minutes or so and now there is no fuss at all when he goes to bed.  I give him a biscuit as a goodnight treat and then he is as good as gold. Hope I am not tempting fate by saying this.
Hope things improve for you soon.

Tricia