Help please with sleep and walking

[oscarrach]

Hi,
We have a wonderful 17 week old pup called Oscar who the whole family adore and we have been getting through most of the puppy "issues" however really struggling with sleep and walking. If anyone has any advice we would be most grateful.
First sleep - Oscar goes into his crate about 11pm having been outside to the toilet, he settles really well but has not gone past 4am- ever. I try to leave him but am conscious of neighbours and I have two young boys who I don't want waking at that time in the morning and so I will be up with him from that time. He doesn't always have a wee when I take him outside at that time so really unsure what it is.

Second- walking. Oscar doesn't seem to like it! He goes about 30 yards then sits down and refuses to move and despite clicking treats etc very rarely 'walks' very far. He spends a lot of ime in the garden running about so e does get exercise but I'm worried it's not enough. We have been going o puppy lasses and using the techniques they have suggested and have a dog walker once a week who admits that she struggles as well.

Thank you for reading

[Ruby Tuesday]

Hello and welcome to COL

I think a lot of people struggle with walking. Our Jem used to stop and sit down a fair bit on walks. We found she grew out of it, but we dealt with it by varying what we did. Sometimes we would just coax her along with a treat, other times we'd stop and let her have a minute until she was ready to carry on, other times we'd just try to carry on. We have another dog which helped a bit, do you know any friendly dogs who you could walk with?

I'm sure others will help with the sleep thing soon. Where does he sleep?

We'd like to see photos asap please

[JennyBee]

I have always had problems with walking Brodie - she is now four and still a complete pain . She does usually enjoy her walks (as long as it's not raining!) but prefers them to be short and to be heading in the direction she wants to go. I've seen quite a few people on the forum with puppies who are like this, and the majority do seem to grow out of it. I think it's important to make the walks as fun as possible, lots encouragement, fun games and treats and maybe even a special toy he loves which he only gets on walks. Another thing I found very helpful, like Ruby Tuesday says, was to walk with another, friendly and confident dog: Brodie loves our neighbour's retriever and will usually be happy to walk with him.

She also is a lot more happier if I take her out in the car to a country park - again it's better if there are other dogs - although I have to be careful not to take her more than once or twice a week or she'll run back to the car

ETA meant to say welcome to the forum and congratulations with your new pup

[Clover]

Knew I'd find you here Jenny  Another, 'not too fussed' walker here.  Willow has never really wanted to go walkies.  I can persuade her most days, although, she is 6 next month  so can't blame puppyhood.  Try not to worry at the moment, I'm sure in time it will get better, its a big world out there for these little pups. 

[oscarrach]

Thanks very much - Oscar is our first puppy, had a rescue spaniel when I was younger and she would walk all day if you let her. I was just worried that he wasn't getting enough exercise but re assured now.
Thanks again.

[JennyBee]

Knew I'd find you here Jenny  Another, 'not too fussed' walker here.  Willow has never really wanted to go walkies.  I can persuade her most days, although, she is 6 next month  so can't blame puppyhood.  Try not to worry at the moment, I'm sure in time it will get better, its a big world out there for these little pups. 

Had a feeling I'd see you here too .

I really wouldn't worry too much, it can be a little overwhelming for a pup being outside - at his age he should be on restricted exercise anyway so it shouldn't make any difference in that respect

[Patp]

You have had some good advice already, but personally, I would just go on very short walks and end them before Oscar decides he has had enough.  Building up a little further each time.

As suggested before a friendly companion might give him more confidence.

Cant help much with the sleep issue as Jinley usually slept through until we got up, but if she didnt, I would not switch lights on, just using a childs battery nite light so she realised it was still night-time.  I also did not make a fuss of her or talk to her.

Pat

[lettie10]

My first cocker Jazz (now 15mnths) was an absolute angel at night from day 1.  She did have a crate but was left with door open and paper down.  Always used paper and never a sound until we got up

Bailey however is a whole different ball game

She is now 21 wks and still does not sleep right thru.  As she is downstairs with Jazz she is crated (door closed) and covered which she seems to prefer, she started off in a puppy pen with paper down which she used for the first 2 nights but then decided she wanted to go out to toilet so barked to let us know.

It has got better as she was getting me up 2 or 3 times but we are now down to once usually at about 2.30am.  I do go straight down to her as I also have close neighbours.  She does go out and do her business with no fuss and go straight back in her crate despite going out to toilet right before bed.

I know this will get better with age and will just have to live with it till then, not much help to you I know but a lot of puppies are going thru the night much earlier than this so there is hope for you yet!!

I feel your pain

[jobartlett]

Our pup is now 4 months and suffered the same issues as your describing. This forum helped with the sleep. Never expect them to go through the night. We did for the first couple of weeks we put him in his crate at 11 then woke up at 4 and took him out. When out side didn't talk to him to him just let him do his business and back in his crate then through until 6. After a week or so he would then go through from 11 to 6 which he still does now. We still have the odd accident. But our crate is by the back door in the kitchen.

Walking we just do 5 minutes per every month of his age. So now he goes 20mins. When we started he was just 3 months so 15 mintues. He never wanted to leave the house or liked cars going past etc. we just did the same route again and again. Sometimes we picked up him and walked the route just so he could sniff and understand where he was. Now he happy trots and walks but its perseverance and patience. We found the moment you give in it takes even longer to crack it. Sometimes tough love is the only way.

[SophieBlueRoanLover]

Welcome! I've had the same problems with my puppy, who's now 6 months old. I thought he'd never sleep through the night, and didn't until he was about 17 weeks when I left him with my mum for 5 nights (and then only until 7am). He then had a relapse back with me, waking up usually around 5.30ish, sometimes earlier. He eventually got a bit better and about a month ago (at 5 and a bit months) we decided to try leaving the cage door open. What a difference! He now sleeps through the night, until at least 7.15. He was sleeping in until 8.45 some days (I've even had to wake HIM up!!), but then the clocks went back, which meant he woke a little earlier, and now we've just changed him on to only 2 meals a day and he seems to be waking a little earlier (usually 7.30-8). I'm trying to give him his second meal a little later so he'll sleep in a bit longer!

One thing that did help was changing his food. When he was much younger I fed him Hills Science VetEssentials, and he was pooing about 8 times a day. So no wonder he needed to get up at 4am! (sometimes he needed to go out twice - grrrr). I changed him to Barking Heads and now he goes about 4 times a day. I think that, together with just getting bigger and having a stronger bladder, helped a lot. When he's had the odd upset tummy I've given him boiled chicken and rice and that totally blocks him up (doesn't poo for a day!) and sleeps just fine...

I still have some problems with walking, although generally he's okay now. He does what Oscar does - just sits down or sticks his stubborn little legs firmly in place! We used to carry him quite a bit, and still do now sometimes. If he doesn't want to leave the park where he's been playing he sometimes needs to be carried. It used to be the worst in unfamiliar places (turning a corner - uh-oh!) but now he seems fine in unfamiliar places, and is worse just near the house if he wants to go in a particular (other) direction. Just try to stay patient, not worry too much, and it will get better with age, I'm sure. Do try to vary the routes you take him on, so he doesn't object going in other directions. We also try to take Henry to unfamiliar places and on public transport so that he gets used to the new.

Looking forward to seeing photos! Good luck - it does get better with age (and then you miss how tiny and cute they were!)

[piph]

Sorry, can't help much I'm afraid - Ozzy had paper down in his puppy pen, and never woke us at night even on his first night, we never hear a thing from him until we open the kitchen door. We've never had any trouble getting him to walk - only in getting him to walk on a loose lead - he pulls like a train!!!  We had other issues, however, chewing and biting, picking up everything he could from the ground, and now constant jumping up!!  Things do get better though, with time and patience, and different puppies have different issues, but most come good in the end.  Good job we love 'em!! 

[supergirl]

Changing food definitely helped Roly when he was a puppy.  Initially on Burns puppy, he needed to poop all the time, but once I changed him on to JWB puppy he was much better.

As far as walking, perhaps taking him to the car and then going somewhere for a walk might help. While Roly didn't have any problems wanting to go for a walk, I would take him to an enclosed paddock locally so that he could go off-lead.  To begin with he wouldn't leave my heels and stuck very close, but as his confidence grew he would go a bit further, plus it was a good opportunity to practice recall in a safe environment. The paddock/park we went to was actually within walking distance, so eventually we used to walk there.  They do soon get to realise that going out for a walk is fun