Getting A Puppy To Sleep At Night…?
August 29, 2009 by admin
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
We recently got a Havanese puppy…she’s 3 months old. We are trying to kennel train her…usually she’s fine until about 1 in the morning, and then cries/barks/yelps until 4-6 am. It’s been going on for a week, and no one is getting any sleep….help?
Related Havanese Training & Care posts:
- Are Shih Tzus And Havanese Easy To Housetrain, And Do They Make Good Pets?
- How Can I Stop My Dog From Being Aggressive To New People And Some Other Dogs?
- How Can I Stop My 5 Month Old Puppy’s Screaming When Put In Kennel At Bf’s House For Nighttime?
- How Can I Get My Havanese Puppy To Sleep In His Crate – He Just Won’t Go In There?
- I Have A 11 Week Old Havanese/shih Tzu And I Am Trying To Kennel Train Him, Am I Doing Anything Wrong?
Could be many reasons and it is different with every dog. Here are some possibilities you may want to check out.
Does she need to go to the bathroom (i.e. outside in the yard) Puppies have small bladders and often can’t hold it all the way through the night.
Dogs are also extremely social (not to state the obvious), but they really don’t like being alone (they are pack animals). If they wake up in the middle of the night she may just then realize she is alone her instinct may tell her to howl to find other people. (Like dogs would do in the wild if they lose their pack). This may sound crazy, but you may put the kennel in your room, she will be able to hear you breathing, snoring, or whatever and feel comforted that she is not alone.
She may be scared of the dark (really). Try a night light.
My dogs sleep next to us (we have dog beds beside our bed – not actually in the bed with us).
We used to foster puppies.
At 12 weeks she should be able to hold it through the night so let’s try a few things to make sure this is not just for attention.
First No food or water 2-3 hours before bed time. Make sure she potties before she goes into her crate.
2nd she just may not be able to hold it yet, but almost all puppies can hold 4 through the night so just to make sure this is not habit alter your routine – put her to bed later or take her out to potty around 11:00 pm. If she still wakes up at 1:00 it is likely for attention
Third – is she peeing and drinking a lot – make sure there is no infection – are all other indications that she is normal healthy puppy
Third – when you take her out do not talk to her, do not play with her – the only reason she is allowed out of her crate at night is to potty so take her to potty and put her back in her crate
Fourth – she will play to win so when you re-crate her or do not take her out be firm do not give in – tap the top of the crate sharply and tell her quiet – you may have to repeat this 3 or 4 times, but if you give in when she cries you will always be giving in. My rule is if it has been more than 4 hours take out to potty if less than 4 hours at this age begin training them that crying does not help
Lastly: It will take 1 or 2 nights to break the behaviour if this is just for attention so stick it out buy earplugs but be consistent. The crate by the bed makes it easier on her and on you.
Good luck
Maybe get up when she wakes, play with her and then comfort her back to sleep. Also check whether or not she needs to use the toilet. After some exercise she should get tired. She will grow out of it though.
Placing the kennel in a place she can see you might comfort her too.
when you take her out in the middle of the night, be sure not to play with her. she needs to know that it is bedtime, not playtime. if you give her attention when she is crying, that’s like rewarding her for crying. puppies will cry. it’s just a fact of life. just put her where she can see you, and give her an old t-shirt (dirty) of yours that she can sleep with to comfort her a little. It really sucks. I’m going through the same thing right now with my new toy poodle. lucky me, my breeder gave me a swaddling blanket that had the scent of her mom and litter mates. Good luck, and just know that I’m awake when you are!
sometimes it helps if you put food and water in with it,or maybe it has to go outside.
have you thought about putting her in bed with you? That is how i did my dogs when they was babies and they slept all night. Put her out to go potty just befroe you go to bed and then take her to bed with you and you will get a good nights sleep. My 3 littles ones still sleep with us and King our 9 1/2 month old german shepard black lab will get in bed with us when we first go to bed but then he will get up in the middle of the night and go get on the pare bed. Try that with your girl it helps her sleep all night. She is only 3 mos old and she probably gets lonely. Good luck
probably your dog misses it’s mom and you need to a few supplies to help her sleep : first you need a clock that ticks and tocks to remind her of her mother’s heart beat and get a water bottle and fill it with warm water to recognize its mother warm fur ang put tons of blankets to help your dog fall asleep even faster and these things will you and your dog and your family sleep even faster.
when we had a kitten that got upset at night we used to put her on her own in a room and once or twice we actually put butter on her paws to keep her occupied. Also, our dog used to get upset at night when we had her to start with, but we discovered that it was because she was hungry and needed more carbohydrates in her diet to keep her going through the night. So we put porrdige oats in her food, because the dog biscuits contained mostly protein and not enough carbohydrates. Consider these things, they might be helpful.
she would have to go to the restroom!
GETTING A PUPPY TO SLEEP::
1. Put a fuzzy, snug rug in her cage
2. Keep a clock ticking near her cage, the ticking lulls the puppy to sleep
3. Put a hot water bottle under the rug. The hot water bottle comorts the puppy as it is warm like her brothers and sisters
EDIT: I have to wake up at 6 AM to let my dog pee. so if your Havanese dog is barking, that means she really needs to go. When having a dog, you’ll have to wake up at 6 and wait for them to go potty.
I have my dog, and whenever I brung her outside to pee, she peed in the grass (and poop). It could be different for your dog, but who knows?
Do you take her out once at night? or do you mean she is outside in a kennel? Puppies need to go out a lot if you anticipate this and get up once to take her out it may help if that is the problem. Also giving her enough stimulation while she is out of the kennel will help.
also if you kennel is in the bedroom it seems to help like others suggested
probably needs to pee they wont go where they sleep also try putting a hot water bottle in kennel with her and maybe a radio turned on low
Are you letting her out enough during the night? Maybe she has to go!!! If that’s not it, try covering the front of her kennel with a towel. That may help…unless you have a wire kennel. In that case, put a blanket over it, but be careful that she can not pull it in and chew on it. And…leave some open space toward the bottom so she gets air.
Try to give her something of your.. such as an old shirt or anything with your smell and see if this helps. Sometimes puppies need the comfort of the smell of their parent or pack leader ( as Cesar Millan calls us ). My puppy sleeps on one of my old sweat shirts. Nice and comfy.
i have a puppy that is 3 months as well.
we tried to kennel train her but it started to cry yelp and bark around 1 or 2.
we tried eeverythng and then just decided to let her sleep in my bed with me and she slept through the whole night.
It’s normal. The same thing happened with our maltese. They aren’t used to their new environment, so give them time to get used to it. If the dog came from a store/home where they were with other dogs, then they may be lonely. What we did with our maltese, is at night about an hour or a half hour before we put her in the kennel, we’d sit on the couch and let her sit on our lap and calm down. We wouldn’t talk much so she would fall asleep. In about 20-30 minutes, she’d fall asleep on our laps. We’d let her rest on our laps for about 10-20 more minutes and then we’d put her in her crate. We still wouldn’t talk that loud, because if the dog heard us talking she would want to be up with us. The barking may go on for a while, but if it really starts bothering you in the middle of the night, take her out and set her on the couch with you again. Sometimes, she may just have to go potty or is hungry. Don’t give into her too much either. Good luck with your puppy!
you should get the puppy a doggy door , and let it run free .. so then if the puppy has to pee it will go when it needs to
well that happened with my dog too. For about a week he did that. Try this.
-cover their kennel with a blanket and show them that it is time to go to bed.
-that worked with my dog
Try placing the kennel close to your bed, letting the puppy know that it is not alone. If that doesn’t work try placing a light blanket over the kennel, letting the puppy know that it is dark and time to sleep. I have two dogs that I got a different times and each method worked for one of the dogs.
If you want it to stop there are two things you can try. You can try putting her kennel/crate right next to your bed, or let her sleep on your bed. She will be alot more comfortable here, and will not feel the need to bark, to get your attention. Or you can try ignoring it, and not letting her out, since you said she doesnt have to go to the bathroom anyway. This will teach her that once shes in there, no matter how loud she is, she isnt getting out, unless you are awake.
Good Luck!
Hey my dog did that…Not in a Kennel though, she was in the Kitchen by herself. We block off the area for her. She wasn’t big enough to climb on anything to hurt herself so don’t worry. But anyway, she would cry all night and I couldn’t get any sleep. Eventually we moved her in a kennel inside my bedroom and she finally stopped. Where do you have the Kennel…if she can’t see you, she might have problem.
Uhmm Try To Get Her In Her Bed And Pet Her Or Try Rubbing Her Belly And Shell Fall Asleep!
I always slept ith my dog. Fix her a blanket at the end of the bed. I think i is mean t make a puppy sleep asleep.