Overnight crate 8 week old puppy help please

[emmardm]

Hi!!! I just brought my 8 week old puppy home yesterday. What are tips and tricks for her to be in the crate overnight? It’s been so long since i have had a puppy this age and I need help. Should the crate be in the room with us? Should we have it far away? Eventually she will sleep in bed with us, but while house breaking we want her to be in the crate. She just screams and screams, and I don’t want to do any mental damage, if that makes sense… what have y’all done with your healer puppies? Thank you!!

Update!
Thank you for all of your help! Last night went so much better, we played lullabies on our phone all night and did a Kong with peanut butter and put her right next to the bed so we could touch her till she fell asleep, she slept for 3 hours at a time! It was wonderful!!!! Thank y’all for the suggestions!! Ill still take ideas, any help helps!!! Y’all are the best!!!

 

[gull]

@emmardm Can you tell us more about your current nighttime routine? Our heeler has adapted to our nightly routine once we kept him fairly structured. We get ourselves ready for bed and the very last thing is for us to take him outside for his last bathroom break, then we take him inside and to his kennel where we give him a peanut butter Kong or another treat/bone that will take him some time to get through (and try and keep this a treat they ONLY get in the kennel), and he goes right in the crate. We turn off the lights and close the door to the room where his crate is and go right upstairs so he’s not hearing a bunch of noise of us getting ready for bed and thinking he’s missing out on something. Occasionally he whines if he’s not sleepy enough to go to bed, but these days it’s very short lived. I think getting a routine down and sticking to it will help her understand her new world.

 

[davidricca]

@gull Was he 8 weeks old when you started this?

 

[emmardm]

@gull So last night was our first night. I did like I have always done with the other dogs as they were growing up. We took her out to pee and then she went straight to the crate. She had a pb kong in there but she didn’t care about it all. Anyways, we went to bed and she was just screaming and howling…. She eventually gave up, then an hour later, screaming, waited on her to stop, then took her out for another pee, straight back to crate but we moved it to our bedroom, maybe that would help… it didn’t…. So we just woke up at 5 am having given up on sleep. I haven’t experienced they type of howling and screaming she had done with any other dog before….. she is my first heeler.

 

[j3nnward86]

@emmardm I always put a shirt I slept in a few nights in the crate with my pup when he was that age and it helped a lot. Try crating throughout the day for rest and quiet time and make it a positive thing with treats and such, too. That way they don’t feel like they are being locked up and it’s a bad experience.

 

[emmardm]

@j3nnward86 I’ll try a shirt!!! Thank you!!! It’s just so scary with her reaction to it! I’ve never experienced that before with a puppy! I started feeding her in there and I got a special toy for her crate now too

 

[j3nnward86]

@emmardm She will be fine and become more adjusted to the routine as time goes on. We went from two 12 year old dogs to a brand new puppy a couple years ago and I forgot how hard having a puppy was too lol

You’re doing great

 

[yeshuasown]

@emmardm It's lonely for a puppy who's only used to squirmy littermates and momma dog to soothe.

Turn on some classical music, ambient music or NPR at very low volume.

 

[cloelace]

@emmardm *hugs* I know what you mean. It's so unsettling. My spouse used to kneel on the floor and sweet-talk the puppy when we first brought him home, if he's in the crate whining. It's not in any training books, but it does seem to help him to calm down, having my spouse's reassuring presence. Similarly, I used to assume the same pose and slowly blink at him, and eventually close my eyes -- that seemed to help him to do the same and fall asleep. We initially wanted the crate to be in a different room (our pup was very smelly! ), but turns out bringing it into the bedroom where our puppy could see us helped.

During the day I'd recommend doing lots of crate training. Get her to love the crate fast.

 

[shiloh854]

@emmardm I put the crate on a bench right by my bed level with me so I could sneak a few fingers in there and soothe my 8 week old. Then crate moved to the floor and further from the bed over a month or so. Then I let him sleep outside the crate ONE night when he was 5 months (and had a cone) and that was it. He's a year and sleeps in the floor still. Day crating (in a different crate in a separate room) is still going great.

Just remember this is temporary! For us it was a week of up every 2 hours, then a week or so of every 4 and now he sleeps great through the night. You got this, just stay strong and consistent and it'll be over before you know it!