# Crying Puppy in Apartment



## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

i lived in a high rise condo building for a couple of years when I got Chloe. It's hard to have a puppy in an apartment building but not impossible! Most of my neighbours were understanding. During the day my parents were kind enough to puppysit for me so crate training happened at night. She did cry at night but my words of "wisdom" are to ignore this behaviour. Letting her out or acknowleding her/him in the crate will only encourage the behaviour. Prepare youself for some long nights and cranky neighbours. Just keep in mind that this period doesnt last forever and in the long it is the best solution for all parties. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Most puppies take to the crate pretty easily and settle after a few minutes or protest.

Do you work; will you have to leave the puppy for long periods? If so, then you'll want to make arrangements for the pup to be taken out of the crate and played with, pottied several times thru out the day.


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## Golden Bug (Apr 28, 2012)

Krys! said:


> i lived in a high rise condo building for a couple of years when I got Chloe. It's hard to have a puppy in an apartment building but not impossible! Most of my neighbours were understanding. During the day my parents were kind enough to puppysit for me so crate training happened at night. She did cry at night but my words of "wisdom" are to ignore this behaviour. Letting her out or acknowleding her/him in the crate will only encourage the behaviour. Prepare youself for some long nights and cranky neighbours. Just keep in mind that this period doesnt last forever and in the long it is the best solution for all parties. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Thank you for the help. We're getting some practice in puppy sitting right now for a 6 month old pup who whines when being in the crate. 

How long did it take for Chloe to stop whining while being crated?




Penny's Mom said:


> Most puppies take to the crate pretty easily and settle after a few minutes or protest.
> 
> Do you work; will you have to leave the puppy for long periods? If so, then you'll want to make arrangements for the pup to be taken out of the crate and played with, pottied several times thru out the day.



Yes, we both work full time. I work just 10 minutes away, so I'll be popping in during my lunch break to let the pup out and play with it. We're thinking of trying to find a dog walker to let the pup out like an hour or two before I get home, so the pup won't be crated for any longer than 4 hours at a time. 

Do you have any advice for preventing the puppy from whining while it's being crated?


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## BajaOklahoma (Sep 27, 2009)

Put the crate in the center most area of your apt - that way you tick off only the neighbors above and below.

Also, a cute note explaining that you are getting the puppy (include a picture) and want to be a good neighbor will help. People love puppies. Include a set of ear plugs and some chocolate.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Sorry, no advice. Most puppies are okay with the crate. In fact for all most all pups their crate becomes their safe place where they go on their own when the door is left open. Make sure you remove your pups collar when it's in the crate. Collars can get caught and choke your baby.

Also be careful with toys that can be chewed on, chewed off, swallowed or choked on. They are like little babies: if there's trouble, they find it.

Make sure your puppy gets plenty of exercise so when it's crated it will nap.


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## Golden Bug (Apr 28, 2012)

BajaOklahoma said:


> Put the crate in the center most area of your apt - that way you tick off only the neighbors above and below.
> 
> Also, a cute note explaining that you are getting the puppy (include a picture) and want to be a good neighbor will help. People love puppies. Include a set of ear plugs and some chocolate.



Haha good idea. We were thinking of possibly placing the crate in the walk-in closet and of course keeping the door open. However, we're afraid of if the puppy does end up going the bathroom in the crate and then the smell getting stuck on our clothes. Believe me, we plan on taking the puppy out as much as possible to try and prevent it going in the crate, but accidents do happen. 

I like the note idea, hopefully the cuteness of the puppy will help make the neighbors not hate us as much haha. 




Penny's Mom said:


> Sorry, no advice. Most puppies are okay with the crate. In fact for all most all pups their crate becomes their safe place where they go on their own when the door is left open. Make sure you remove your pups collar when it's in the crate. Collars can get caught and choke your baby.
> 
> Also be careful with toys that can be chewed on, chewed off, swallowed or choked on. They are like little babies: if there's trouble, they find it.
> 
> Make sure your puppy gets plenty of exercise so when it's crated it will nap.



Thanks for the tips! I didn't think of the collar aspect.


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

When you first bring the puppy home at 8 weeks, 4 hours of being left in the crate without a potty break is probably going to be too long. Can you have someone come in more often, initially?
Perhaps you could get a pet sitter to come in mid morning and mid afternoon.
You are smart to start working out a plan in advance of actually getting the puppy.


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## SeaMonster (Jul 4, 2011)

I think puppy is guaranteed to whine for the first few nights in crate. Maybe talk to the neighbors and assure them that it will not be a permanent issue?


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

I live in an apartment complex as well. We are on the third floor and don't have someone above us, but do have someone below us and on either side. We pretty much gave our neighbors a double whammy... we got Remy about a week after we moved in! Before we even brought him home we made all three neighbors cookies and introduced ourselves/told them we were getting a puppy and that it may cry, etc. We also asked all of them to PLEASE feel free to come knock if the puppy was too loud and to also give us updates on how often the puppy was crying (of course we wouldn't know if he was crying while we were gone, so we figured this may be beneficial and was a good way to make them feel 'involved'). Our downstairs neighbor is a jerk and plays his music so our floor shakes until 2-3am some mornings, so that was obviously no issue. Our neighbor on the left has small "yappy" dogs who bark constantly, so no issue there... and our neighbor on the right is a teacher, so we make sure (even now) that we are loudest during the day and try to cease the noise around 10pm. Lucky for her, she was gone during the day in the beginning and missed most of the crying.

Remy really didn't cry much. When we crate trained him we used an exercise that I actually saw on the dog whisperer (whose techniques I don't normally follow). We spent an entire day working on crying in the crate... we'd place Remy in the crate, close the door, put a blanket over it, and say "bye bye!" and walk out of the room. He'd cry and cry, but we made sure not to let him out or even talk to him until he was totally calm. Once he had stopped crying and was silent for about two minutes, we would say "we're home!", let him out, and praise. Then repeat, until it took hardly any time for him to quiet down.

Then we upped the ante by actually walking outside the apartment and locking the door. That way he got used to the sound of us actually leaving and coming home. We repeated the same steps as before (we could hear him crying from outside).

After just that one day, he never really cried in his crate again... not at night OR when we left. It took ALL DAY but it saved us and our neighbors a world of trouble.

If you don't want to try that, just take one principle away... never let the puppy out while it is crying. That lets them know cry=get out of this crazy metal box. 

Good luck! It will go by so fast... you'll miss when they cried for you!


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*GoldenBug*

GoldenBug

My suggestion if possible is to take a week or so vacation time when you get the puppy so you can be home and do training and she/he won't be in the crate too much.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

I did what Ashley did - I also lived on the 3rd floor of a 3-floor walk-up when I got my puppy. I spoke to all my neighbours and told them to please tell me if and when my pup was crying or barking. I never heard from any of them, so I assumed it was all good. 

But I also took two weeks off from work when she first came home - so by the time I went back to work, she was totally happy in her crate, and we had done a lot of conditioning for me leaving and coming back. I don't think she ever cried. Her first night home, she only cried for about 30 seconds in her crate before going to sleep, and never cried after that.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I live on the top floor corner apartment so I guess I didn't worry too much. I got my puppy two weeks after moving in and I didn't warn my neighbors. Shame on me.. Next time, I will.

The puppy may surprise you. My puppy cried, howled, and whined relentlessly during the first night home in her crate. It was so loud and non stop that I was really worried about what my neighbors were thinking, ESP since it was late at night! After that, she never cried more than a few minutes and it was at a much lower volume that is barely audible outside of the apartment. And it's not like she likes her crate either, because I don't think she does.


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## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

Golden Bug said:


> Thank you for the help. We're getting some practice in puppy sitting right now for a 6 month old pup who whines when being in the crate.
> 
> How long did it take for Chloe to stop whining while being crated?


It was awhile ago now but I would say that the first couple of nights were the worst and she would cry and cry and cry. But over a week or so she would only cry when we put her in for a few minutes and the would settle down and finally sleep.


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## Golden Bug (Apr 28, 2012)

BayBeams said:


> When you first bring the puppy home at 8 weeks, 4 hours of being left in the crate without a potty break is probably going to be too long. Can you have someone come in more often, initially?
> Perhaps you could get a pet sitter to come in mid morning and mid afternoon.
> You are smart to start working out a plan in advance of actually getting the puppy.



We're thinking of possibly flying each of our parents out for a week each to help out. Probably transition over to a dog walker for a few weeks from there. 


Might be overboard though...





ashleylp said:


> I live in an apartment complex as well. We are on the third floor and don't have someone above us, but do have someone below us and on either side. We pretty much gave our neighbors a double whammy... we got Remy about a week after we moved in! Before we even brought him home we made all three neighbors cookies and introduced ourselves/told them we were getting a puppy and that it may cry, etc. We also asked all of them to PLEASE feel free to come knock if the puppy was too loud and to also give us updates on how often the puppy was crying (of course we wouldn't know if he was crying while we were gone, so we figured this may be beneficial and was a good way to make them feel 'involved'). Our downstairs neighbor is a jerk and plays his music so our floor shakes until 2-3am some mornings, so that was obviously no issue. Our neighbor on the left has small "yappy" dogs who bark constantly, so no issue there... and our neighbor on the right is a teacher, so we make sure (even now) that we are loudest during the day and try to cease the noise around 10pm. Lucky for her, she was gone during the day in the beginning and missed most of the crying.
> 
> Remy really didn't cry much. When we crate trained him we used an exercise that I actually saw on the dog whisperer (whose techniques I don't normally follow). We spent an entire day working on crying in the crate... we'd place Remy in the crate, close the door, put a blanket over it, and say "bye bye!" and walk out of the room. He'd cry and cry, but we made sure not to let him out or even talk to him until he was totally calm. Once he had stopped crying and was silent for about two minutes, we would say "we're home!", let him out, and praise. Then repeat, until it took hardly any time for him to quiet down.
> 
> ...




That sounds like a great plan! The first night will probably be at my sisters house since we have to drive a ways to pick the pup up. Lucky her haha!

Hopefully, we can get it used to the crate at my sisters place, so when we get back it will be easier...

Seriously can't wait to have a new buddy!


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