# Night time puppy help



## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

My rule of thumb is 10 mins. If the puppy doesn't quiet down in 10 mins, I'll take him outside to potty. What we also do is keep the lights down and stay quiet and calm. Puppy is leashed, potties and put back in his crate. No fussing. Nothing. 


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## Chaya (Aug 18, 2012)

Hi, congrats on your new puppy! My breeder says that when they are this young (8-10 weeks), you really need to respond to their night-time whines because it teaches them that you are responsive to their signals. This will aid in potty training overall. They also have tiny bladders and very little control over it, so taking them out every 2 hours (which is a reasonable stretch of time at this age) will prevent UTI's or crate accidents. Once they reach about 10 weeks, you can start ignoring their nighttime whines and train them to sleep through the night. In fact, my breeder recommended moving their crate out of your bedroom at this time so you're not tempted to rescue them, and they will learn to sooth themselves back to sleep. You can move the crate back after this "sleep training" is complete.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

Do you take him out on a leash? If not, I would start doing that. In our house, when one of the girls needs to go outside, I try to keep things as quiet as possible. So almost no lights on, softly talking, and straight back to the crate to sleep again. Some pups need to go several times during the night. I was lucky, both my girls slept through the night since day one.


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## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

I second what others have said. You need to respond but not instantly. Give the pup a chance to go back to sleep. Whatever you do, don't talk to the pup or comfort him when he's in the crate. Only open the door when he's been silent for a few moments. Take him to the potty place, reward him for doing his business, then go straight back to the crate with him. All business, no play. And take up the water bowl about an hour before bedtime, then have him go outside right before crating him. Most 8 week puppies who've been able to eliminate right before bedtime can last through the night pretty quickly. He will get the routine very quickly if you are consistent. Good luck! And post pictures!


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## pshales (Oct 9, 2012)

All great advice so far. I'll also offer our experience, FWIW. We got a little lax at first, not using the leash after a few successful nights, and Sunshine's requests became more frequent with more attempts at playing in the middle of the night. Once we got back to leashing her from the crate to the yard, she caught on (again).The devil's in the details, I'm learning.

Enjoy your pup!


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## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

I agree - give them a couple minutes to settle, if not, take them out. I found it easier in the middle of the night to carry Winston straight to the potty spot and put him down. I found the walking/trotting on the way out got him all wound up. But it shouldn't be long until your puppy is sleeping through the night. Winston got up twice for the first couple nights, once for a couple nights after that, and after about a week could sleep until around five thirty.


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## Newman'sKeeper (Feb 10, 2013)

I think everyone is right on the mark here. Getting up multiple times each night for potty breaks is just one "pleasure" of a new puppy. 
Now, I know I'll get several head shakes for this, BUT... I didn't have a crate for Newman his first few nights so he slept in the bed with me and now it's a regular occurrence. He slept through the entire first night and even now rarely gets up for a potty break before 5am. I let him out the door into the yard on his own, he does him business, then follows me right back to bed. 
He chills in his crate each day when I go to work and has zero issues with it. 

I think I might've just lucked out with a really low-key puppy though lol


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## MissMolly (Oct 27, 2012)

This happened with Molly also ! We went through a phase of her getting us up ! We would come down let her out to the loo ! We didn't speak to her or anything ! Came back inside eat in the dark with her ( even though she wanted to play) and then after 5 mins she got the message ! This happened for about 6 weeks and now (fingers crossed) she sleeps through the night now !


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