The good, the bad, and the ugly. (Think I messed up)

[Abigail *George & Juno*]

The good: we have had George for only a few days and so far we have no accidents. She will actually walk to the door, sit down, and wait for someone to open the door. We still watch her obviously as she is so young, but she hasn't failed to let us know when she needs to go out. (Which is a lot!)

The bad: even though George goes right to bed upon being put into her crate at night and usually sleeps for a good 3-4 hours... After that she whines to go out anywhere from every 1-3 hours for the rest of the night. I think she legitimately needs to use the bathroom, when you take her out at 2 am (or whatever time it happens to be) she uses the restroom, then walks back to you, you pick her up, put her back in her crate and she falls right back to sleep. This would be good, but it is happening every 1-3 hours...which isn't bad, but how can she go that often? We pick her water up a few hours before bed and her last meal is an hour before that. We go to bed at 10, she gets fed around 7, then water comes up at 8 pm. We try to wear her out from 8-10.

The ugly: in the mornings, we will take her for her last restroom break outside about 5:45...she will sleep all of 15-30 minutes in her crate before she starts whining to be let out. This is not a "I need to potty whine" it's a "time to wake up!" Whine... Here's where I'm the bad parent- this morning she started her "wake-up!" whine and I REALLY needed my extra 30 minutes until my alarm (you know how it is when you're sick and sleep deprived) so she's whining and I'm talking to her (she's in our room) trying to get her to be quiet for "just 15 minutes" she has no mercy. So after about 10 minutes of whining to wake up I grap her out of her crate and lay her on top of our quilt and comforter between my better half and I. She is restless, but no whining. I can see her looking at me wide awake, but she's quiet. I sleep another 20 minutes and then get up and feed her breakfast....

Now I'm wondering if I've created a monster. First of all, is there any way that she needs to use the bathroom that often?! And second...does this mean she's going to expect to lay around in bed with us in the morning?! I'm really happy she lets us know, except when it's 2 am...

[Abigail *George & Juno*]

Well I have to say I feel better about my poor morning decisions now that you all have reassured me! We can already tell she is VERY smart! I will try to post a picture, but am on my phone at work. :)

[Bonnie and Kona]

She sounds very smart!  It was fun reading about your experience.

[Lynda Kamrath]

She is a puppy and is training you as well as you are training her.  What a good girl!  No accidents.  And you are doing fine also.  I would take her out of your bedroom if you want to be able to sleep longer.  Of course she loves getting into bed with you, but if you don't want that to become her habit, they you need to stop it.  Put her crate somewhere else and take turns getting up at night to take her out, whether she is crying to go out or not.  You all need to get the habit of a couple of potty breaks during the night.  Think of it as changing diapers.  You wouldn't let your baby sleep in his wet diaper all night, so treat her the same until she gets better control.  If she goes out the last time at 10:00, then one of you get up and take her out about 1:00 and then another take her out at about 4:00.  Then just let her sleep in her crate until you are ready to get up.  I think you are doing great for a new puppy owner, and she is just being a normal puppy.  Oh, and walk out with her.  I always carry my puppies out, let them go to the toilet, then pick them up and carry them back in.  A little cuddle, a goodnight kiss, and back to bed for them and for you.

[Alex/Mindy/Georgia/Coral]

I agree with Lynda. Your puppy is learning how to get her way, and sadly in this case it's whining to get out of the crate. I know it's not fun to listen to that never-ending whining, but if you don't the alternative is a dog that will whine anytime you put her in the crate. A dog, especially a puppy, needs to learn how to self soothe itself. If it doesn't, you will possibly have a dog with separation anxiety, which seems to be common with a lot of doodle owners. You haven't lost yet, but if you continue to encourage that behavior it could become a more serious problem. Keep the potty breaks often, every few hours, for a couple of weeks and in the time she'll learn to embrace the crate. She'll also learn that whining isn't the way to get anywhere, and that the only time she gets her way is if she's calm and quiet.

[Jess & Stewart]

Abigail- I did the same thing when Stew first came home, then practiced some tough love and he'd been sleeping through the night for a little over a week (11ish until 5:45 am), then I had finals and was staying up later until around 1 am for a few days, so Stew would end up asleep on the couch and then not want to go into the crate.

The holidays came around and I was out of town, it was more of the later nights, then for the past 3 nights I've been sick and have been falling asleep on my couch, luckily when I wake up, Stew's usually asleep at my feet, but he doesn't want to be transferred to the crate. Monday night he slept with me on the couch or the floor all night. I think I may have made a mistake doing that.

He's now 15 weeks old. Last night, I really played with him (took him for a long walk, he ran up and down my apt stairs a few times, then fetch, chewing on a bone, then chasing me around my house), took water up at 8 pm, then last potty break at 10:45 and in crate at 11. He woke me up at 1 am screaming crying, so took him out, he peed. Woke up again at 4 am, took him out, he pooped. He hasn't pooped around 4-5am since he was 10 weeks old, so this surprised me.

I'm really considering doing tough love again and letting him cry, but I get woken up so easily and can't get back to sleep. I don't want to ignore him, but I also don't to have him thinking he gets out when he cries. I get nervous about my neighbors complaining too.

[Gail and Bailey]

The 4am poop was probably from all the exercise he got before bedtime.  If he gets that kind of strenuous exercise before bedtime, I would not ignore him if he cries to go out....he is still a baby. I think it is great that he lets you know he needs to go out!!  This only lasts for a few more months....enjoy puppyhood while it lasts. :)

[Jess & Stewart]

Gail, he is great about letting me know he needs to go out! He rings the bells consistently everytime and has not had an accident in 2 whole weeks! This is including being at my Dad's for Christmas and visiting family members.

Now I just need to keep up crate training. He's never gone in the crate and seems to tolerate it, he's quiet when I put him in it for a few minutes, but once I leave my house I hear barking and he's quiet until he sees me. I'm not sure how to keep him quiet before I let him out of the crate. I usually say "quiet". then reward when he sits and stares at me, with a treat then he gets let out. I'm not sure if he really tolerates the crate or if he barks a lot when I'm gone. He's in the crate for 3 1/2 hours in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.

Someone told me if he had really bad separation anxiety, that I would come home to the blanket and things in the crate shredded or really chewed up. He doesn't move the blanket or toys out of place anymore and sometimes the blanket feels a little wet, but not soaked with saliva. Does this sound like anxiety?

[Gail and Bailey]

I am sure he just sleeps while you are gone.  Could the bit of moisture be from panting because he is too warm?  My doodle loved to have a fan (on low speed) directed at the crate when she was in it.  I put it at a safe distance and at an angle so she could get out of the breeze if she wanted or she could put her face in the breeze if she got hot.  Even now at 2 years old she loves to sleep in front of a fan. I think the sound of the motor calms and blocks out other noises as well.  

[BG and Gavin]

I think you are doing great!  Night time wake-ups will lengthen out.  Snuggle time is the best.  Enjoy it!

[Pat and Traveler]

What a cutie--and such a smart little girl!  I can't offer advice as I did just about everything wrong with Trav.  I didn't have a crate, and he slept on a towel by the bed for the first 3 nights he was home.  Then I got a puppy pen, or X-pen, and fixed it all up to be a cozy little night spot.  To say this didn't work out very well would be a huge understatement.   He never did sleep in the puppy pen, or in the crate I got later.  However, he was quite content on the towel, and was very good about letting me know when he needed to go out.  He too would sit by the door when he needed to go potty.  I took him out two or three times a night at first, and the night-time outings gradually got fewer and fewer.  He does sleep on the bed now, but would get down if I told him "off."  

Sounds like you're doing just great--George is a cute name for her.  :)   

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

The only advice I can offer is possibly trying to take the water up earlier. Ours ate by 5 or 6 the latest and the water came up at 6, after dinner. She will sleep through the night soon and this will pass, honestly. Sounds like potty training is going very nicely, so I'd be more concerned about messing that up by ignoring her pleas than the whole bed issue.
BUT....both of ours were in our bed very early on, and I don't remember exactly when, but it was within the first week or two. We did crate them by our bed or couch the first few nights, but if they whined, I tapped the top, let them have my fingers near the opening and see if they would settle. If not, out they went, and right back in we came. There weren't too many of those nights and when they did sleep through the night, they were in our beds. They never tried to get down, never had an accident on the bed and always just slept till we got up. Not sure if there is a way to make them sleep longer in the mornings, but mine have always been good sleepers. Plus one of us is usually up REALLY early (4-4:30 am) , so if they want to get up there is always someone to accomdate. But even now at 3 and 5 yrs old, they prefer to stay in bed with the late sleeper. (Which a late morning to us is 6:00am)

[Julie and Max]

I also can't say much about what you're doing wrong since I don't have a crate, and Max sleeps with me every night, but we love it so that's us. Like others have said though, puppies are like babies, and they have small bladders

Puppies have a 45-minute bladder capacity at three weeks of age, 75-minute capacity at eight weeks, 90-minute capacity at twelve weeks and two-hour capacity at 18 weeks. 

Is what I have read about puppy bladders. So the sleep interruptions are not nice but they will go away eventually!