First night jitters:)

[Christina Casper]

So we are finally bringing home our 8 week old double doodle today! I have had a lot of people tell me not to let her out of her cage at night to go potty. Their reasoning is that she will quickly learn we are not coming for her and sleep thru the night faster. It seems like along time in my opinion. Any advice?? I am sure the little thing is going to be terrified. Also, at this age how long is reasonable to leave her during the day in her cage?

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Hi Christina!  I have two dogs, one is 3 years old and my Doodle Dagny is 12 weeks today :)  We didn't pick up Dagny until she was 11 wks and by then, the breeder had her fully sleeping through the night.  One thing that helps keep your puppy from having accidents in the crate (besides all of the other excellent advice) is to make sure the crate is not much bigger than she is.  She should have enough space to turn around and spread out, but not enough room to roam freely, eat, and go potty.  The more space that she has access too, the more likely she will be to have accidents.  

We had two systems for our first dog (brought him home at 7 wks), one crate for night time that was for sleeping and traveling only (the small one), and then an exercise pen with more room during the day.  For our Dagny, we bought a huge crate that has a separator that we can adjust to grow with her. Right now, she sleeps in there at night and has her peaceful/rest time during the day in it (like at this very moment, pictured below).

Our first dog was only 1 lb when we brought him home (he's a shi tzu/toy poodle) and as you can imagine, not much of a bladder to hold him through the night.  He did greate at night in his crate from the first day, but did cry when he needed to go potty.  I think, for the first couple of weeks he woke up 2x at night for a quick and quiet potty, and then back to bed. Over the next couple of weeks he was down to 1x at night, and just over a month in he was sleeping 8 hrs.

The other thing that helps is no water 2-3 hrs before bed until she's trained.  I keep the water bowl on the counter and offer every couple of hours during the day/early evening.  I also always take them out for one last potty before bed.

Good luck!  This is such hard work right now, but so worth it!! 

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

I should add here that I do offer water more often if she asks for it, or we've been playing hard.  She will scratch at her empty water bowl.  If not, I offer regularly until 2-3 hrs before bed :)  Just didn't want anyone to think I was dehydrating my puppy!