Sleeping through the night

[fergie11]

Let me know if I'm rushing things but I'm getting tired. I can't get Lucy anywhere near sleeping through the night. The first 3 nights (7 wks) she did. She is a loud little thing. She's 14 wks old now and getting worse. It's not that she doesn't like her crate. She's very tired after supper - about 6:30 and sleeps a lot. (I work from 5-9) so a lot of time she sleeps at that time. Anyway when she wakes up she does want to go out. She pees around 12 and around 4 she usually does both. I don't feed her after 6:30. After the 4 o'clock outside she is starving. I haven't fed her that early because I don't want to start that. So before 4 and 6 she's rambling around a winning and crying until she can eat. I had her to the vet yesterday and she does have an ear infection but I don't think that's it. We did get stuff to help with that. I switched her food to Taste of the Wild and her stool got a lot better for a week or so but now its all soft again. I don't like to feed her at 10 because for sure she'll have to get up to poo. We're a early family but not 4. 5 would be good. I think even Fergie is getting agravated with her. But maybe I should try that.

I fed them both at 5:45 this morning and I just looked outside (It's 6:15). They both outside sound asleep.
Just tell me if I'm rushing things. Will time just take care of these things.

[nonnie browne]

Hi Cathy,
First, nice to meet you, we have a lot in common. I am also 52, working part time, husband travels all the time and the kids are gone. My Buddy is 5 months old. It is a great time to have a dog!
I get a little lost in reading your posts with all the times and so forth. At fourteen weeks, Buddy was sleeping from 9pm until 6 am. Now he generally crashes about 9 and gets up with me between 630 and 7am. He is quiet at night.
Where does Lucy sleep? Does she bunk down with your other dog? I know that many dogs take longer than 14 weeks to sleep through the night. I had to work for a while at keeping Buddy up and getting him tired enough so that he would really sleep well at night, but then everything seemed to click and it has been fine since. Her ear infection may be aggravating her more than you think. If your older dog is sleeping well, I would think that would keep Lucy quiet - dogs learn so much more from other dogs about routine than they do from people sometimes. Buddy eats at six pm, poops between 6 and 8 and then goes easily through the night. His crate is in our bedroom so he can keep track of me. When he gets up in the morning he goes out and does his business, he eats, and then hangs out until I get ready. Then we either go for a walk, go to the park, or play ball in the yard. He "stays up" most all morning and doesnt nap until the afternoon and then takes one long nap.

I dont know if any of that helps, but I would just hang in there and keep to your expected routine and assume she will pick it up and fall in line as she gets older. I really do wonder if she will settle more after the ear infection is over, those can be very painful. Hang in there!

[Amy]

I find that a Kong smeared with a little peanut butter makes getting into the crate easier for Zoey. She doesn't sleep through the night yet either. When we take her out at night, she does her business and then right back to bed (crate) and she settles back down. I know how hard it is to have interupted sleep!

[Jamie Petro]

I can totally relate to you on this! Wrigley is 13 weeks old, and last week she was getting up once in the night to potty. We'd put her right back in her kennel, and then I'd get her up with me around 6:00. All of the sudden this week she has started waking up at 12:30am and 3:00am barking, howling, moaning, you name it. We take her out, put her back in the kennel, and she continues with her concert. This morning she carried on from 3:00-5:30...just about time for me to get up! It is Wednesday, and my husband and I are literally running on fumes! We don't understand it. She's gotten the same amount of exercise, and followed the same routine. She acts like she is starving when we wake up in the mornings so I fed her a little bit before bed last night, but it didn't help one bit so I won't do that again.

[fergie11]

Last night we made sure to play a lot between 8 and 9. That seemed to help but it might have been a fluke. She slept from 9:30 - 4:30. Better. The trouble with that is I'm not normally home between those hours so there is noone to play with her. I wish i knew how i did this with Fergie but i don't remember this being an issue. Oh well, I'll think of you as i'm staggering around in the wee hours of the night.

[Jamie Petro]

Same here. We'll make it!

[fergie11]

Last night i got home late from work - 11. Put her out then and fed her some rice and a little kibble. She slept until almost 5. I'm feeling like a new person - 2 nights now that I've slept longer than 3 hours. I'm happy. How'd you do Jamie?

[Stella]

We had similar problems with our new puppy. I was so sleep deprived that I gave in and let him sleep in the living room with our other dog rather than in the crate. He has slept through the night ever since!!

[Missi]

I can so relate! If Lizzie sleeps more than 3 hours at a time, it's a miracle! She's 5 months old now. I've always blamed in on the fact that I work nights, so I have no idea what my day is going to be, and neither does she! Some nights she sleeps, some nights I'm home and keep her up! So I'm at the "chronic" stage of sleep deprivation! Is someone home to play with her while you're at work? Because I'm guessing she's used to sleeping while you're working and doesn't understand why it's not play time when you get home! (That's my problem anyway).

[fergie11]

No - most of the time there isn't anyone to play with her. When she get older and doesn't need to be crated she'll have Fergie. I only work 4-5 hours 4-5 nights a week so that's nice for a puppy but the timing is bad. Sometime DH is home but not always. We'll get thru this. Good Luck to you too.