Have you had difficulties in crate training puppies at night? Many dog owners have issues with crate training during the night because it can be difficult for young puppies to hold it throughout the whole night.
Here are some tips for crate training puppies at night:
- Don’t leave food or water in your puppy’s crate or kennel. If you leave food or water in the crate it will make it very difficult for your young puppy to hold his bladder throughout the night.
- Don’t put a dog bed or pillow in the crate or kennel. Dog beds and pillows are soft. Puppies like to pee on soft things like pillows, blankets, grass, dirt, and carpet. By leaving a bed in the crate you may be encouraging your dog to eliminate in his kennel.
- Cut off your dog’s water a few hours before bed. If your puppy is drinking water right up until bed time it is going to be much more difficult to last through the night. Make sure your dog doesn’t have access to water about two to three hours before your bedtime.
- Take your puppy out to the bathroom right before you go to bed. Many puppies will fall asleep early. If that is the case then you should still wake the puppy up before your bedtime so he has one last opportunity to empty his bladder.
Understand that with age comes the ability to have bladder control. If you have a puppy under the age of 12 weeks then you may still find yourself getting up once or twice or more during the night. Even some puppies over the age of 12 weeks still have problems holding it throughout the night. Read this article and you will have the secret to crate training puppies at night.
5 Responses to “Crate Training Puppies at Night”
I just bought a 8 week old french bull dog, sh cries at night when I put her in the crate , how long should I let her cry before I go and get her out ? I have had 4 nights now of no sleep unless she’s on my neck.
Can you put her away from you in another part of the house so you can’t hear her?
I am two days away from getting a female Golden Retriever pup that is 7 weeks old. I will be crate training her, and realize that our first 2-6 nights are going to be tough. If she’s like my last dog, she will cry pretty much non-stop when shut into the crate for at least the first 3 nights. I understand that she cannot be expected to hold her potty for more than 3 hours at the age of 7 weeks. Do I let her cry and then at the 3 hour mark, bring her out to potty, then return her to the crate? Am I reinforcing negative behavior of crying and opening crate?
my staffordshire bull terrier puppy is now 12 weeks old. we got her at 9 weeks and immediately started crate training her. the first week she howled about every two hours, and we would get up, take her straight outside to pee (no playing) and straight back into the crate. she couldn’t hold her pee for very long. i would lure her into the crate with toys, so that she was never forced into it. once she was in, i would put her on her back for a belly rub, which she loves and would relax her. after a few days she stopped howling altogether and she is now sleeping in the crate for 8 hours minimum per night. we cut off her water about 3 hours before our bedtime and i think that helped. she now loves her crate and sleeps in it during the day as well of her own free will. something i think that helped her to like her crate is that, the only place we made a bed for her with blankets is in her crate. so if she wants to get comfortable, she has to go in the crate. hope that helps.
Nice work. These are good tips.