NIGHTTIME NIGHTMARES: How to Cure YOUR Sleepless Nights While You Cure Your New Puppy's

Sunny's pen reveals what a messy eater she is! This is where she used to stay all the time she wasn't outside, or we couldn't keep a close eye on her. Now she has more freedom but continues to sleep in her crate with the top flap pulled down to cover it on all sides.

Pepper spends a lot of time in her pen because she's still not fully house-trained, but she does take naps, play, and sleep all night inside her crate. She has pulled most of her toys into her crate. Door is shut at night, but it's not covered yet.

NOT A CRATE! AND A PEN TOO! I can't do that to this tiny, sweet puppy!

Then prepare for a very long house-breaking and a lot of sleepless nights!

Sunny's and Pepper's pens take up a lot of space in our living room, but that's the center of our house, close to Rick's office and connected to the kitchen. They're part of the action and family here.

The most frequently asked question I receive as a breeder is, "How do I get him to sleep at night?" And my question in return is, "Is he in a crate?"

I used to think the same thing: NOT A CRATE! AND A PEN TOO! How could I do that? It just seemed so cruel. For years I fought the crate because I just didn't have the heart to put that sweet little puppy in a cage, especially all by himself at night. So we all suffered, probably the puppy more than anyone. Then I started working with, studying about, and breeding dogs, and my entire outlook changed. You have to remember that dogs are "den" animals and are used to being in enclosed spaces for security and sleep. That's why so many dogs prefer their crates covered.

For our puppies, I copied Zak George's configuration with the exercise pen surrounding the crate for the best day and night crate training (link below). Puppies usually won't soil their crates, but if they're thrown into a crate on the first night in a new place when they are already nervous, and now even the new person who was cuddling them in the car on the way home is taken away, they just might.

We've tried it multiple ways. We've tried putting an 8 week old puppy into the crate the first night, and it worked fine, but we've had more who are screaming miserable going straight into that crate. My daughter's Australian Labradoodle slept through the night first night. We are rarely that lucky.

Another way is to put disposable puppy pads in the pen with the crate door open, but we have never yet had a puppy that didn't chew those things to shreds.

We trained our puppies to use litter boxes, so we put a small litter box at one end of the pen. I logically assumed that once that litter box was clean in the morning, the puppy could have the door closed. My argument against this is that the puppy got in the habit of using the litter box and did not learn to "hold it." Finally at 10 weeks, I said, "Enough!" and shut the crate door...and she "held it" all night.

Kayl McCann (link below) begins the puppy's first day with practicing going in and out of the crate to a multitude of treats, wonderful way to acclimate your puppy to the crate. At night, she puts her puppy in a crate and then moves that crate to her bedside table so the puppy can see her. Works for her, but I cannot sleep with a restless puppy next to my side of the bed. Our puppies sleep in the other room with baby monitors letting us know what's going on.

Experiment with what works best for you because what works well for one puppy does not always work well for anyone else in that litter. Remember that your puppy is instinctively drawn to enclosed spaces, so don't leave the crate out of the equation. It might take a bit of trial and error, but a crate does seem to be the ultimate piece of equipment for a good night's sleep for all!

https://tinyurl.com/c7tjjtcm

          (McCann – “A Nighttime Puppy Training Schedule Where Everyone Gets Some Sleep”) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesi8WxLWVE

          (Zak George – ‘How to Crate Train a Puppy’ - Video)