# Puppy crying early in the morning or when he hears us upstairs



## ickleme79 (Feb 5, 2014)

Hi all, me again.

So Kenny is now sleeping through the night, with the aid of puppy pads to do his business on, he sleeps fine till 5:30am most nights, obviously I'd like this to be slightly later but as we go to bed between 9:30 & 10pm is this expecting too much? He's now 13 weeks old.

The other issue we have is if someone goes to the loo in the night, he stays crying for you to go to him, it's got to the point now where I don't dare got too the loo. It's also the same when we get up, if we happen to get up before him, like when my boyfriend is on the day shift he starts crying as soon as he hears us. We've tried to ignore him and not go to him till he's quiet but when my boyfriend is trying to get ready for work there's only so long you can wait, plus I have a 5 year old and I don't really want him to be woken up every day.

Not sure what to do, are we simply expecting too much? He has the radio on at night and he has crate, the door is always open, it's more of a den for him, it's covered with a blanket too.

Interestingly I've filmed him when he's been home alone and he doesn't make a noise unless something like the postman or next doors dogs bark, he's happy to sleep and play. So I don't think it's separation anxiety completely, he's fine when we're not here, it's just when we are and he's not with us.

Think I need someone to tell me it will get better or that it's normal, if we do have to go to him when he's crying we ignore him, make a cup of tea etc then when he's been sitting quiet for a while we will make a fuss of him. We also don't make a fuss of him when we come home, we ignore him for a while then when he's been sitting we fuss him.

Many thanks for any advice.

Janitta


----------



## goodvic2 (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi

Dogs love human Company so I guess it is to be expected. 

I have never had a puppy, only ever taken in adult dogs. I also have 4 dogs so they are never on their own

You just have to stick with it or else have him In your bedroom

X


----------



## Sarah H (Jan 18, 2014)

10 pm until 5.30 am is VERY good for a 13 week old puppy as it is almost 8 hours. Most young puppies can't hold it for 8 hours so he's doing really well!

I personally would take him out an hour later so he gets up later in the morning (but I'm lazy ), and work backwards in time, i.e. take him out at 11 pm then over the course of a couple of weeks take him out 5 mins earlier each day or so (10.55, 10.50 etc etc) until you reach the time you want to go to bed normally. Hopefully then he'll still get up at 6.30 instead of 5.30 am.

Another thing to do is get up and go down before he hears you moving around. So say 5 in the morning and let him out for a wee, but don't really interact and afterwards go back upstairs and continue the morning routine. You could even give him a stuffed kong or other chew toy to keep him entertained before you all come downstairs. And then, only when you are all up and ready to interact with the puppy do you give him a good fuss, play and brekkie, so he learns that only when you are all up and actually instigate interaction is it time to be up and about.

Our dogs go out between 11 and midnight, then in the morning go out at between 7.30 and 8. We don't really interact it's just an 'out you go doggies' and then back upstairs to get dressed etc. It's not for another half an hour or so before someone is back downstairs and they actually get proper 'hello' and their breakfast.

It will take him a while to settle into a new routine but it's good to set the one you want as early as possible for them to learn.

Hope this helps! Good luck!


----------



## missnaomi (Jun 4, 2010)

I think this is really good!
I've had a few puppies and a number of rescue dogs and after spending the night downstairs all made a noise in the morning when they heard us at first.

I have now got a 7 month old puppy, and he is fantastic, now he'll happily sleep for 9+ hours, especially after a busy day  but it's been pretty gradual to build up to that. During the week my bedtime is late (after 11) and I get up before 6, so at weekends I normally pop down and let him out to the toilet, not long after normal getting up time and then put him back to bed - or if I'm feeling really soft, bring him back up to bed with me! When he was the age of your puppy, I would be going to bed at nearly 12 and up at about 5.30 to let him out, and then just built it up gradually - but we haven't had any accidents in the house. When I was ill with flu and wanted to go to bed at 8pm, I let him sleep in my room so that I would know if he needed to go out - and he let me know when he needed the toilet, and then came back to bed!


----------



## ickleme79 (Feb 5, 2014)

Thanks for the replies, I was wondering if I was expecting too much, he is still only a baby after all. 

I've never experienced this with any of the other puppies I've had so this is new to me, I was expecting the crying during the night for a while but not for 6 weeks and when we are just popping to the loo in the night.

He does seem to be getting better, we've been making an effort to get up during the night, flush the loo then back to bed. Now I find he seems to cry till he hears the toilet flush, then he waits to see if it's silent, if it is he tends to settle within minutes. 

It's just a bit of a stress in the morning because his cries get louder as he knows we're getting up, his bark is getting pretty loud now too.

But, I do think we are getting somewhere, thanks again


----------

