Help.my 9 week old puppy howls all night when she's left in the crate, shall I let hr run around downstairs?

Question

We have had her over a week and tried leaving the radio on, but as soon as we leave her she starts.When I get up and let her out of the crate she settles down and goes back to sleep. After a week of sleepless nights and worrying about the neighbours, does anyone think if I give her the run of downstairs, it might solve the problem? She goes in and out of the crate during the day, but as soon as we shut the door she starts howling. We let her out and she settles down under the table. I really am at my wits end and although I love her dearly am seriously thinking of giving up and re homing her. HELP?

Answer 1

If there is a possibility of her sleeping in the room with you & closing the door, that would be a better option! Being that she is a puppy I would not let her have the run of the house all night long!

Answer 2

Leaving the radio on is a common mistake made by many people. When you leave the radio on when your pup has to be seperated from you for the entire night you have conditioned your puppy to feel stressed when it hears the radio on when it is left alone.

Turn the radio off.

Put the crate in your bedroom until the puppy is older.

If neccessary lay down next to the crate until puppy falls asleep.

Pop a hot water bottle (not to hot) in with puppy and also a toy around the same size as your puppy. Puppies like to rest their heads on items just like they would rest their head on a litter mate when they are sleeping.

Provide a chew toy.

It's going take you a little while to fix this problem because you have let the dog out of the crate when it has howled and therefore the dog knows how to win. At all costs ignore the puppy crying/whining/howling. If neccessary leave a note in your neighbours letter boxes explaining that you are crate training & you appreciate their patience and the puppy should settle within the next 1-2 weeks.

Only let your puppy out when it crys during the night to be left out to go to the toilet.

You've only had the puppy for one week, no responsible owner would re-home a dog after such a short amount of time.

You first have to understand that you will not get much sleep for the first month whilst the puppy settles. You must understand that you have taken the puppy away from its' mother and its' litter, it is feeling alone and probably scared.

Answer 3

Here's the thing. She's 9 weeks old, basically just away from mom and the littermates for the first time. Crates are great for dogs, despite what anyone else may say. You need to consider that she's lonesome at night. Try moving the crate into your room, where she'll see that you're nearby. This generally works every time. And, you won't have as far to travel to ask her to calm down. Giving her the run of downstairs probably means you'll have a bit of clean-up to do. Suggest you just let her move in with you for a while.
It's a pretty natural thing. Good Luck

Answer 4

Just like any baby she is testing you and she is winning. You need to be strong and just let her howl. Try putting a blanket or towel over the crate so she can't see you. Also put in something she can snuggle with or a toy she likes. Give her a few treats when you put her in and tell he it's time for bed. Close the door, cover the crate up and put your ear plugs in and let her howl. She'll stop in about an hour or so. My pup did the same thing the first night I put him in the crate for the night. He wimpered and howled for about 1.5 hours then stopped. Did it again a little later in the night, then went back the sleep. The second night he only did it about 30 mins., third night, went right to sleep. Really, he should get use to the crate, they come in handy when you go away. Good luck, and I'm serious about the ear plugs, they work great.

Answer 5

What breed of puppy is it? If she is going in and out of the cage during the day, try closing the door then, while you are still there. If you let her out when she's howling she has figured out that you will do this. You have to be persistant. There are some dogs that can not be crated, my stafforshire would make herself physically ill in her crate. After weeks of continually attempting this, we found that she was great on the floor at the end of our bed. She had some serious seperation anxieties. But at nine weeks old I can hardly believe your puppy is very well potty trained this could be a smell issue to leave it top run around unsupervised.

Answer 6

Ignore him. Yes, it really works. It's going to take a long time though, if he's only been with you a few days you are in for a ride. It might be weeks until he is completely silent through the night -- especially since he's already had an entire 21 weeks of life probably NOT spent in a crate. It will take some getting used to for both of you. If would probably comfort him to put the crate in your bedroom. That's what most people do (including myself). You'll just have to get some earplugs and tough it out for a while, but in the long haul it will probably take less time for him to calm down. Just like a baby in a crib, a puppy would much rather be in bed with you, but he needs to learn the "house rules," which means he goes in his crate at night. It will take some time though.

Answer 7

Why don't you try putting the crate in your room instead of the basement. The other thing you can do is buy a doggie bed and put it on the floor in your and close the door, but have night light. Then again try leaving your door open and put a gate in the door way make sure you have some sort of night light to see the gate and see if this works. You need to close her in the crate during the day too because she doesn't understand why it is open durning the day and not at night. You can try leaving the crate open one night see what happens don't like the results try something else. You need trial and error to see what will work best for you and your dog. Good Luck!

Answer 8

if you try and put her in the crate during the day and completely cover it add some toys and an old jumper of yours leave her for a couple of hours and then let her out to a treat saying good girl, when you first start this she will howl so spray her with water and tell her bad girl! try it over a weekend when you have more time then when the real night time comes for bed time it will not be a shock. it will not happen over night usually takes about 3/4 days if you work at it but don't give up it will work, worked for me for years. good look.

Answer 9

Don't give up. Try a clock. She will learn that if she howls enough she can get her way, if you give in. Cover the door of the crate lightly with a cloth so she can't see movement and put her in as you leave the room and do not keep going to her. Right now she is training you. Turn that around-- Before it is to late. Good luck !!!

Answer 10

Howling Puppies

Answer 11

Hello there.
Your problem might be that when your dog howls/cry you run to conmfort/caress. Your puppy is young enough and can still learn easy. Follow my advice and in 1 or max 2 weeks you will have your "problem" fixed. So here it goes.
Lets say that you want to be in your bed at 23:00.
Go your dog for a walk (toilette some running etc) at 21:00. Be back after 30mins-1h. Caress your dog for some then close it into the crate and lock his door. Leave the area and close the door (if there is one) behind you. Let the dog cry and TOTTALY ignore it. Follow the same for 1 or maybe 2 weeks. If you keep ignoring the dog he will learn to saty locked . (Dont foprget to apppologise to the neighbours).
PS: Dogs have a mind. They learn fast but only "easy" things. What your dog knows now is : crying = master comes to caress me. You should change that to crying = nothing happens.
Good luck.