[cuvy69]

I am pretty new to this board, but have been lurking around just reading all the info over the last few weeks knowing we were bringing our new beagle home last night. She is just 8 weeks old and has been separated from her mom for 2 weeks now, but last night was the first night alone from her littermates.

We had her home around dinner and played with her bedtime, then put her in her crate for the night. I figured she would be a bit upset and scared, but she cried and howled ALL night long. I can't believe a puppy has that much stamina. Almost made me cry myself.
Just wanted to know if this is normal????

We had lots of blankets, a stuffed toy, and some newspaper in front for her and woke up to pee and poo all over the cage. The breeder recommended putting the crate right beside our bed so she can hear us breathing, but that didn't seem to help. I even put the radio on soft in the middle of the night. She has also had a bit of diarreah since being home, but I figured that was due to stress.
The big thing I wanted to know what about the constant crying. Is it normal, or will it last a long time??? /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/sleep.gif
Thanks in advance.
Jenn & Mocha

 

[jtward01]

No, it won't last forever, it will just seem like it. It is normal.

Try the old standby, a wind up alarm clock and a hot water bottle. The bottle mimics the warmth of the mother's body, while the ticking of the clock mimics the mother's heart beat. Wrap the clock and the water bottle together in a large towel or small blanket and put it in the crate at bedtime. This doesn't work with all pups, but with some it works amazingly well.

 

[Gingergoose]

Hi Jen!

Congrats on your new puppy!

I've never had a puppy so I'm afraid I don't have much to offer.

But your description of last night did make me have flash-backs of when we brought my infant son home from the hospital 8 years ago. I thought the night would never end. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

Things soon got better and I'm sure you and your pup will do fine, too.

Just be consistent and patient.

Hope it helps.

 

[K & G]

The diarrhea is probably stress, but of course there should be a trip to the vet in any new puppy's future. The crying is normal, and when she quiets down, you could quietly talk to her. How long did you leave her in her crate? It is possible that she was crying because she wanted to go to the bathroom. Dogs really don't want to go to the bathroom in their crates, so that was probably distressing to her. At night, you should take her out every four hours (at least) if you're going to be crate training.

 

[cuvy69]

We left her in the crate all night; from about midnight to 6:30am. We had all intentions of letting her out every couple of hours as I had read that they don't like to 'go' in their crates, but the breeder recommended leaving them in the crate all night. They said if you get in the habit of letting her in and out of the crate, it will never end, and you will never be able to sleep all night, even when she can hold her bladder. That's why they suggested putting her blankets in one end, and newspaper in the other for her to 'go' on. They are a very reputable breeder in the area, so we took their word for it...

 

[martiknox]

For the first few weeks you need to have her crate next to your bed so that she has her new "pack" with her. You did not indicate where the crate was. Our girls slept in their crate in our bedroom until they were about eleven weeks old. Then we moved them into another room and they have been fine ever since. Also, put a cover over the crate to make it more "cave" like. We used a sheet. This helps them feel more secure also. Good luck. We took ours out every four hours. We got them at 8-1/2 weeks old. They slept really good. They cried or barked when they woke up, but it was to go outside and potty. This will go on for a while, but as they get older, they will sleep longer and not have as many required potty times. Give your pup ice and no water after about 6-7 PM and that will help the pee a little. Our girls still love ice in the evening and at 20 months old sleep over 12 hours at night. It will get better, but all the house training time will bond you forever. Don't you just love the little thing. We brought home 2 sisters and I think having another litter mate help in the security feeling. They slept in the same crate until they started getting a little antsy with one another as one wanted to sleep and one was still restless. We put them in separate crates in our bedroom when they were 10 weeks old and left the crate sheet cover up a little on each ones side so that they could still see one another. We still do that. They can't stand to be without each other.

 

[Gingergoose]

Jen,

I would think that a young puppy's bladder isn't physically big enough to hold much urine. So taking her out every couple of hours would make more sense.

Somebody here will know.

 

[K & G]

Quote:Originally posted by Jenn n' Mocha:
They said if you get in the habit of letting her in and out of the crate, it will never end, and you will never be able to sleep all night, even when she can hold her bladder.

My experiences are the same as Marti's. Everyone has their own way of house-training, and the end results are what matters, but we took my dog out every four hours at night, and slowly increased the time as he grew up. He sleeps through the night, and doesn't need a break anymore. He's 17 months, and hasn't needed to go out during the night since maybe, five months old.

I'd be concerned that training a dog to go against her instincts and go in the crate would result in an older crated dog who could hold her bladder, but no longer knew that she should while in her den.

 

[martiknox]

Quote:They said if you get in the habit of letting her in and out of the crate, it will never end, and you will never be able to sleep all night, even when she can hold her bladder.

Oh I can't agree with this. If the pup is tired out after periods of play and eating and just growing up, they will sleep longer and longer. And unless they have bladder issues, they will not want to mess where they sleep. Our girls did not especially like going out in the dark back yard and did their pee or poop and came right back in. After the going to bed time, we would take them out for potty and bring them back into the bedroom, love on them just a little, and immediately put them back into their crate. We also gave a small treat as a reward for pottying outside. Our girls were also house broken by 5-1/2 months and slept about 9 hours after going to bed. As I said before, it is now 12 hours. They only had a few incidents of wetting the bed and never any poo in there. I don't understand why the breeder would say that!

 

[BeagleBabe]

What the breeder said is absurd. She's eight weeks old! She can not be expected to hold her bladder for more than half an hour for every month that she is old. Teaching her it's alright to "go" in the crate or to force her to do so by not taking her out enough is going to be horrible for you and for her, and very,very difficult to unteach. Puppies are like babies, keep reminding yourself that basically, she is still a baby.

The whole house breaking and training process will go much, much more smoothly for you and for her if she knows she can trust you. Instead of hitting, spanking or other various "punishment" you need to understand that she is just a puppy, no matter how hard you work with her and she with you there will be accidents.

Also, this is a big one, beagles (especially) THRIVE on positive reinforcement. When she finally does go pee or poop outside act like you just won the lottery (even if you're thinking "about damn time! Darn dog finally peed outside like she's SUPPOSE to do!") Smile, pet her, rub her belly, talk to her in that excited tone, scratch her ears, give her a treat, I promise you that will continue to get you the response from her you want.

About the crate training...Béla and I had a heated arguement over how to do it. He wanted to just shove her in the crate at bedtime and let her "Whine it out." Not supringsly she actually did whine and she whined and whined. Finally I said look it's not working let me do it my way. I did, and it took me two days to crate train her.

What I did:
1-Put the crate up in a busy are of the house...one where the family is constantly (living room for us) left it open and let her explore in it freely, sniff it, etc but didn't close her in.

2-After watching her investigate it on and off for a few hours I moved it from the living room to our bedroom (where she had been sleeping. I then put HER blanket and a couple of her toys in there and left it open. I also put one of my dirty shirts in there (well not dirty dirty but one that I had worn that day) so that when she went in there to sniff around she would smell me, her mommy.

3-For the rest of the day I left it open, that night I also left it open and let her wander in and out freely without closing her in. That night I left her out of the crate and let her sleep in the bed, but she wound up on her blanket in her crate.

4-The next day when she would go in there on her own I would lock her in there, starting for just a couple minutes, walking away, coming back opening it, letting her out, etc. I did this for increasingly longer periods of time that day.

5-That night, I told her (after replacing my shirt with another dirty one) "time to go to bed" and put her in her crate and closed it...keep in mind she was in the bedroom with us, and it wasn't completely dark.
No barking or whining from her, or us. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[Murphys Dad]

It's been awhile since we had a tiny puppy, but when Misty was a baby, I got up two or three times a night to take her to potty. Also, when Spook moved in he was only 4 months old, and I did the same with him. Both became potty trained very quickly. In this case, I strongly disagree with your breeder, and think it's better to teach the puppy to go outside her crate. Good luck.

 

[BeagleBabe]

I also wanted to add, if you've changed her food from what she was eating at the breeder's the diarrhea could be from that.

 

[Ashley Hellen]

Its a steep learning curve with a new puppy. I ditto what beagle babe has said about crate training.

I tried leaving caleb as a tiny 8 week puppy in his crate but he cried aand howled. he ended up in a crate in our room but still howled, in the end he came on the bed and settled down straight away. When he woke up for a wee we went straight out and he was clean through the night very quickly, them slowly moved out to a crate/basket by bed when he was about six months and then when we moved house he went into a crate in the dog room with Foxy and is happy there.

Gwenni sleeps on the bed still at the moment but the next step will be the basket by the bed then when she is ready she will go into the dog room at night with the other two in seperate crates.

She has slept on the bed on a blanket since the 1st night and has been dry all night and sleeps through. I dont like to stress them when they are so tiny and cant bear to hear them cry and want a happy playful puppy who I know will go into a crate when they are older. They so love being with their humans.

Gwenni does go in the crate in the dog room when I am working in the day and is fine

I suggest you get a puppy pen and have it in your family room so when pup gets tired you pop her in there on a bed and she can get all the sleep she needs, she is contained and safe, you can go and get on with things in peace and it gets them used to being crated. I fed Gwenni in hers at first. I have a bed, waterproof sheets and toys in it.

Ref the runs the pup has, Gwenni arrived with chronic runs and it warranted a trip down to the vet and we had a special paste to give to her with her food to lesson the runs... When she was really bad I had her on chicken and rice to bind her up a bit.

I also feed bone meal to Gwenni with her food to keep the bone mass on her. Pups can loose bone mass quickly and it can affect their adult frame later. I dont let her run around too much as they have very soft growth plates and you dont want them stressed so be careful how much exercise the pup has. Gwenni has just started at 18 weeks having short 15 minute ambles down the road. Dont let pup climb stairs or jump too much either.

I also give the dogs a kelp tablet every day as it helps darken the pigment around their eyes and their noses. Gwenni has a lovely dark nose and eyes, and Foxys pink nose did darken laater on.

I get my supplies from


Dorwest herbs

A company that does supply worldwide

I get the kelp from them and I also use something called keepers mix and they sell evening primrose oil, wheatgerm and cod liver oil and garlic tabs.

They also sell tablets called skullcap and valarian which is for anxious dogs, I use it on caleb when we moved house and for a week before we brough pup home. A bit like a rescue remedy!!

 

[Alfadais]

Congrats on your new pup !
I have to echo what Beaglebabe said in her post,this is very similar to how i introduced the crate to my two beagles,one at 8 weeks old and the other when we got her at 14 months,
My Alfie is now almost 3 and Daisy 2 and a half and we no longer use the crates,they don't 'party' at night anymore and are very good.
It does sometimes take time and she needs to get used to seeing the crate as hers and associate it with being good.
Good luck with it i'm sure in time she'll be fine.

 

[debannib]

Maggie was rescued as a pup,probably too young to be taken from her mom and not being sure about her age, I slept with her cuddled next to me and took her out at night for several months.

I must admit, I don't crate at night....my dogs are free to sleep in their beds or in mine (because I enjoy a cuddle too :hi: )

 

[cuvy69]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice. Night #2 was much better. We put her in the crate when we went to bed, with the sheet over the sides and diligently got up every 2 or so hours to let her out. She whined a bit each time we put her back in the crate, but shortly went to sleep and was quiet again for the next 2 hours. She did go 'poo' once in the crate, but each time we went outside did a good pee. I'm so glad she didn't cry all night again; my heart was just aching about the first night.

 

[Genie]

Hi Jenn. Welcome to the joys, frustrations, and joys (yes, I did repeat myself!) of beagle puppyhood! I'm glad last night went better for you. Sounds like you're on the right track now. I can't understand the advice your breeded gave you about leaving little Mocha in her crate all night. Eight week old beagle babies can't hold it that long! She'll be able to go longer between peeing as her bladder gets bigger, and I'm sure she'lll cry less and less as she comes to feel more a part of her new pack.
Mocha is a great name, by the way! Do you have any pictures?

 

[BookerMoose]

Glad to hear your second night was so much better than your first - we've never had a puppy but if we ever do I know I'll get all the advice we need from the others here!

 

[jenncarrera]

Hi Jen!
I've had my puppy for 3 weeks now. Let me tell you the first week he pee'd in his crate all night, all day! I was getting so frustrated w/ it. Last week was the first week he made it through the night :ecstatic: I guess the morning he woke up w/ pee everywhere & on him. I had to give him a bath at 500 am.
Since then he does not go potty in the crate. We go for walks in the evening & right before we go to bed I take him out,sometimes twice before I sleep.
Good Luck & welcome to Beagle World. I got lots of great advice from here /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

-Jenny & Mizu from San Diego

 

[Murphys Dad]

Jersey cried a lot at first. There is absolutely no way that an 8 week old puppy is going to be able to hold it for more than a couple of hours, even at night while they are asleep. I'm sure some of Mocha's crying came from wanting to go out. A dog will not want to go where they sleep. We got up every few hours with Jersey for a couple of months. Mike and I would trade off. She was almost a year old before she could/would sleep all through the night on a consistant basis. It gets better! I promise. The first few months were crazy between potty training, obedience, and just getting used to having a puppy around the house again. But all the craziness creates this incredible bond...it's so worth it!