The First Night With Your New Puppy
Thursday, May 10th, 2012Bringing home your new puppy for the first time is a great feeling and a day of major excitement. Getting through the 1st night with your little one can be another story altogether. Having a new dog in the house can be quite chaotic and the most trying time is those first few nights when you will not get a full 8 hours regardless of what you do. The simplest way to address this, and scale back the craziness as much as is possible, is to be prepared and have some good tricks up your sleeve.
If you have been reading about housebreaking and caring for a new dog, you will doubtless have read about the importance of crate training from the first day you bring your dog into the house. If you have spent the time to introduce the pup to its crate and have made it a cushy, positive place for the pup, this should make the nights way easier.
Your new puppy will have little bladder control and this amounts to most of the disturbances you will get in the middle of the night from your dog. You can expect that your pup will have to go out to the yard once every 2-4 hours for the initial few weeks. There are ways you can cut down on the number of times necessary to take out your dog in the night and eliminate accidents.
Tips to get you more sleep
Keep your pup active and awake for the last 2 hours before going to bed. If your puppy has been sleeping and lounging around all evening, they will be raring to go and full of energy while you’re attempting to sleep.
If at all possible, don’t let your dog eat or drink past about 7pm unless they need water because of warm conditions. This may give you a better chance to rest for a few hours before needing to take dog out for a pit stop.
Take dog out to the yard just before bed. Keep an eye out to ensure your dog really eliminates and does not just sprinkle, then go back inside. You don’t want to make this a wasted trip, and you especially do not want to get up in the following half hour to do it again.
Be ready to get up every hour or 2 to take your pup out to the toilet. Set your alarm for every 2-3 hours and take your pup outside. You could have to wake your dog up, but it’s much better to develop your own schedule to take them outside. If you wait until they tell you they need out, they’ll learn that barking and whining wakes you up and this can form future habits.
Keep your dog near you at night. If feasible, have them in their crate in the bedroom with you. You can have the puppy in the bed with you if you want but consider thoroughly the implications;
the puppy may soil the bed,
the pup will become used to the bed and it’s got to be an all or nothing proposition - you cannot choose to allow them in the bed sometimes and not others,
the puppy will grow up and you’ll have a full-sized dog on your bed in the end
If the pup is not prepared to spend a full night in its crate, you might think about tethering the dog in the bedroom. To try this use a short tether, giving the dog a bit of room to move about, although not enough that they are going to want to eliminate within the area.
If it’s not possible to have the dog in the bedroom with you, you can have the dog spend the night in another room. To make the dog more comfy isolated in another room, try leaving soft music on, a fan, or white noise of some sort to help to ease it. You’re going to need to be super watchful in ensuring the puppy gets out to the yard at frequent intervals in the night since you won’t be well placed to hear the puppy whine to get out.
Have all that you need to take your pup out for a pit stop prepared and accessible. Having these things prepared and laid out will make getting up in the middle of the night a lot simpler. Have something to wear, such as a housecoat and slippers, a leash if you use one, and waste bags handy.
When you bring your young dog out in the middle of the night, especially if you need to wake them, the puppy could be so sleepy that they sit right down and try and fall back to sleep. Delicately get the puppy to move around and stay awake. Chances are they still need to go to the toilet but may be too knackered to realize it immediately.
Keep overnight pit stops as short as feasible and stick to the business at hand. Playing with your pup will only teach them that if they wake you up in the night they are going to get to have a play date. Be certain to keep everything calm and serene. Still be certain to praise the dog for doing its thing.
Following these tips and being prepared for what’s ahead should make your first few nights with your new puppy run a lot smoother. Having said that, there is always unforeseen issues. Try not to get exasperated with your puppy, these first few days are all about welcoming the dog and getting it used to its new home and family.
Pamela Noble writes articles on pets and pet products for Dogfolks.com. You can find more information on pet products and crates on the Dog Folks website.
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