I read that you should try to keep the puppy up and playing before bedtime so they will sleep better in their bed at night....however, mine will have none of that! I try to get her playing or chewing on something, etc...but she just wants to sleep! And I feel cruel to poke at her or keep waking her, so I just let her sleep. She sleeps from 6-8ish and then we go outside and she comes in gets water and chews on a toy for a few minutes and then all she wants is to lay on my or beside me and sleep till 11.
And it is not a huge deal except that from 11pm to 7am is when she is locked in her bed for for the night and I go to bed as well. She is not a fan of being away from me in the first place and I think she would enjoy her time in there more if she was more tired and would sleep the whole time.
She usually cries softly when I put her in at 11 and I feel like it is because she is all sleeped out and awake and now stuck alone in her bed. She does quiet down after a minute or two though. But sometimes she cries in the night and it is not to go out...she can usually hold herself 7 or 8 hours no problem at night now. It is so annoying when I have to use the bathroom or something in the middle of the night cause's she hears me get up and thinks she should be too and starts crying all over again. She does quiet down in minutes if I just ignore her and go back to bed....but heaven forbid I roll over! If she hears me she starts up again. Haha...Oh dear!
The mornings are no prob. I need to sleep longer than 7am in the morning, but I let her out at that time and I take her outside and then I put out food for her and go back to bed. She usually only takes a drink, squeaks a toy and then comes up and sleeps with me until 8:30am...then she leaves and goes to eat her food!
I like that part of the routine...it is the going to bed part that is still not going smoothly.
What do you think? Will she naturally fall into a pattern if I stick to putting her to bed at the same time? Like, she will know that sleep time is coming and save her sleepiness for it? Haha! I hope so. I want her to have a good sleep at night.
I have had her for 6 weeks so I don't expect miracle. She is a gem so far. No accidents in over 2 weeks in the house! Yay! I don't use pee pads...from day one I took her outside for business time! She just knows now that I expect her to do all her business outside if she wants her freedom in the house and she lets me know when she has to go by growling at me and running to and from the door.
Smarty party!
Any advice or opinions would be very much welcomed! I am looking for anything to maybe make this nighttime thing smoother on the two of us! Thanks.