Crying through the night
 

Hello! I have a 4 mo old yorkie, Cooper. I've had him for 2 months now and have been trying to train him to sleep downstairs in the kitchen area. Some nights are better than others. When I leave him at night, he'll usually bark for about 20 min, then fall asleep. However, in the morning, he'll wake up around 5/6 o'clock barking. I'll try to let him bark it out, but on some occasions, I'll get him to prevent him from waking others in the house.

Can anyone suggest solutions to make him get used to being alone through the night??

ps. he tends to bark when left alone, whether it be outside or downstairs- day or night.

any advice would help. thanks. giselle ;)

Welcome to YT!!!

The barking at bedtime is pretty normal at first but he should of stopped the barking after the first few nights. Unless you are going back to tend to him. If you are, you need to stop....they learn very quickly to cry or bark and their owner will come back. Is he in a crate? If so, perhaps you could bring the crate into your room. If he can see you he will probably sleep better.
As for barking at 5 or 6 am ....perhaps he needs to potty.

Good luck!!!

Hi there :) I had this same problem. We recently moved to a townhouse and w/ Meka not fully potty trained her new room was the washroom downstairs. Plenty of room for her and all her stuff...but every morning between the hours of 4 to 6 am, she would bark... I too would try to let her "bark it out", but there were times that I had to tell her NO firmly (from the top of the stairs) and she'd stop. However, she's 10 mo's now and doing so well with obidience/potty training that we've been letting her sleep upstairs with us (in her bed). And of course, that got rid of the a.m. barking. I think they get a little loney being away from us so, it could take him some getting use to. Something that use to help me when putting her to sleep, was telling her it was NIGHT NIGHT TIME and turning on her night light (lol...i know, i know) but, she understood - really :)

Oh, and a very BIG Welcome to YT :smile: Not the expert, but feel free to PM me with questions or just to brag on your lil one...

Um, my experience yorkies are very much lap dogs and very attached to their owners. Would you leave a baby alone downstairs? I wouldn't, but then again I couldn't handle crate training him b/c he would pee in there and then pretty much roll the crate to get free. Sooo. I would recommend keeping him in a crate closer to you. Or um sleep in a bed in your room. What do you have against keeping him with people?

I caved the first night of crying and mine slept with me :) I'm a super light sleeper) but as far as waking up at 5 or 6 am - that sounds normal to me -he probably is needing to potty AND is lonely...

The possibility of squishing him, the possibility of his urinating on the bed.

If a crate 2-3 is big enough for him to urinate, a king sized bed is more then enough.

Thanks for all of the responses and suggestions!

I don't have anything against letting him sleep with me, its just I want to train him to sleep downstairs first until he's fully potty trained. As mentioned in my earlier message, he also cries if i leave him alone to potty in the back yard. rather than going potty, he'll jump against the glass door. so, most of the time, i stay outside with him until he finishes. is this something he'll grow out of?

Being so young AND little - stay in the yard with him - Yorkies look like prey to birds and there's always a chance he could get out. For about the 1st 4 months they're like having a real baby - but if you take him out every few hours to pee - he'll eventually let you know by himself - though some are harder to train than others -

what about bringing his crate to your room so at least he isn't all alone ? that may help - I know mine are spoiled but I couldn't take the crying LOL

My puppy used to sleep in the bed with me... until he broke his leg. Now he sleeps in a crate right next to my bed. It was really hard for him (and me) at first because he would wake up 3-4 times a night and whine and bark. At first I tried ignoring him but it didn't work. Now, if he starts up, I tell him no right away and he stops. I also stick my hand into his crate, only if he is being good, and let him lick my fingers. He only whines now in the morning when he needs to go out.

When Gracie was a little puppy, I put her in a small kennel/cat carrier on my bed. Once she was potty trained and old enough to get on and off the bed and take herself potty, she earned the right to sleep in bed with me. I think we only had one or two accidents. When she peed on the bed, back in the carrier she went. I'm doing the same thing with Holly. They won't cry at night if they are with you. Another option would be to get a dog bed with a heart beat in it. It reminds them of snuggling up next to their dog mom.

One of my Yorkie informational books says that Yorkies are the one breed that needs to be close to their master/mistress at night. Take that or leave it.
Before my doggies were old enough to make it through the night, I had them in a very small carrier on my bed so I could hear them. Now whining. Worked fine for me, but each to their own.

Another note in response to what rose98vett said. There are so many dangers out there for small dogs. We have a chicken hawk that flies over our house quite often. Several years ago I was outside with one of my Yorkies when out of the corner of my eye I saw a hawk swooping down towards my tiny 3.5 lb. Yorkie. The only thing that saved her was that my now-deceased Pom barked. And if you have read some of the posts here there have been some very sad incidents when a Yorkie has slipped out of a fenced in yard. They are so tiny. Right now I am quite concerned that my 11 mo. old Yorkie has figured out how to slip out between the rails of a safety gate. No safety in that! Time to purchase another brand.

Help with sleeping at night
 

Hello my Yorkie is now 5 months old and he sleeps in a crate. When I brought him home he cried the first night, then I covered his crate with towels. Since then he sleeps all night until he hears us using the bathroom in the morning. I hope this helps.

We are having a similar issue. Our first yorkie wasn't a problem, 2 nights of crying and then she was fine, but Ava is terrible about it. She is not adjusting well. we have noticed she does better when we leave a small amount of light on, but man she is loud, we tried keeping her next to our bed and that made it worse. she has to be right beside us all the time, she has no independance what so ever. I hope she becomes a bit more independant, which may just take time I guess. I'm glad I am not alone in this problem :confused:

we had that issue when we first got tumi but it went away and she sleeps through the night as soon as we put the crate in our room, next to the bed. Now both girls are in the room with us in their crates. They don't get up til 6 or 7am!

Mine cries a little when I turn off the lights and leave his area to go to bed as well but he stops after a few minutes.
However, in the morning, he does cries when he gets up around 7AM until I get out to play with him. He has his pad, food, water and toy in the area with him so I guess he's crying because he wants to be near his mommy.:animal-pa

yes, that is exactly the same scenario for me. is this something he will grow out of? do we just let them cry or should we go to them each time they cry? I want to teach him that being alone (for limited amounts of time) is ok.

New owner!!
 

hey guys, my girlfriend and i just got a 7 week old yorkie-poo and i just want to reassure myself, i guess. we've had her for 3 nights now and she hasn't really let us sleep due to crying/whining. another thing is that we try to keep her in the kitchen so if she has an accident its easy to clean. when she is in the kitchen and not at our center of attention she will whine/cry until we pick her up. i know we're suppose to let her do that until she stops, but our apartment complex doesn't allow dogs (i know! i should have told my g/f no!) so we have to keep her quiet. we're trying different options, i believe tonight we're going to try and keep her in our room. as far as letting her sleep w/ us i wouldn't mind except i toss around a lot in my sleep. we are both full-time students and we have to work, but one of us is pretty much always home, except a 2 hour period on monday,wednesday,friday, and i'm pretty sure she cries that whole time :( . i guess i just wanted some help or some reassurance that its just the puppy stage :confused:

Just my opinion only... My baby boy starts barking around 4- 5 am in the morning to me Yorkies have a language .. Your baby is just 4 months old I think he or she is telling you they have to go potty...

YES YOU HAVE TO GET UP AND TAKE THEM OUT .... I have found once I get up and take Bleu out he is fine...He somehow ends up in bed with me.. Not because of his barking but becasue I want to cuddle him ..

It is a test who wants to get up and go out in the cold and rain NOONE but we made the choice the day we decided to bring a baby yorkie home.. We must follow through...

Listen to your baby...

Your baby will let you know... Atleast with my experience ...

Great luck to you ....one thing I was told at a young age and this has always helped me when getting ready to buy a puppy .. My mom told me before I was pregnant she said:

Vicki having a baby is not like having Barbie you can put her in the box and throw her in the top of the closet.. Having a baby comes with full responsibility....I relate that to my yorkie as well he is the baby of the family... TOTALLY SPOILED AND DEFINITELY THE BOSS!!

Hugs to you
Vicki

Well, since my original "crying through the night" post, I have since let cooper sleep with me. it seems like the best for both of us and others in the house. he no longer barks, rather falls asleep instantly. i think he just doesn't like to be left alone. i am hoping that he will grow out of it.

Another issue that I am thinking about is neutering him. he is almost 5 mo. old and I have read that neutering alters his hormones and in some cases decreases their energy level. I haven't decided what to do yet or when. my sister has neutered her dog and he does seem calm, but he was a shy puppy to begin with. can anyone shed some advice on neutering??

I'd put him in the crate next to your bed. He just wants to be near you that's why he's barking. This should take care of it;)

he will grow out of it as long as you teach him that he won't get any attention just because he cries/barks.

definitely let him cry it out. if you go to him, he will respond accordingly.

in this case, we have to differentiate our yorkies as animals, rather than human beings. animals aren't like human babies. they don't see affection the same way a human baby does when we nurture it. when we let a puppy out, he is just happy he is getting your attention. but he has to learn what affection means. and that means being quiet. LOL

Posted this on another post...re, yorkie crying at night
 

Try putting a lightweight blanket over the crate....so it is dark inside.....I read somewhere that this will make them secure and less afraid of anything that would get them in the big, dark room......seriously, this does work.....and it works pretty quickly too.....

tried it twice......PERFECTO!! And it stays warm inside too.....:)

I had this problem with Tara fist when we got her. She would whine all night through and my husband always gave in to her and she slept the first night with us. But because we live in apartment with carpets all over, she quickly had to learn that she sleeps in the kitchen and that's it.
First few nights I would suggest to settle him down to bed, leave radio playing quietly and leave potty pad and some dry food and water. He has no excuse to whine or bark then. If he does ignore it for a while if he doesn't stop I would sharply go there and tell him to be quiet/a little bit of tough love goes long way! Then I would leave. In other words he shouldn't want you to come back after that until the morning. Tara as well learned to sleep on her own and now she is in bed even at 9 a.m. and I actually have to come and get her or lure her out with a treat and then we go out potty, after that she goes back to bed and stays there until I have my dishes done, I am with her in the kitchen after waking. Then we train, do tricks and play fetch. She adopted our routine and she is well settled now, he needs to know you are the boss, not him! If you give in to him, he will continue doing it as he gets what he wants. I would never let Tara sleep in our bed as she already peed there once and that was in the beginning yet. And now I wouldn't want to change the routine she is used to. Kitchen is good place for her she understands it as her personal cave/place and her den/bed. She has learned respect as she knows leader sleeps in his own cave. :D
Good luck hope you get him adapted to your routine. :animal36

Good idea, that's why I like for my Tara den bed, like a tent, she is warm and safe there. :)

I would suggest that you keep him in his crate next to your bed at night. Put a light blanket or towel over the crate and he should be comfy and sleep the night. This worked for us!