I am not sleeping at all anymore!

[Stitches29]

Sounds like you may be getting it all together. If you know when FiFi eats, and when she usually poos, then you can almost fill in the blanks. Maggie poos right after breakfast and about an hour after her last meal. She only goes two times a day. When FiFi cries in her crate, she is begging to be let out to do her business. I know it's hard. I'm so tired right now, I'm dizzy. Maggie didn't have a good night. She was up at 1, 3 and 5. When it's teething time, they say this is not unusual. One day Kathy we both will look back on this (through our gray hair and wrinkles) and laugh.

[Kathy]

Hi there,
You mentioned something about teething. Does that make them a bit mellow. What is the dog like when they are teething? I also heard that they do not always loose their teeth and sometimes they have to be taken out? In the meantime, today, for a dog who doesn't hold it, she has not gone to the bathroom since 7 am. It is now 3:30pm. I just gave her some vitamins (just in case she ws feeling low). She had a little more food too. Maybe because it is a bit warm today. Well, on the bright note, I know that she can hold it (I think). Also, how do you know when a yorkie goes into heat? What age usually? - kath

[Stitches29]

Originally Posted by Kathy

Hi there,
You mentioned something about teething. Does that make them a bit mellow. What is the dog like when they are teething? I also heard that they do not always loose their teeth and sometimes they have to be taken out? In the meantime, today, for a dog who doesn't hold it, she has not gone to the bathroom since 7 am. It is now 3:30pm. I just gave her some vitamins (just in case she ws feeling low). She had a little more food too. Maybe because it is a bit warm today. Well, on the bright note, I know that she can hold it (I think). Also, how do you know when a yorkie goes into heat? What age usually? - kath

Kathy,
Teething is the same with dogs as human babies. They are cranky, sometimes loose bowels, all around got the blahs. True, some puppie's teeth have to be pulled. I think that is why they recommend dry food. It not only stimulates the gum, but helps loosen the baby teeth to fall out. Are you sure she hasn't gone to PP? Maggie can squat before I can catch her. On carpet it's the size of a dime. Oh on the heat cycle. It's different on every breed. Generally between 8 and 12 months. Where they PP from will become swollen. When they PP, they will be putting out a "Let's Make Love Hormone". I plan on getting Maggie fixed before she comes into heat. They say it helps lower the chance of breast cancer in dogs, as well as beating the boys off the porch. Glad to hear things are getting better.

[Kathy]

Yes, when I looked around the room I did find a wet puddle. Evidently she went right before I typed to you, or after. I think there were too many people near her pad when she finally had to go. Tonight she had her last set of shots. Naturally, she has been out cold for awhile. Guess tonight won't be a good night to see what she will do. She also went down from 1.9 to 1.8lbs. She seems to keep between the two weights. Well, I thank you for all of your conversations and I hope to be off to sleep tonight. I have been in the middle of a very bad cold an dwould love some sleep tonight. Although, my cough may keep me up more than her need to go potty. - kath

[Stitches29]

Kathy, bless your heart. I hope both of you get to feeling better. As far as a blocked pp pad goes, you may have to put down 2 pp pads. Kinda like having two bathrooms. Never know when one is blocked, or occupied. Hope you both got some sleep. Going without sleep sure doesn't help keep your immunity system up. As the little ones goes, who know she may turn out to be one chubby 4 pounder. I've enjoyed talking to you too. I know you were at your wits end. I just hope all of this has helped.

[Kathy]

I thank you for all of your insight. I have been trying to avoid having pp pads all over the house. However.......yesterday she was in my bedroom and went poop in there. She was left alone for a minute and went in the same area that she had gone once before. I do not have any pads in there because she is rearely in there. There is one in the next room over (kitchen area). the house is not that big but sometimes it seems when there is a separation she forgets to go to her pad. When she is downstairs, she does seem to go to the backdoor and scratch, or to go to her pad. I wonder if she thinks she is so far away from it, forgets its near by or sometimes can not see with all that hair in her face . So...the real question is: Am I suppose to have a house with a pad in every room?? Shouldn't she learn where the few are? - kathy

[trouble74_2000]

I have a female that will be a year old next week. She still barks if she hears us get up to go to the bathroom around 4a.m. or so. When we first brought her home she would bark and whine alot in the middle of the night. We had her crate in our room also. I would put her crate on a chair next to our bed and stick my fingers in the holes of the crate door and sleep that way. She would smell me and feel close to me and she would go right back to sleep. When she got bigger and I had to move her to the kitchen. She started barking again. Then I ignored her and she learned that no one was going to come and play. Every once in awhile I had to use a bark collar but not until she was much bigger. She is better no. She still has moments when she is annoying. I tell her quiet and she does. It takes a long time. She seems to get better as she gets older thou. I do not have much for advice but I just thought I would tell you what we had to do and let you know that you are not the only ones that have gone through this.
Trouble and Angel

[Stitches29]

Originally Posted by TeddyBear

I have heard of a suggestion that if you tip a playpen over and put the puppy under it, they can't climb out. I don't know if I would ever do this, but it was suggested to me.

Maggie is our 3 month old baby girl. She is so use to being around us, that when I can't give her all my attention, I put her behind a baby gate. She learned instantly how to climb the baby gate and come looking for Mama. We had to put formica on the side that faces her. At least that fixed that, until she learns how to trampoline over.

[Kathy]

You mentioned that your puppy is now 1 year old and you moved her crate to the kitchen. is she still in the crate at night? How much does she weigh?
I do not mind ignoring her a night. I just know that she will mess her crate too. I wonder though, if she was in a crate in the room, would she stay asleep and not wake up for so long so that she wouldn't mess the crate or would it not make a difference. I do know, that if I fall asleep on the sofa (which I did the past few nights because I have been sick) with her in my arms she will sleep tfrom 11:30 pm until 5:50 am (when the other dog gets up too) and get figitity and need to go outside. I still wonder if she is capable of holding it longer than 5 hours. I wish ZI could trust that she would go on her pad but i can't. She confuses me. Last night she circle in my daughter's room (I quickly grabbed her and took her out). But yet, this morning, after she ate, I went upstairs and came downstairs and found that she ooped on her pad. Sometimes I just don't get it. Do I need a pad in everyroom. Wouldn't that be crazy?- kathy

[trouble74_2000]

What I did when she was younger was bought one of those playpen for pets. (they make them for puppies also. They are cheaper if you buy the kids ones.) ( they are exactly the same thou) Anyways. I put her crate in the pen and her puppy pad. When I could not watch her all the time I put her in the pen. Then her bed was in there and so was her pad. I just did not give her food and water until I could be there to watch. It still took her awhile to learn that the pad was what she was supposed to go on but she got it. Now she is 7lbs. and almost a year old. I still have her sleeping in the crate at night and when I am not home. We have two big labs and and Min Pin also. I put her in there for her own safety and for them to get some rest. ( she likes to play longer than they do). She does really well in the house now. I still have to watch her closely because she does not bark to go out or anything. But it helped a LOT.
Trouble and Angel

[Kathy]

HI. Thanks for the post. I actualy started her off with a pen. I did not like that for me because I felt that she was learning to go on the pad but wasn't learning not to go on the floor of it. She tended to go off the pad if it was dirty. She wasn't learning to hold it so she would go a lot through the night (more than I could keep up with if I was sleeping). I found that it was easier to train my 7lb dog than this little 1.8lb doggy. My other one can hold it all night and doesn't sleep at night in the crate. She is only in it during the day when I am not home. This little one seems to do pretty good most of the time, however, I still find that she occasionally wants to poop someplace other than the pad. My problem still is being able to get a full nights sleep. It doesn't seem to matter what time I put her into her crate (11, 12, 1, 3 am). She seems to cry around 3 and then again around 5. For a while I was letting her out at 3 and then again at 5. As you can see,no sleep for me. I need to get some. I am going to try and hold out and put her in this week by 11:30 and not take her out until 5:15am the earliest. Good luck to me. I am sure that she will mess it though. I figure that I need to stick withthis for 2 weeks straight and not give in. Ijust feel bad because I actually wonder that if I put a pad inmy room (too) and her bed would she simply sleep and thenuse it when needed or would she miss and wake up early and start playing too. Uggg. I do not think I went through all of this with my kids! Ok.here goes night one. Wish me luck. I just hope that she is capable. Also, a question about feeding for anyone. It seems that she is not that hungry when I put out the food in the am and early evening. At what age do you cut the food to one meal a day? ANd, which meal do you take out? am? pm?- Kathy

[Stitches29]

Kathy,
I thought things were going so much better. How old is your baby? If they are on some type of schedule, they will do so much better. It doesn't need to be a stop watch schedule, just something you both can live with. This way, if you put them in their little house at a certain time at night, then they know that's Nite.Nite time. If you take them out every two hours just because they cry, then that's not good. Every baby is different, but yours should be able to hold it longer than 2 hours. Not to boast, but Maggie is 12 weeks old and sleeps all night. That's from 8:30pm to 6:30am. I know you are tired. I too was getting to the breaking point. At my age, raising babies was way behind me. Thank God, He saved my sanity. When you are tired and upset, your baby feels it too. Okay, Kathy take 10 deep breaths and think CALM. After CALM, you both will sleep better. On the feeding thing, they won't be an adult until they are 1 year old. This is when you can stop the puppy food, and cut them back on the number of times you feed them. Whether you cut the noon or dinner meal is up to you. Breakfast is still important to start the day for everyone.

[trouble74_2000]

Maybe she can not hold it as long because she is so small. I know that they say the smaller they are the more often they must be let out. Mine had troubles with the pad for a while also. She would go on the floor when the pad was messy. That is why we kept everything in the pen. I did not have the messes all over the house and it was sort of like crate training her. Once she learned to use the pad then we took the pads outside and taught her to go outside. No she is much better and the pen is outside in case she wants to enjoy the sun. I wish you the best of luck these next two weeks. Just hold strong. They say to let them whine. She will get it. It just might take a little longer than your other dog. Try putting ear plugs in and then you will be able to sleep throu the night. I am here if you need any advice or just to vent.
Wait until your pup is a year old and then you can either feed her once a day or take that one feeding and divide it in half to give a little in the morning and a little at night. I always give mine some in the morning to give her energy and then I give her a little at night to keep her stomach full. I tell myself that it will help her sleep. I think I just feel guilty only letting her eat once while I eat throughout the day.
Good Luck

[Kathy]

Hi guys,
Ok. Here is the FiFi up-date. I put her into her crate last night somewhere around 11pm. I did not here from that country until 5am. I am not sure if she whined before that or not. In fact, my son even slept walked past her and I am not sure that she made any noise. I put a blanket over her crate (I was afraid that she would lose air though ). At any rate, around 5am I heard her really cry. I thought about ignoring her (because I do not want her to think whine and get out). I did let her out though. She went outside and went immediately. I woke my other pup to come down and join her. They both went out and then I put the food out for them. I went back upstairs and went to sleep. I left both dogs in the room (it has a separate door on it). At 6am, I heard her crying again (I guess she noticed I was missing, or felt it was time to wake us all up). I came downstairs to find that she went on the pad (good girl!) poop. I then let them upstairs where they proceeded to fight-play on top of us in the bed. ugg... . Today I left her home and she was in the crate. It was wet when we got here. She saved her poops though (good girl). Ok.....so tonight..once again. In crate by 11ish and not out until 5am (hopefully I will be able to extend that during the week too......am I asking too much )? Thanks for all of your advice so far. I am going to stick with this night time routine and hope that it works . I am just trying to decide if I should also leave her home during the day to make for additional help with holding it. I have been taking her to work with me most days. She is still in the crate much of the time but she has company alot too. The times to come out of the crate are inconsistent (unless I start to make a pattern??? Suggestions?? - Kathy

[trouble74_2000]

I am glad to hear that she slept most of the night. I found that letting mine out every hour during the day was very helpful. That is what the puppy books say also. Anyways, after she could do that for awhile without messes then I extended it by a half hour and kept working my way up to longer days.
Congratulations on a nights sleep and good luck tonight.
Trouble and Angel