Gettin pup to sleep 8 hours
 

Hi,

Does anyone have any suggestions for helping a puppy to sleep through the night? I know its early days for me but Im just planning ahead and would like to comfort him as soon as I can.

In his crate at night, he has a heat pad, a chew toy for teething, bed & blankt, a drink and a little bit of food.

May not work for everyone, but my puppy sleep with me from the first night on. He only wakes up if he has to go to the bathroom. I take him and then he goes back to bed and back to sleep.

Puppies are like babies. Some sleep through the night sooner than others.
I know they sleep better at night if it is quiet and dark. However, he will take naps in the daytime with all sorts of noise going on around him.

Carol Jean

Sleeping in my bed did the trick for me too. Jeter would wake up at least twice during the night until the night I gave in. He went to bed at 10 pm and didnt wake up until after 8 am. Plus the get the bonus of having your precious pup right there!

Be careful about them in your bed. Loki peed on the bed twice when he was a baby. Maybe put them in their bed ON your bed. We've now figured out Loki's problem (he has a drinking problem, LOVES water) He is a year old and we still are happy when he makes it to 6:30. No naps after 7pm. Pick up the water around that time too. I don't know that I'd give food at night either, it messes up their pooping schedule. Multiple trips outside before bedtime. Loki is one of those dogs that has to go out 1-2 times an hour, depending on how much he drinks. We had a lot of trouble intially potty training (uti's, water issues, communication issues) so we are still reinforcing it and send him outside anyway! I've heard of dogs that go outside like 3 times a day! Wow. We go to bed around 9 and sleep around 10, and at some point he will come join us on the bed and fall asleep. He wakes me up at least by 6:30 to potty, sometimes also again in the middle of the night. I'd rather get up once than have an accident to clean up, and he knows when he's gotta go! I'd say every other night I'm up around 1am. Then after that 6:30am potty he runs wild laps around the house for about 5 minutes then joins me back in bed on the weekends. During the week he is up and waits patiently for breakfast (and water, of course!)

They definitely need to be potty-trained before you let them sleep in your bed. Jeter will wimper when he has to be taken out. Then he will come back up to snuggle for a bit. Definitely don't want accidents in the bed.

I waited untill my pups were about 4 months old for them to sleep in the bed. I tried it earlier but they had accidents on the bed.

cali would wake up during the night as a new puppy and I would put her in a little crate and put it on the pillow next to me and she would go back to sleep until 5 or 6 am. When she was almost 5 months old I put her in bed with me as she is trained to go down the steps from the bed and go into her crate to pee if she has to. Now she sleeps all night from about 11:00 until 6:30.

Gracie was up every two hours at night when she was a puppy. My husband finally got up and put her in bed with us and she started sleeping about 6 hours at a time. Now she sleeps all night with no roaming around or even getting up to tinkle. I know not everyone agrees, but putting her in our bed solved our problems.

hmmmm.....my Gracie is going on 2 and Rebel is 7 1/2 months. Neither one sleep all through the night.

Trace sleeps in our bed, no problems...but the best advice I can give you...is to wear his butt out. I mean play, play, play. A tired puppy is a good puppy. Even now at 10 months, if Trace spends most of the day sleeping and for whatever reason we are busy in the evening....he is definitely NOT ready to go to bed....cause he's simply not tired. ;)

Same thing worked for us.... When we had Annie sleep in the crate she would wake us up many times during the nite or just plain early... But having her sleep with us in the bed seemed to solve that. Now she sleeps through the nite.... It's funny on the weekends she wakes up at like 6:30 or so... But on the weekdays when I need to get to work and I am rolling out of bed at like 7 (which is already way to late) she looks at me like are you crazy and just takes my spot when I hop in the shower :rolleyes:

my 2 pups are 3 months and they go to bed at 9:00 and sleep until 5 or 5:30.....but we put them in the bathroom with their bed and some water and we then shut the door....i don't know what we are going to do about the sleeping schedule when Baily leaves for his new home and lizzy is left alone....i think we will try to get her to sleep with us like her mom does..I hope it works...

a) I would be hesitant to put a heating pad in with a puppy. I mean, I use a heating pad for myself and my doctors give me lectures on time limits and whatnot.
2) With ever dog I have ever had that had a kennel, one thing that I have found to help them sleep through the night is a blanket covering the kennel itself. Basically by doing this, you are removing all distractions and creating a darker more 'confined' space for them to sleep. I am doing this with Matthias and it is working like a charm, as usual. I simply make sure to take him out one last time for bathroom business then tuck him in, and cover the kennel with a blanket. In his kennel, he has his bed, blankie, and two soft toys.

Those are just my humble opinions and suggestions. :)

Thanks, I think Im going to try covering the crate, that could help. With the heat pad, its a wheatgerm bag that you microwave for 30 seconds, you put it inside the flat little dog teddy it comes in, it stays warm for about an hour, if that, but it comforts him when he's ready, he really likes it! He likes biting the tail on it too!

Thanks for all the help guys, he is waking up less through the night. Last night he only woke up twice, the first time we gave him a cuddle and put him back in the crate, the second, we put him on the bed on his blanket and he slept till I had to get up. I think he could be waking up because he is teething too, although he isnt interested in his teething ring. :confused: