9 week yorkie - NEED ADVICE ON SLEEPING
 

Hello All,

Im a proud new owner of a 9-week old male yorkie whos name is Romie! He's 1 LB as of now and is expected to be 4-5 LBS. This is our families first pet and are all just so in love with him. We are all older than 22 and do not have any infants in the house. That being said:

The Issue:

We are all in love with the pup and feel so bad when it crys. I need advice on how and when we should train the guy as we do understand hes just a baby. The issue really is his sleeping ... we are gathering mixed advice on the internet as to how and where he should be sleeping... We bought an adjustable crate so that we can crate train but he crys like crazy and we all feel so bad. I do understand this is normal but many sites say how he should "Love" to be in the crate and we should not make it as a prison but more as its home or territory ... problem is he keeps crying and we cant take him being sad. I can careless about the noise , its him being sad we all cant take...

What we have to work with:

adjustable crate
play pen
cusioned sleeping bed

Questions:

is it a good idea at this age to crate train where we have adjusted the crate so that he has just enough space to turn ? if not , when should we start doing this type of training and is this even the best method ?

Should the crate be in my room ? or should we seclude the crate where he can not hear anything or see anything ?

In order for him to love his crate , should we train to feed him in the crate ?

I JUST NEED OVER ALL HELP AND IDEAS AS TO WHAT I SHOULD DO AT THIS AGE!!!!

Hi and welcome to YT :).

Many dogs (and animals) are *not* amenable to close confinement and cannot tolerate it...can't really blame them either. None of my 3 yorkies were amenable to the crate - they totally hated it and went nuts - so I don't believe in forcing it upon those kinds of animals when they react like this.

So, I wouldn't force the crate on your yorkie. Instead I'd try using an Iris Pen (walmart or amazon) or similar to create a small space for him. I always kept my yorkies in our bedroom with us bc we have to remember -- this puppy went from being around his cozy Momma and littermates 24 hrs a day to...these new humans and being put in a crate all by itself - that's quite a shock to it's normalcy.

Also, he's been taken away from his Momma 3 full weeks too early - so he may have socialization issues later. I'd be very good about socializing him properly (and safely, since he's not fully vaccinated yet) and learning what you need to do for a puppy who has been taken from Momma too early.

Crates in my opinion are the safest and best way to train pups at night. All the pups I have had and this includes the ones growing up cried for awhile for about the first week then they got more used to it. I'm a fan of taking them potty before bed then putting then in the crate in your bedroom where they can see you. After they go to sleep if they wake up and start crying I take them potty and then put them back to bed. If you take them out of the crate when they cry to play or cuddle they will think crying will get them out of the crate. I know it sounds harsh but it really is safer for them to not be running the room and possibly getting into things that could seriously hurt them. I also found that there is a thing called a snuggle puppy that has a heart beat and it helps pups at night.

I am not a crate lover ether. With Bella at 12 weeks after trying the crate at night and all the crying we plopped her in bed with us and that was that. Then Lily came this spring and again we tried the crate because we had two now and the crying and howling couldn't take it so we put Lily in her carry case and put her between our pillows she could see us and off to sleep she went . As our two girls got to know each other we slowly let lily sleep with out the carry case all is well.

The take away on this is that some people swear by crating and other do not.

So, you have to,decide where you and your baby are in this picture.

Bottom line, your baby was too young to leave its litter mates and mama and is having a harder time adjusting. You are going to have to understand that and be VERY patient working with them.

An open crate in the xpen might do the trick. Max used only the xpen, but Teddy liked his open crate in the xpen.

Neither of my boys like plastic crates. They prefer the wire ones. We have them open with beds in them for emergency use.

My boys want to be in the same room as me. That is comforting to them.

Good luck!

:thumbup::thumbup: Lots of good advice in this post and others above.

Max was 7 weeks old when we got him...way too young too! I hated when he cried..Felt so bad. After the first night we got a play yard the kind with panels to Adjust as needed. He slept right next to our bed in the play yard. About 3 feet x 3 feet. Had his bed only and a lot of towels lining the bottom. He would wake up in the middle of the night to go potty. That worked good for the first month till we could trust he wouldn't pee in our bed. He's been with us for 8 weeks and never had a accident in our bed but I put towels between our pillows just in case and he sleeps there. Kisses us when he needs a trip outside. Wish he would kiss dad more than me at night!
We did try a small carrying kennel with a small bed between us trying to see if he would go in there. Would go in and right back out. Told us he's not a crate kind of guy!
We did give him some stuffed animals to cuddle with. Think how he was at his other home, litter mates and mom sleeping with him.

I got Jackson at 9 weeks as well. I'm not the biggest crate fan. I appreciate them for dogs who get into a lot of trouble and they CAN be a life saver. They've just never been for me. I ended up with a soft crate ON my actual bed (single, LOLLL) that Jackson slept in for the first few weeks until I trusted him not to pee on my bed. I knew eventually he would be on my bed anyway.

Eventually I just left the door open one night and wa-laa! He started sleeping in my bed pretty early on. But he proved himself reliable. I just remember taking him out pretty late - sometimes 1am and then again early sometimes around 7am to make sure he pottied.

It's difficult when they're this young but you will be amazed at how quickly the time goes. My Jackson is already almost 8 years old (still acts like a puppy most of the time lol) and those first few months FLY by... of course, they can be the hardest months though!

Just keep a close eye - don't set them up for failure - take them outside to try even if you think they don't have to go.

All,

I appreciate all the feed back.

This is the thing ... the reason why we want to crate train is because of cases where we MUST leave him alone... we do not want him roaming the house freely but rather put him in a closed crate so we can be assured he does not do something or go somewhere that will get himself hurt or stuck or w/e.

its been 1 week and hes still crying in the crate when we leave him in a separate room. ALTHOUGH i did feel bad 2 days ago so i put his crate on a sturdy table next to my be... he whined a bit but went easy to sleep NO PROBLEM !!!

QUESTION IS .... IF i kept his crate near my bed so he may peacefully sleep, the next time i leave the house he will still cry and whine correct ? We want him to e comfortable in the crate ALONE in case of rare times when no one will be there ...

Question for all the owners who let them sleep near them without a crate ... what do you all do when you guys have to leave them alone for 4 hours ? do they cry cause they miss u ?

the whole thing is we want him to be comfortable alone ... some people with puppies had advised that they will get comfortable over time but i really do feel bad and if leaving the crate by my bed will still let him be independent but let him sleep peacefully, ill do that ...

I really would like to hear from experience how to leave the puppy aloe, those who use crates and those who dont ... (not days, just hours) want to teach them to not cry is what im after....

So sorry if this is confusing, tried explaining this best i could have.

You guys are all the best and really appreciate it !

btw - we dont let him touch the ground outside until he has all his shots ... well all paranoid about his health and well being hahahah :D

Again, this dog is clearly telling you that it's not amenable to being trapped in a small space (don't really blame him, either). So I wouldn't force this upon an animal any more than I'd force it upon a baby or human.

Get an Iris Pen (amazon or walmart) and try that instead.

We hired puppy sitters because he cried and was hysterical when I would come home! Carried on like he was hurt but wasn't. Still acted the same with the sitters there when I returned but I knew he was in good hands. I think it has to do with the fact they are replacing their doggy mom with us and if you have ever been around a mom and her litter they bark and whine when she leaves the nest. But they have their littermates to play with so not traumatic. They aren't sure if we are coming back. I tried leaving him for small amounts. Like going to the mailbox. He whined at first now watches me thru the window. Forget about going to the bathroom alone at first. Now after 7 weeks he waits for me at the gate. I would say it does get better with time. But He has the run of the house. Has pads in case. But I still don't leave for more than a hour but that will get better when he matures. I hope!

He knows your in the house so it's not going to be like when you leave him alone. I agree with the crate but I disagree strongly with putting him in a different room. But the baby's crate near you and stop making him be alone. Most dogs when left alone go to sleep. He will probably always cry when you leave and when you get back but that doesn't mean he will do it the whole time. Unless you crate is large he would probably do best in a play pen when left for several hours.

There are so many reasons it is appropriate to crate train for your dogs safety and future success. Safe travel in the vehicle, vet visits, groomer visits, boarding- being comfortable in a crate is a very positive thing. I wish so much I had crate trained Lilah. Sam is our families black lab puppy, we got him at five weeks old (waaayyy too young, long story, his mom had surgery etc etc) he will be fifteen weeks old on Saturday and we have crate trained him.

It started out tough, we thought he should be in his own room (bad idea, he was too young and needed to hear our breathing and feel safe in our shared den with his pack) we left the crate open but he stayed behind a baby gate in his own room/hallway. It was misery. We did a lot of reading. We moved Sam next to our bed. He was still too young to expect to hold his potty all night and we didn't want him to have accidents in his crate and therefore not have a positive association with it so we took him out throughout the night- I loved Taylor's advice, it was concise and consistent with reccomendations of many behaviorists- not out to play, not out to cuddle, out to potty and back to bed. Oh! We also fed him every meal in his crate and have him plenty of time to interact with it during the day, walking into the crate meant treats, food and praise. Every time he walked in there he got a treat.

It would have been inappropriate to expect him to stay in their with no potty breaks all night, not physically possible. If his only interaction with the crate were negative that would have been bad too, we need some build up of the crate experience. Also, it was unreasonable at his age to have him away from us, he needed to have our presence to be secure especially at a young age (my kids just went back to school and he is now home alone for longer stretches, prior to two weeks ago we had pushed our away time for up to a max of four hours, usually in his ex pen for that length of time though). When we put him in the crate it is his opportunity to have a fun chewy, he loves it. We can drive safely in the car without worrying about him or Lilah or the kids or our driving and everyone is safe and happy. When Sam is neutered we can help him heal by having more down time - with chewies- in his crate. If Sam were a yorkie who had to go to the groomer all the time ;) he could calmly wait in a crate. If Sam ever gets injured- God forbid- and breaks a leg, we can confine him in his crate without him freaking out and hurting himself worse and needing extra sedation because he has been crate trained. I am such an advocate. When Lilah gets a yorkie sister or brother, they will be crate trained- I wish i had done her the service.

Jackson is free-roam so he's just loose in the whole house when I leave. I've had cameras on him, he just sleeps - goes from the bed, to the floor, to the couch, etc.

We slowly allowed free roam over time. I used an ex-pen at first. Then confined to one room. Then he got access to the whole house by 6 months old or so.

They act different when you're not home, in my experience. Jackson for example will still, at 8yrs old, go and get something to chew on to be naughty and get my attention to play. when I'm not home, he just sleeps. He doesn't eat, he doesn't play, he doesn't get into anything, etc.