Labrador puppy diaries - our first days of dog ownership

Zulu

Hi folks, yesterday Cloe a lab retriver joined our family. She was born the 10th of december and is just 8 weeks old.

In terms of crying (and I guess I already know the answer is "how long is a piece of string"), she cried enough to keep us awake all night last night - crying/whining/howling for about 5-10mins at 12, 3, & 5. We kept her in the hall outside our room with the door open, and a clear view of us in bed - as per advice we got. When she cried we ignored her, but I gave a loud "ssshhhttt" when she howled (I was cracking and worried about the neighbours) and a disapproving "go to bed/enough". I understand I'm not supposed to "scold" but I was cracking up a little.

Can we expect more of the same tonight, tomorrow, ... for the rest of... how long?

In another note, we've a vet check this afternoon and I'll get advice from them, but in the meantime - is there anything I can use to wash her? I take it soap/head & sholders etc isn't on?

Thanks folks.
A very wrecked, but proud, Zulu.

Victor

Does she have any creature comforts - blanket, hot water bottle, ticking clock that will make things feel a bit more like being at home?

Zulu

yea I had a big woolen blanket which I had her littermates playing on (and I gave them all a good rub with it) in the hope that it would keep a trace of their sent. And we gave her a hot water bottle and a pillow. She appeard to prefer the pillow and didn't seem to use the hot water bottle or blanket.
We couldn't find a ticking clock would you believe! :rolleyes:

We also put a sock she seemd to enjoy yesterday & a tennis ball.

IvySlayer

The first night is the worst. Within a few nights she'll learn her crying will get her nowhere.

You'll need to get dog shampoo to wash her. Human shamppo is unsuitable in terms of Ph balance.

Zulu

dove soap the same then i take it?

Yea last night was really hard. Hopefully she'll be feeling more at home tonight. Hopefully.

Any other tip/tricks/hints very welcome...

ashblag

ah congrats:D and welcome to puppy hood:D

Every dog is different my little guy is 17weeks we got him at 7weeks and it took nearly 3weeks for him to settle at night. It is really tough to listen to them but once he isn't hungry,or needs the loo,then best to ignore the cries.

I left the radio on low volume for my guy and put a jumper I was wearing in his bed and that seemed to help!

Good luck,let us know how you get on...

Any pics?

sotisme

Don't worry,it's perfectly normal. Your puppy has been living in the same place all her life with the company of all her littermates. Then she is brought to this completely "strange"(to her anyway!:p) environment without any of her littermates. She is not settled yet so that's why she's whining. She will soon get used to it and should settle in well:D
Keep using the hot water bottle ect. When my dog was a pup I put an old tshirt that "smelt of me" in his bed so he didn't feel alone!I think it worked!
good luck and enjoy her while she is a puppy!they grow up too quick!:D

sotisme

Also,I forgot to mention,johnsons baby shampoo is the only human shampoo that is good for pups afaik.It is very gentle and doesn't irratate them at all:)

Ailishcrehan

You can use Johnsons Baby Shampoo if you cannot get dog shampoo as it is mild and also smells lovely! Though it is tiring for the first few nights, your puppy will settle, everything is just so new and its a bit of a shock to the system to leave mammy and littermates, so just keep up the routine and he will settle. Make sure he is really tired at bed time too, so play lots of games with him during the day and stimulate him so that when it comes to bed time, he will be tired. Mental stimulation is just as important as exercise (am presuming he cannot be walked yet if he is 8 weeks old as vaccinations wouldn't have kicked in yet) so lots of games in the house or back garden, try teaching him to sit and stay (never too early to begin this type of training), the more he uses his brain, the more likely he will be to sleep. Having said that, this is just my experience with my own dogs and I foster for an animal rescue group so have had lots of puppies in too.

Ailishcrehan

sorry, just realised your pup is a she, not a he!

andreac

With the crying, unfortunately you just have to ignore. Any sort of attention, even shush'ing her or telling her to be quiet is attention and she will continue to cry if she gets attention.

I would try trying her out before bedtime, a big play session out in the garden or around the house. Shes still too young for walks outside until shes over all her injections.

With the shampoo, some dogs can be very sensitive to i wouldnt advise any human shampoo, even baby shampoo. I would get a good puppy shampoo from the pet shop.

Also, theres no need to wash your pup too often. Once a month would be more than enough.

Zulu

cheers folks. Think I'll try the radio tonight. I can bear the wimpering, but the howling must have been keeping the neighbour up. I've to call in next door late with a bottle of wine & an apology. They must be wondering what the hell was happening last night!

Zulu

in terms of "tiring her out" should I be trying to keep her awake during the day? She's asleep at my feet as I type!

andreac

Ah no, not at all. Puppies need to sleep so let her sleep during the day when she needs to.
Just before bed just play with her for a while to really tire her out to help her sleep.
Also another thing, are you getting up to let her out to the toilet during the night? Pupps cant hold it for much longer than a couple of hours at the most so she will have to go during the night so she could be crying for that reason as well.
Have you considered crate training at all?

Zulu

Yea I got up twice for her last night. Missed the ticket the second time, and destroyed the place the first time carrying her outside.
I'm going to collect a create from my friend tomorrow, so crate training will begin then.

How long is a "long time" to be playing with her? and is there anyway I can tell if shes getting knackered? (I understand <apparently> yawning is a sign of fustration and not nessisarly tirdness?!?)

Officer Giggles

i cracked the first night with my new fella, he was 10weeks old, i ended up sleeping on the couch in the room we had him in, the nest night we let him cry his heart out all night and from then on not a thing out him it was great

andreac

It really does depend. All pups are different with different energy levels so just see how your pup goes, she will tell you herself once shes getting tired. Could be 15 mins, could be an hour.

Just make sure with the crate training you do some reading up on it and how to do it with your pup. There is loads of info on here on online if you search for it.

Chris_Heilong

A create is the way to go all right. you said she cries 5-10mins at 12, 3, & 5, this sounds exactly the times an 8 week old would need to go to the toilet. When she cries it might not be for attention but to say let me out, are you finding soiled bedding the next day?

You will need to get up at least once a night if you want her not to go in the house. Even in a create she will cry about twice a night to go poo.

I am going trough this at the moment, my puppy cries for everything. But is getting better with each week.

Narsil

I dont know if this will make a difference but:

When our fella was a baby, he would freak out if he could see us and not get to us(like through a baby gate/crate) and he used to calm down when he was fully seperated. Even in the car when he could see us from his crate he used to get very anxious, but when we put him in the boot he calmed immediately

We only put him behind the baby gate then as his 'time-out punishment' for 30 seconds and it worked a treat:)

Zulu

Thanks a million Narsil - you might be on to something.

Last night was bad again. She cried/howled for 30mins at 11ish. Then for over an hour ar 2:30. I think that really knackered her out, cause she was quiet until 6:30, and only cried for a few minutes.

During the hour of crying & howling, I cracked. I figured she needed a toilet break and couldn't decide if going out was pandering to her crying. In the end I went out - ignoring her - and opened the back door. She went out, but did nothing. After a few minutes she just lay down so I brought her back in and went back to bed. She started up again.

I ended up taking away the baby gate and just closing the door. While this lead to total melt down & trying to dig through the door, and an epsode far worse than the night before, she completly knackered herself out, and thankfull slept to 6:30.

Here's a question: I was planning on getting up at 6:30 (my usual week day rise time), but she beat me to it. My thinking was let her have her have her cry, and wait till she goes to sleep before getting up (so she doesn't think your pandering to her). So I got up at 7:30 after she's gone back asleep for 20-30mins.

So how do I determine a call for toilet from a call for night time attention/company?

(by-the-by, thanks for your help guys, it's been great being able to vent here)

Narsil

We used to put our fella, Ghost, to bed at 10.30 ish and he would cry around 3 for a pee so we got up,said nothing and took him out. Gave him a bit of time to wee and straight back to bed then. Ignored everything after that until 6.30am as he was able to hold it for the 3 hours.

It took Ghost until around 6 months of age to stop waking early and scratching the door, but now he is 1 and and doesnt make a sound until we get up to him,even until 10 at the weekends:). He's calmed down so much since he was a puppy!

Dont worry she will get there,shes only a little baby learning about her new home and life and it will take her a while to relax, but you need to keep your plan in your head and dont cave in no matter what;)

andreac

I wouldnt wait until she cries to let her out to the toilet. Set your alarm and get up and let her out. Dont give her any attention, talk to her etc, just bring her out and wait until she goes to the toilet and put her back to bed again with minimal interaction.

Theres no way your pup can hold it all night so its unfair to expect her to. At 8 weeks she prob would need 2 toilet breaks at night.

Zulu

Hey andreac, I've been looking through the threads on crate training, and we're going to start today. I understand that we don't close the door the first night, that we build up to it. ...but how long before we lock the door? (for a few hours at a time during the night)

Also, I'd appricate any links you'd recommend on crate training. (naturally I'll google myself, but if you had a particular one, I'd really appricate it)

Thanks.

Zulu

<snip>

Zulu

Ok, night 3 was a huge success. We got the crate set up and she loves it. It took her no encouragement to go into it - brave little girl - and she wasnt upset when I initially closed the door behind her (the first time).

So about an hour and a half before bed, when she was calm I put her in it with a toy, covered it with a blanket and locked the door. She cried for about 10mins but we all kept talking, ignoring her, with the radio on until she settled. When she was quiet for 10mims I lifted te blanket and opened the door. She was happy out and had to be called out of the crate!
So after nighttime walk (5mins outside for toilet) we came back and watched tv for a few mins until she was dozing at our feet. Then we lifted her in, with her hotwater bottle, kong, pillow, towel & turned out the light.
An hour later she woke and whimpered for 10mins then it was zzzzzz all the way to 3am. She cried for an hour and slept the rest of the night. I lifted her outside for toilet at 7am and her crate was poopless!

Crates are great - I don't know how anyone could knock them. She loves the bloody thing!!

andreac

Thats great, but i wouldnt be expecting her to hold her toilet all night at that age, its unfair and even though she didnt go last night, she could easily need to go any other night.
Thats probably why she cried at 3 am so dont leave her the whole night in the crate just yet without a toilet break.

I really would wake up once at least during the night and let her out for a few weeks anyway until her bladder gets stronger and she can hold it for longer.

Zulu

Hi Andreac, thanks - I'll post pictures later - very happy & proud owner today!!!

In terms of getting up at night - I've no problem with that, only I really want to crack the crying/litter separation thing quickly (it's not fair on her to drag it out). How can I answer her toilet cry, without pandering to a cry for attention? How can I tell the difference if you know what i mean??

andreac

Zulu wrote: »

Hi Andreac, thanks - I'll post pictures later - very happy & proud owner today!!!

In terms of getting up at night - I've no problem with that, only I really want to crack the crying/litter separation thing quickly (it's not fair on her to drag it out). How can I answer her toilet cry, without pandering to a cry for attention? How can I tell the difference if you know what i mean??

If she was quiet up until 3am, then i would def say it was a toilet cry.
So just get up, let her out, no interaction as i said in another post and straight back to bed. Maybe give her a little treat when she goes back in to bed. Dont talk to her, apart from saying the code word for wanting her to go to the toilet.
Pups cant hold it for longer than a couple of hours so its not fair to ask her to hold all night and she will end up going in the crate as they cant hold their bladder at that age.
You can gradually extend the time frame over a couple of weeks/months so eventually she will hold it until next morning.

Skadi

Just to post my experience. We got a new pup at the weekend and the first night she cried (and howled). I got up to her when it seemed she wouldn't settled down. I used a torch and just pointed the torch to her bed and let her settle down to go back to sleep (without interacting with her apart from to say 'good girl'). I got up 3 times that first night.

The second night she was tired and in her bed when we went to bed and she didn't cry once during the night.

Last night (the third night) she was active when we went to bed and she got upset once the lights went off. I just got the torch settled her down to sleep and again no noise from her during the night.

Of course it might not work for every puppy but we were imagining many sleepness nights trying to settle her in and were a little worried the first night that we might have done the wrong thing. But this is method I would use again.

Zulu

Ok so, I did as you suggested and got up in the middle of the night. She woke me at 2:30 & at 5ish. At 2:30, she went out for a pee (half asleep herself), and when straight back into the crate & into her bed. Good girl!!
At 5ish, she needed a poo, and I guess maybe I didn't wake up quickly enough, so she was "awake". She went back into her crate alright, but took about 15/20mins to stop barking. All-in-all though, I'm delighted with that as a fourth night home.
How much/little should we be using the crate during the day?

Thanks everyone for your help.

Anyways, I attached some photos as requested.

Bog Bunny

Cute puppy!
I think if you are around during the day and can actively direct / shape her behaviour you would not need to crate her all the time. I used to wait until my pup was tired and plonked down, then I'd just carry her into the crate, but leave the door open. After a few days she'd retreat to her crate voluntarily when she was tired and it has become her safe haven ever since. I never used crate-time as punishment, it was always a pleasurable experience for her. Did the same with my kids when they were toddlers.