Im feeling very lost at the moment

My Puppy is 8 weeks old and I have her a week and Im trying to do everything by the book but it doesnt seem to be working for me!! Im using the crate and find it really effective but she just keeps wingeing looking for attention all the time especially during the night Im trying my best not to give in to her crying at night but she just doesnt let up at all and its not to go the toilet either its just for attention!! I think she may be suffering from seperation anxiety so Im trying my best to be impassive when Im leaving the house or the room but its still not working!! What should I really expect to be happening?? How long do the sleepless nights go on for?? Im moving to an apartment in January so Im really nervous about the noise levels and its not fair on Princess either!!

Welcome to the board icon_welcome
There's lots of great information in the library.

Don't worry. Your puppy will be fine, and is just being a puppy! The most important thing is absolute consistency. Your pup is very, very young still. Don't ever give in to the crying at night (you'll find the same advice on several other threads here!). Our experience with 2 pups found that the crying didn't last long at all, once you don't give in I know you feel terrible but it will be worth it in the long run. We've all been there :lol: I seriously doubt the crying will last more than a couple of nights, once the puppy knows it doesn't work.

You could also try covering the crate with a blanket and leaving a radio on at night.

Poor Princess! Have you tried a Dap diffuser - it releases pheromones (?) that calms the puppy. Also, there is a stuffed animal puppy that has a heartbeat for your puppy to curl up with. You could put a piece of your clothing like a t-shirt in with her, too.

If you put her food into a kong, it will keep her occupied when you're not near.

Where is her crate at night? We put our pups' crates in our bedroom and it comforts them to be in the same room at night.

Thank you for your replies!!

Its so difficult knowing what to do for the best!

I have the DAP diffuser plugged in for a week now but the vet says it takes 2 weeks to work properly. I leave the radio on low and a piece of my clothing in too, I even leave a hot water bottle in too!!

Im going to try a Kong but Im very nervous of what to put in it!

If you get the Kong 'stuff-a-ball' treat dispenser, you can just put some of her kibble in it. My pups absolutely loved these dispensers:
http://www.kongcompany.com/worlds_best.html
Sorry, you'll have to do a lot of clicking to get to the treat dispenser!

Is the crate big enough that she can get away from the hot water bottle if she's too warm? Is the hot water bottle well wrapped in cloth?

Ill have to see if I can get that Kong in a Pet shop in dublin. My pet shop doesnt have avery good selection just a large one for larger dogs.

The hot water bottle does be under her padded sleeping mat, maybe it does be too warm for her coz the heating does be on too!!

I considered putting her in her crate in my bedroom but I dont want my neighbours to be affected by her crying and I dont want her to develop bad habbits!!

Its funny I dont remember my daughter being like this when she was a newborn!!

Cathy Moon said:

Poor Princess! Have you tried a Dap diffuser - it releases pheromones (?) that calms the puppy. Also, there is a stuffed animal puppy that has a heartbeat for your puppy to curl up with. You could put a piece of your clothing like a t-shirt in with her, too.

If you put her food into a kong, it will keep her occupied when you're not near.

Where is her crate at night? We put our pups' crates in our bedroom and it comforts them to be in the same room at night.

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Welcome, Princesses mom!

I was about to suggest the crate in the bedroom, too. I think when they can hear you breathing it is a comfort. Clancy's crate is right next to my bed. If he whimpers at all during the night I trail my fingers down so they are in the crate door. He will curl up next to them and quiet right down.

All your suggestions are good, Cathy!

All my dogs sleep in my bedroom. and for the last two I bought a plastic carrier, similar to the larger one in the Argos catalogue. It takes up little space , but is big enough for a puppy and very snug , if lined with vetbed. When they were clean, they were allowed freedom, but Tedddy, who's 3 , still sleeps in the carier, even if there's only just room for him to turn round.

This carrier is cheap, at about £12, is very easy to clean out and has the added bonus of being handy for transporting a puppy by car, as it fits snuggly within a seatbelt.

Part of the problem is almost certainly that she was really taken away too young from her mother and littermates. Eight weeks is really the absolute minimum to rehome cavaliers -- many breeders wait til they are 10-14 weeks or even up to 16 weeks. That additional week is an im[ortant week in development and independence at that age. It will also have been a shock for her to go from having a puppy pile and the smell of her mother to being totally alone.

That said, puppies whine and will continue to whine -- that is how they call for comfort and protection. It will lessen as she gets older but you can do some of the things noted above and also you need to work to train her to a cept being someplace like a crate aas this is scary for her -- have you read some of the material on crate training? That's the kind of thing to work on during the daytime with her to make her crate an inviting place.

Also she will need to be taken out at least once in the middle of the night at her age which is likely why she is whining at night, too -- they cannot hold themselves all night and you should be getting her out around 3am each night. And be sure she is warm enough as it is getting cold now at nights and puppies can hardly generate any warmth --- be sure she has a soft blanket to snuggle into as well as her bed. I carefully wrapped a hot water bottle with several layers (so there was no way it could be exposed and burn my pup) and this tnds to be very comforting for them.

This is all good advice, I'm getting my puppy in december and I'll put him in a crate in my room if the kitchen doesn't work. Wish I was downstairs for the 3am toilet trip. Might set up a bed for me in the study!

*Pauline* said:

Might set up a bed for me in the study!

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I can't tell you how many nights I slept on the couch in the family room with Jake when he was a puppy. Hubby needed his sleep because he got up early to go to work. I am fortunate enough to work at home, so I can work in my pjs with baggy eyes and funky hair When Jake was having so many diahhrea problems and needed to go out so often I just set up a bad on the couch and slept out there. He would snooze with me on the couch, once he was asleep I'd lay him in his crate and go back to the couch.....until he woke me up again needing to go out.

I'm so glad those days are over! This one of the reasons I don't know that I would do a puppy again. Luckily Shelby came to us at 12 weeks (Jake was 10 weeks) and those two weeks made such a big difference. Not to mention that she was just an easier puppy than he was.

Ohhhhh how I can't wait to get out of those 3 am toilet trips! We now get about 4 hours solid slots of sleeping with a 12 week old so we are improving!

You'll forget about all the hardwork after a while, I can't remember what Merlin was like at night ( I'm sure he wasn't as bad s Oakley though!)

I have 2 Cavaliers, Dudley who will be 3 in January and Darby who is now 7 months. Dudley came home at 9 weeks, and Darby came to us at 8 weeks.

I can tell you we did the same for both of them my husband and I took turns sleeping downstairs on the Sofa for about 4 weeks. We found it much much easier to get up in the middle of the night to let him out while downstairs. We had also set up an Xpen, but Darby did whine and cry also so in the evening we would put his crate beside who ever was sleeping on the sofa and when he whimpered and we knew he did not have to pee we would just tap the crate and re-assure him that we were close by. I also had given the breeder a Snuggle Puppy that Jake & Shelby were so kind to send for him about 3 weeks prior to his homecoming. The Snuggle Puppy had the scent of the rest of the litter along with Mom's, I would not give into the whimpering as I feel this will only teach him that is all he needs to do to get your attention just the same as young children.

You may have a few rough weeks, but I promise you it will definetely get better. I remember being so tired and kept thinking I can't do this anymore but we are way over all of this now and Darby now sleeps in our bed along with Dudley.

Before he moved into our bed, when he was no longer getting up in the middle of the night we moved his crate into our room and I would just stick my fingers through the door to let him know that I was right beside him.

Hang in there, it will get better.

Geez, Merlin must be special. My parents got him at 10 weeks and he cried the first 3 nights in an ex-pen so my mom got a soft sided carrier and put that on the bed next to her head. He sleeps the night through with no crying and my mom says he's not a morning person. When it's time to get up he looks at her like she's nuts and won't come out of his comfy bed! Our dogs sleep on the bed, but at 3lbs the parents were afraid of crushing the poor little guy! Hence the soft carrier.

This describes Holly perfectly. I'm not an early riser either, unless I have to be, and when Holly's at my mum's and she's up at 8 o'clock getting Holly up for breakfast and to take her for a walk- Holly has been known to give my mother a disgusted look and climb right back into bed. Once she did it three times to my mother's disgust. I got lectured about infecting my dog with my bad habits!

I got Holly at 13 weeks I think- and she did soil over night for quite a while. Having said that, it was partly because she was a real squealer initially, and I didn't want to make it worse by going in and out, and since (unlike Choe) it never occurred to her to eat the pee pads, it wasn't really an issue. I just withdrew food early, and changed the pad the next morning. It may have made house training harder in retrospect, but she did learn to settle down very quickly.

My puppy was already 4 months old when I got him, and I also have another dog, so he had company....and also, I let them both sleep on the bed with me, so I guess I am no help there. But, I live in an apartment, and the apt. manager was nice enough to let me have one of the apartments in the far back of the building, at the end, so it is pretty quiet here, and I have access to outside right out my patio doors too. About the only thing that set my dogs off barking are when people make noise late at night, but there are only 8 other apartments in my building and it really is pretty quiet here. The dogs can't see the street (too far away from it, I am way off the street), or the parking lot either, since I am in the back I face a bunch of trees and a hillside. So, if you can get an apt. that is away from the front door or the front of the building, that helps.

Thank you all for your replies!!

Last night was a lot better I printed off the information sheets for crate training and separation anxiety too and learned them off!!

2 days ago I bought little treats for praising princess and Ive been using them when ever she goes the toilet on her mat she loves them so much I think she is making herself go more :lol: I also give her a reward when she gets into her crate. If Im busy making the dinner or something I put her in her crate now too which she doesnt mind!!

Last night I put a blanket over her crate when I put her to bed she woke twice to go toilet but there was no whining!!

Ill see how this works out for me as Im reluctant to let her sleep in my room as my daughter who is 5 was never encouraged to do this and she would be severly put out if princess was allowed

I slept downstairs with puppy Izzy, who was in a playpen. He woke up early morning every night, did a poo whcih had to be cleaned up (and often him as well because he'd trodden in it) then didn't want to go back to sleep. he was allowed upstairs, onthe bed, when he could go through the night.

However, Teddy and Joly, in their carrier, went from midnight to 6 o'clock, with only one mistake each ( a small wee). I think it's ot so much due to being upsatairs, but beacuse they had only a small space and didn't want to soil it.

Yayy Princess! Now everybody will get their sleep! :slp:

I must have been really lucky, I brought Murphy home at 8 weeks. The 1st night he went to bed with his teddy(which he still sleeps with, bless!), and a hot water bottle. Never heard a peep all nite. He wimpered the 2nd and 3rd nite's for about half an hour and that was him. Although I must confess he now snoozes and snores on our bed, pressed as close to 1 of us as possible