# Making Puppy Sleep Longer



## ihaveapanda (Aug 13, 2009)

I adopted a retriever mix 8/11/09 and he is now 11.5 weeks old. I'm attempting crate training. His nightly schedule is he is taken out to go to the bathroom at about 3am (by my fiance' when he goes to bed) and his food is taken up at 11pm and water at 1am. He is then put in our bedroom. Well everynight since he's been here he's woken up earlier and earlier and earlier. 8:30am, 8:10, 8:00, etc. etc. until today 6:10am. I have no problem getting up to let him go to the bathroom, but the problem is he is awake and will not go back in his crate. I can't lock him up anywhere because he barks incessantly and it wakes up my fiance'. I'm literally in tears right now because of sleep deprivation. I start graduate school on Monday and cannot go on the 4-5 hours of sleep I'm getting every night. How can I fix this?


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Sounds like the sleep and the feeding schedule needs some adjustment. 
Food and water should be taken up much earlier.
What's the day schedule like, ie; gets to sleep most of the day?
He should have lots of exercise and/or mental challenges to tire him out before going to sleep for the night.


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## scropper (May 26, 2009)

i completely agree with tooney. i've never heard of waiting until 1 AM to take the water up. we take our food up around 7 PM and water up at about 8-8:30 PM depending on how much exercise she got that evening. an evening walk will really make your puppy tucker out. it won't be too long before your puppy gets on a better schedule. my puppy sleeps from about 9:30-6:30 AM. about the same as me lol. she also sleeps during the day.


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## ChrisS (Aug 19, 2009)

ihaveapanda said:


> I can't lock him up anywhere because he barks incessantly and it wakes up my fiance'.


This right here stood out to me as the main problem. The puppy has learned that if he barks he gets to stay out and play. I think you and your fiance are going to have to sacrafice a few nights of sleep to break the pup of this habit. You need to take the pup out in the middle of the night (if he's going to bed at 3am take him out at 6 or 7), take him directly to the yard and hold him there until he pees. Don't play with him, let him have a toy, or anything else that will get him excited. Once he pees bring him back in and straight into his crate. He'll likely bark his little head off at 1st but you have to ignore him. The 1st night I did this with my pup he barked for over an hour then settled down for a couple of hours, woke up barked again, and repeated all night long. He'd never been a in a crate at all previously though so yours might be a little better if he's already use to the crate. 

The next couple of nights he only barked for a short while and then settled down. Now a week later he doesn't bark at all just goes back to sleep. 

Once your pup figures out that barking won't get him out he'll stop. Then you can put him back in his crate after the early morning pee and get a few more hours of sleep.


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## Andie (Jun 4, 2009)

We found with our puppy, that she started to sleep a bit later in the mornings if we covered her crate over with a big blanket to keep it a bit darker.
Also when we moved her crate downstairs (where we could still hear her if she barked) she slept a bit better. This could be because of a snorer in the bedroom, I wont say who to spare embarrasment!!
We take Molly out for her final bit of exercise at 8.00, let her have a nice drink and then take the water away at 9pm. She goes out for a last wee at 10pm and then goes in her crate for the night. She was able to do that from 11 weeks.
Hope it goes well for you soon, there's nothing worse than sleep deprivation!!


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## scropper (May 26, 2009)

andie-my dog is the opposite. ever since we've had her downstairs she has been waking up about an hour earlier! sometimes before i even wake up! so we are going to put her crate back in the bedroom for now. i've noticed that in the morning if she wakes up early and my boyfriend goes downstairs and lays on the couch, she'll go back to sleep! what a princess. lol.


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## Andie (Jun 4, 2009)

Sorry Scropper, have only just seen your post cos of a busy few weeks.
Isn't it funny, i've only just realized how getting a puppy is like having a baby in that you just dont know what kind of personality you will get.
Having had two babies who didnt sleep for their first two and a half years I am so glad that i've managed to get a dog that loves her sleep!!
Sleep deprivation is so awful that I would definately move my puppy back in the bedroom if it meant an extra hour of sleep!Anything for a good old snooze.
Hope it all goes well for you.


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## Samba (Sep 2, 2009)

Your pup's age in months plus one is about the longest you can expect them to last in a crate. That is not exact either, of course. My three month old can sometimes last 4 hours though. We take water up in the evening. I make sure he has had his three meals early. We play like crazy before bedtime. 

If he does get up in the night, we don't make a fuss, quietly take him out to potty and bodily push him back into his crate if necessary. Night time is not going to be playtime. 

As they get older, they can hold it longer, but young pups have to pee and poo a lot. That is the part that is like having a young baby. Sleep deprivation has occured with all my pups who were obtained younger than 6 months old.


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## louise_674 (Jun 24, 2009)

You need to teach your pup to go on command. The links below will show you how but also there may be a few things you may be missing in the yard.
1. Is the outside area small? (if it is then feeding out there and expecting him to go out there won't fly as dogs don't like to pee and poop where they eat or sleep so make sure there is plenty of room or feed him indoors then take him out straight away).
2. Is the outside too clean? If there is not a scent of his own urine he will be less keen to go there. Try to leave it for a while (i know this is not very nice for you but it will speed things up).


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