# Puppy - Crying/howling/screaming at night



## charlottedunne (Sep 17, 2012)

Hi All,

We have just got an 8 week old French Bulldog puppy. She is good as gold and settling in really well and toilet training is going well too. The only problem is that she cries/screams/howls at night. 

I have read lots online about water bottle, radio, ticking clock etc but it doesnt seem to help. 

She sleeps in our kitchen in a comfy bed (not a crate) with access to water and puppy toilet pads where she knows to go to the toilet. There is a stairgate stopping her exiting the kitchen.

We are on day 6 and so far she cries for around 30-45 mins when we put her to bed and then wakes up in the night and cries every few hours. We know not to go down stairs to her and so far we have not. 

I have read lots online and assume she will grow out of it and get used to being alone but wondered if people could tell me how long their puppies took to stop as i cant really find that info online just lots of people complaining about the same problems. 

Thanks in advance

A very sleepy Charlotte


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## Losech (Apr 5, 2011)

My Shiba cried only one night for a long period of time, then he kept it to a short complaining session of about 30 minutes or so before he'd quiet down and go to sleep. Randomly at night he would wake up and cry since he had to go out. There was a definite different between "I gotta go!" and "I want out!" with him so I could easily tell if I actually had to take him out or not. If not, I just ignored him and he went back to sleep in a few minutes.

I don't do puppy pads, I think they are a bad way to house-train a dog. It teaches them that eliminating in the house is okay, it might be just one particular spot, but I never want my dogs to think that doing their business inside is okay. Ever. I suck it up and take the pup outside when they need to go, even if it's in the middle of the night and pouring rain or whatever.


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## charlottedunne (Sep 17, 2012)

thanks for your reply, that certainly will be the case when she is allowed out but she hasnt had her 2nd lot of jabs yet so the only place she can go is in the house. As she has never been outside, the crying is not toilet related i dont beleive. Just lonely


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

It took our pup about a week to quiet down at night -- when we moved him from the bedroom upstairs where everyone SAID to keep a pup, to downstairs in the living room where he spent all his time. Suddenly he was fine with night time. I think he just didn't know where he was upstairs, and every time my husband or I made a noise it would get him excited again. 

We also used weewee pads with him at night because we found if we got up at night to take him out, THEN he'd flip out and we'd be listening to him for two hours. The rest of the time we took him out to go (even at 8 wks, we just had him in our yard), and honestly, I don't see that it affected his housetraining in any way. He's been housebroken since he was just shy of 5 months old, stopped using the pads on his own at night at about 12 wks old and started shredding them (fun!).


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

I have never had a problem switching from pads to outdoors with puppies I have raised. It is pretty hard to take an 8 week old puppy outside when it is twenty below and snowing out. I usually have them in a pen with newspaper down or a pellet box and they use that until they are old enough to hold it all night in a crate. I then take them outside as soon as they wake up and by then they are old enough to go out in any type of weather. I prefer newspaper to the pads as they seem to think the pads are playtoys and love chewing them up, the newspaper not quite as much.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

Hambonez said her pup did better when they put him downstairs, where he spent most of his time, even though most people suggested to keep them in their bedroom. That probably worked because he was used to downstairs, or maybe he's the kind of pup that needs his own space. 

But, the majority of people, in my opinion, end up doing better when their pup is in the same room as they are. In the beginning, when a puppy is in a new place, with new sounds, sights, and smells, it can be scary, and sometimes even being able to see you, hear you breath, or smell you can be very comforting to a scared pup.

It doesn't have to be forever, you can easily start to transition him to sleeping elsewhere when he has settled in and feels a bit more secure. But, keep in mind, even if the pup is with you, they can still whine, it just usually doesn't last as long.


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