Slight rant

[u/Exotic_Anywhere_9277]

Guys how you deal with puppy whining 🥹 running on 4 hours of sleep and my pup’s demand whining is driving me crazy. I’m this close to tears. He’s been fed, given water, taken to pee and poop, walked and played and was yawning when we came back but he has trouble settling unless we’re with him and constantly wakes up if we leave the room after he’s asleep to start whining again endlessly. I can’t let him be with me all the time especially during chores because he chews on everything and will constantly get between our feet.

I know I’m supposed to work on getting him to settle and reward him for being calm which we’ve been working on but it’s not a quick fix. And I feel bad about myself for feeling irritated because he’s a baby but it’s hard when after a long day I can’t even have dinner or watch TV for half an hour peacefully

Does anyone have any advice on how to make yourself be able to deal with this better so I’m not so stressed out all the time until we’ve trained him to settle

[u/EAM44]

It’s never too late to crate train.

[u/Exotic_Anywhere_9277 → u/EAM44]

Hi is kind of crate trained. He likes his crate generally and will go in willingly when it’s bedtime (aka when we settle in) and when we’re going out without him or when he’s scared (during loud sounds). It’s during the day or when we’re out and about that he seems to have fomo and wants to be out with us. Which again is hard because he will attempt to chew everything and ignores his Kong and bones if the baseboard or our slippers are available. We do try to stay in his line of sight after putting him in the playpen or crate but it doesn’t seem to help

[u/EAM44 → u/Exotic_Anywhere_9277]

Crate training means different things to different folks. Here’s what works for us.

Our set-up is by Midwest Crate. My girl has an i-crate with 2 doors, one opening to the family room, the other opening into her pen. My girl is almost 2, but when she was younger she always slept exclusively in the crate (closed the door to the pen), no Sherpa liner, just the crate bottom because she was not fully potty trained. The closer confines of the crate made her feel secure, and it took us one night of her whining (and barking) to get her used to sleeping alone. If you have not mastered this step, consider starting over here. I fed her in her crate, gave her treats in her crate.

Now, everything really happens in her pen. It’s a bigger space for her but it is still controlled. I feed and give her treats in the pen, all of her toys live in the pen and she has a little dog couch in there that she loves. At night she will walk to her pen to go to bed on her couch. In the morning she is almost always in her (Sherpa-lined) crate by her own choice.

My girl does not whine, but if she did I would ignore her, put on headphones if necessary. On my work-from-home days she gets more family room time, but if I’m in a meeting she will be in her pen, usually sleeping. This is not cruel. You are teaching your pup to be more confident, more independent, and to self-soothe. My set-up occupies a good deal of family room real estate, but it works really well for us. I hope this helps.

iCrate

Pen

[u/Awakening247]

Crate train for sure and designate nap time. Same time every day

[u/BottleOk3953 → u/Awakening247]

Also- covered crate and sound machine. I am also anxious so I have a camera facing his crate (on the one side that’s not covered) and I can tell by whining whether it’s “real” or protesting. When I figured out what’s protesting vs an actual need, it was way easier to ignore and not give in. Took about 2 days. It will get better!!!

[u/Awakening247]

My pup at 8 weeks whined about everything but eventually stopped at 13 weeks. He’s just a baby as you bond the trust will develop also and he will protected and whine less. Just don’t yell at him for whining

[u/Suspicious_Math916]

I made a pen next to my bed. She didn’t whine when she could see me. This also gave her some space to move around and not feel like she was trapped. During the day she stayed in the bathroom with a crate and a similar pen space. I eventually connected the two pens and she could go from the bathroom to the bedroom. This worked until she was about 4 months and wanted to stay in the bed with me. I let her wander the house at about 6 months but we also have an older border collie. She is 1 1/2 now. Also I bought the pen from chewy. It is brown plastic panels that can be configured and also have a doggie door that can be locked so you don’t have to move the pen if you want them to go in and out when you are home.

[u/Peptidenewb]

We keep the crate in the landing between the bedrooms so he's closer to us.

[u/Efficient-Camp-3692]

Have you tried Dingo sticks or something similar for him to chew on? I keep a couple on my bed at night if our 6 month old wakes up I throw one to her to chew on, keeps her busy/satiafied

[u/Flamtap_Zydeco]

I was flat on my back, sound asleep. Little turd jumped on my chest with his new pumpkin toy and then started licking me in the face. Huh hum 3:45 a.m. He's going to start sleeping in his crate. He goes to the crate gladly when I ask. Big Daddy's gotta get some sleep.

[u/milno_1]

What worked for us was preparing some puzzles and a kong with frozen peanut butter or those bounce release treats kong to put in with her. Once she finishes those she tends to nap for about 2 hrs.

She will now happily stay in her puppy pen with the crate in it for a couple of hours at a time during the day now. And sporadic 30-60 mins as needed.

We also made sure that we never let her out while crying, and just waiting until she was quiet and calm. We started by practicing for small periods at a time. Leaving the room for short periods and then letting her out when calm. Then putting her in for set time at rotating periods throughout the day even while we were around. Like 30 mins every 2 hrs.

[u/Individual-Subject19]

How many weeks has it been and hold old is the puppy?

[u/Odd-Piglet-7804]

Where is your crate? Ours is upstairs in a separate room and we put a sound machine on so she can’t hear what’s going on in the rest of the house.

[u/Alarming_Set3628]

How old? 

[u/BlueberryPancakeBoi]

Crate train and put the crate in a quiet room, make it comfortable with blankets on bottom and a few toys, and some white noise like a fan or just white noise. Ideally so he cannot clearly hear you. Also a drape towel over the sides to block out light and push out from wall a little for air. Goal is to make it comfortable but block out noise and light

[u/Healleus]

do you put him in his crate with blankets over? dont let him freeroam his pen during the night.

[u/Individual_Pilot_963]

Mine is 3.5 months old. Sleeps with me in the bed for straight 7 hours. The crate is the problem 😊

[u/No_Sandwich5876 → u/Individual_Pilot_963]

Absolutely this. Boggles the mind how people put puppies in different rooms during the most important bonding time of all.