Bedtime

Napping in her crate. All on her own!

We knew that this would be the most challenging thing about having a puppy.  We are strong believers in crate training and we have set hers up in our second bedroom to keep her independant from us.  We want her to treat this as her sanctuary. She has already run in there once when she got scared so I think we are on our way.

Going to bed with a puppy is how I sort of imagine it is with a small child. No, we aren't crazy people that read her a story, but we take her into the room with her crate and tire her out so she is ready to lay down in the crate and shortly fall asleep and then we sneak out of the room. All of this of course, is after a short bathroom break.

Don't get me wrong, she sleeps a lot, but never at the right times. Here is how its been so far:


Saturday Night:

12:00am- Bedtime
2:00am- Whining
2:30am- Sleeping
4:00am- Whining
4:15am- Sleeping
5:00am- Whining
7:30am- Uppy Time

The first night we couldn't blame her for being scared so we did go in and see her after some excessive and loud whining. We never took her out of the crate, just laid on the couch beside her until she calmed down, which took no time at all.

Sunday Night:

11pm- Bedtime
3am- Whining
4am-Sleeping
5am- Whining
6am- Uppy Time

Time for tough love. Not sure who it was harder on. We only went to see her the first time she cried and didnt stay in the room. The next morning she was pretty agressive with chewing and running around. I think she was either mad that she was left in there all night, or just getting used to us.

Monday Night and Tuesday Night:

11pm- Bedtime
4am- Whining
4:15am- Sleeping
6am- Uppy time

She seems to be getting more and more comfortable having only woken up once the last two nights. Although we did cave in and helped her get back to sleep. We aren't really sure if that's bad or ok. In the morning we have been getting up before she cries to get ready for work and she is just sitting in her crate hanging out. Tonight we are going in with a firm game plan so we don't wake up at four saying "should we try this... or that"

The good thing is she hasn't had an accident in her crate as of yet... although as I say this she probably is doing it right now. We are hoping that this weekend she will be sleeping through the night. We still are kind of making it up. Once she is confident with her bathroom breaks and the chewing we wont make her sleep in her crate, but it feels like that is miles away.

One thing for sure is that we can't resist that sweet sleepy puppy face.

Just for fun, enjoy these puppy dreams!