[claire71]

Firstly I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to reply to my post about the sudden death of my lovely dad. It was so kind of you all to respond as none of you know me or my family personally so I was very touched by your kindness. After a horrendous couple of weeks we decided to bring Woddy home yesterday. Amazingly he seemed to remember us and was very good in the car on the journey home. As he is an older pup (and fully vaccinated) we took him for his first walk yesterday afternoon and he did really well on a loose lead and walked beautifully. We rather nervously let him off his lead and he was fab at coming back - phew. Woody met some lovely dogs of all sizes and they were all very patient with this rather bouncy pup so we were very pleased. Last night however was not good, I think we should have called him Wolfy rather than Woody!! Boy has he got a set of lungs on him, he appears to hate his crate. We put a tshirt in there with our scent on it a heated pad for comfort, his kong with cream cheese and peanut butter, left the radio on (Radio4) plus his vet bed looks so comfy I wouldn't mind sleeping in there myself. I know he's probably anxious and I feel guilty as he hasn't had the most settled of starts because of him having to go back to his breeder when Dad died. He is my little shadow during the day and would rather sleep on the hard floor or on my feet than in his lovely crate. He howled, whined and barked between midnight, when we went to bed, and 4 am. He then settled until 5.30 when I got up as the rest of my family need their sleep. Hope the neighbours didn't hear him, our house is detached but his wolf like howls seemed to echo especially as he's in the kitchen and the floor is tiled making him sound even louder. He's adorable but any ideas/advice welcomed re the bedtime routine. I hope I haven't made a mistake in taking him back.

 

[Pepster]

Great news that you've got Woody back and hope you're ok.
I'm sure you'll get plenty of advise from the others as I am still learning myself. Thanks for update

 

[deb]

GREAT NEWS. It seems you are doing all the right things at bed time. Stick to your guns the easiest thing is to give in to him things will get better. They do know how to try it on.

 

[Jedicrazy]

Claire, so good to read you have got Woody back now. Everything you have done to prepare his crate is excellent so don't feel bad. Stick with it, it will get better and if you don't go to him he will settle much quicker in the end. Get those earplugs out! Good luck xxx

 

[csb]

Good news that you have Woody home, it is a week today that we got Gracie, after a few nights of crying , she now sleeps through, but does get up early. During the day she goes in the crate with the door open. You have to be strong, it is hard not to go to them when they cry, but if you do that you will be back at square one, that was advice Stephen gave us when we collected her and it was good advice. Good luck with Woody, hope to hear lots about him.

 

[claire71]

Claire, so good to read you have got Woody back now. Everything you have done to prepare his crate is excellent so don't feel bad. Stick with it, it will get better and if you don't go to him he will settle much quicker in the end. Get those earplugs out! Good luck xxx

Thanks Clare, I will try to be strong and ignore his woeful howls! Think I need to buy 4 sets of noise cancelling headphones

 

[claire71]

Good news that you have Woody home, it is a week today that we got Gracie, after a few nights of crying , she now sleeps through, but does get up early. During the day she goes in the crate with the door open. You have to be strong, it is hard not to go to them when they cry, but if you do that you will be back at square one, that was advice Stephen gave us when we collected her and it was good advice. Good luck with Woody, hope to hear lots about him.

Lovely to hear how Gracie has settled with you, I've seen her photos - what a lovely girl. I know I need to be a tough Mum and ignore him but he won't even go in his crate in the day time unless it's to bring out a toy or his Kong. Not sure what else to do to encourage him to want to go in there. Thanks for the advice, I'll try to follow it!

 

[S.Claire]

Hi Claire. Great news about Woody. You have not done the wrong thing, I promise. Nacho cried/howled for 6 nights when we first brought him home (it was tough ignoring him) and sleeping ourselves went out the window. It can be stressful but stick to your guns. He WILL learn. On the 7th night of having Nacho he just went straight into his crate without a peep. There was no slow progression it just stopped. He loves his crate now, will often go downstairs (I have an upside down house) and go into his crate for a bit of time-out which if you'd told me this when we got him, I would've laughed.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Love Susie and Nacho x

 

[Ali79]

So pleased that you have got Woody back now. As Clare has said stick with it and buy earplugs Beau sounded like the Hound of the Baskervilles when she was left alone but I have an 18 year old daughter who decided to "rescue" her and take her off to her bedroom where she has slept ever since but it's not that easy for everyone and was harder to leave Beau during the day as she had never got used to settling without one of us around. Don't be hard on yourself for taking him back to the breeder as he was in perfectly good hands and it's something that you really needed to do at the time so no other option. He will be fine and sounds like you have a little sweetie already. Good luck

 

[MillieDog]

So glad you have Woody back and he's pleased as punch to be back with you.
Either stick with the night time noise until he learns to settle down or I have heard of plan B that some have used.
That is, bring the crate up to your bedroom and let him sleep next to your bed and gradually move the crate away from the bed towards the bedroom door.

Out of interest what did the breeder do for nighttime routine. If Woody was surrounded by other dogs he may have gotten used to the company.

Also think ahead to what you want to do long term. The reason I say this, is Millie was put in her crate downstairs for 5 months and then when I decided I could take the crate away (I was keen to stop using it), I moved her bed to outside our bedroom door. Maybe I should just have put the crate there in the first place

 

[claire71]

Hi Claire. Great news about Woody. You have not done the wrong thing, I promise. Nacho cried/howled for 6 nights when we first brought him home (it was tough ignoring him) and sleeping ourselves went out the window. It can be stressful but stick to your guns. He WILL learn. On the 7th night of having Nacho he just went straight into his crate without a peep. There was no slow progression it just stopped. He loves his crate now, will often go downstairs (I have an upside down house) and go into his crate for a bit of time-out which if you'd told me this when we got him, I would've laughed.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Love Susie and Nacho x

Thanks Susie, your post has given me hope that Woody will learn to love his crate and maybe even sleep in it!

 

[Fiver]

Claire lovely to have you and Woody back.
Don't worry about Woody and the crate,he will get used to it and sleep through the night We have had Milo for 5 weeks now (he's 15 weeks old) and he hates his crate,never goes in willingly day or night no matter what we bribe him with.Having said that,he sleeps right through the night and will settle in the day after a few moments of grumbling.After 2 or 3 nights of howling he accepted that thats where he sleeps.We never went down to him ever.Don't give in to Woody,he will get used to it

 

[mairi1]

So delighted that you have woody back with you, you sound as if you're doing everything right and I'm sure it'll be no time before he sleeps through the night. Well done you for being so strong and embracing the challenges of puppyhood head on . I'm sure over the coming weeks/months you'll realise you did the right thing in bringing little Woody into your lives

 

[2ndhandgal]

Really pleased you have got Woody home and hope he soon settles and is a great comfort to you all.

No huge crate advice as I am a softy and Molly sleeps in my bedroom!

 

[Spencer1]

I just wanted to say how happy I am to hear you have Woody back with you. Good luck with everything..I can't really give you much as advice as we don't pick our poo up until next Sunday!

 

[joanner]

Claire so pleased you have got Woody back , he will be such a comfort for you. Stanlee is now 14 weeks and when we brought him home he only cried for 2 nights so I am hoping the same for you . I know we were really lucky. I think once they know they are safe and you return in the morning they settle . Good luck and and looking forward to some photos.

 

[Fifi]

Great to hear that you are able to have Woody home, I'm sure that he will settle soon.

We use a crate for Gaia, for the first few weeks I would get up in the night to take her into the garden, then back to the crate until she slept through. I always put some treats into the crate for her to go back to. Now we take her for her last toilet, say Bedtime and she goes in her self, she knows that this is when she gets her Puppy Tubo or lately a dentistix, sometimes she hassles us for bedtime so that she get her stick.

Carry on, it will get better and better, incidentally we never had any toilets in her cage and she trained really quickly in the house.

Looking forward to your updates.

Good luck
Sue

 

[tessybear]

Letting Woody in his crate in your bedroom at night does not mean he will be there for ever.
If he is naturally anxious he may rather be with you at night at first, then when he is more confident if you want you can gradually let him away from you once he knows you are still in the house and aren't going to disappear again. I did this with both of mine and it worked. I can't bear to listen to a howling puppy its torture to me and I found I didn't have to! It may not suit everyone but it worked for me. I never had a nights crying or a messy crate.

 

[mum2bobs]

Really pleased you have got Woody home and hope he soon settles and is a great comfort to you all.

No huge crate advice as I am a softy and Molly sleeps in my bedroom!

I used to let Bobs do this.

He howled like mad the first couple of nights and I tried to do all the recommended stuff but in the end gave up and put him on my bed. perfect peace and a good nights sleep

As he grew older though I got him sleeping downstairs in his playpen. He had got used to it anyway because he was shut in there if I had to nip out without him, and had started taking himself into it for the odd nap during the day too, so I knew he felt happy in it.

He has had the opportunity recently (after his neutering op) to come and sleep on my bed again and he didn't want to - he trotted downstairs and into his playpen so it seems it is now his favourite place to be

Shame though, as I used to like the odd night time cuddle with him :cry2:

 

[zed]

Hi..so glad you are back together. aww he sounds like my boy, he even used to sleep on my feet as i washed up..my Jarvis cried all night for about a week...I was in such a state...advice from my vet was to persevere and he wouldn't suffer any long term emotional and social problems. I brought a DAP plug in (works longer than the spray) and got myself some ear plugs.. The next night he slept right through I make sure the crate is covered at night as it signals to him it's bedtime and don't hear a peep until 6am when he cries for a wee. Daytime I leave the crate uncovered. I don't leave food or stuffed kong at night as I needed him to realise the difference between night and day and as pups they need their sleep. Don't worry ...you will get there..x ps I highly recommend the plug in x


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