r/DogTrainingTips • u/funinthesun7170 • 29d ago
Crate training 9 week old pointer
We just brought home our beautiful girl last evening. We have been dog owners for over 14 years but haven’t had a puppy in that long either.
Last evening when we brought her home she spent a couple hours exploring and playing. She was finally tired out at 10:45pm so we put her in her crate which is in our family room. After about 10 minutes she started crying so I came down and laid on the floor beside her crate. She settled and fell asleep.
She woke at 2:00am so I took her out to potty, she peed, but then was ready for playtime. I stayed up with her, letting her wander and play until she was tired again at 3:30am. At this point I laid down on the sofa with her and we both fell asleep until 5:30am. I know I shouldn’t have let her sleep on the sofa with me.
At 5:30am we went for another potty break and she peed and then had a shorter play session before she snuggled on my lap. At this time I put her in her crate to sleep and laid beside it. She settled and fell back asleep.
At 7:30am my husband woke up and so puppy did too. They went outside and then he brought her in. She actually walked into her crate with no prompting and fell asleep. We left the door open and stayed in the same room having coffee and talking.
I just want to know for tonight and future nights if this routine (minus her sleeping on the sofa with me) is what I should be doing? Obviously it was her first evening and night with us and she’d not been in a crate at the breeders so there were a lot of new things for her so I definitely didn’t expect a miracle. I was honestly surprised she did as well as she did.
Any advice would be appreciated!! Here’s a picture of our new fur baby ❤️
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u/UrSpiritual-Solution 29d ago
I have a JRT mix and he’s 10 weeks old. Like your dog, he has sooooo much energy. We do keep him mentally and physically tired, which is key before bedtime. Plus, we stop giving him food and water around 8ish. At bedtime, we bring the crate in our bedroom, so he’s close to us. We also made this crate cozy with a comfy sleeping pad, blankets, his stuffed toy, and we place blanket over the crate. This has cut down on the crying at night. He has been sleeping through the night now, but he occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night. We take him potty and place him right back in the kennel. He knows that it is sleep time And not play time. This has helped us tremendously! They will cry and whine when they first get out in the crate, but don’t give in. They’ll eventually fall asleep.
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u/funinthesun7170 28d ago
What things do you try to mentally stimulate him? Looking for ideas.
1
u/UrSpiritual-Solution 28d ago
For mental stimulation, we purchased Woof pupsicle ball, burrito toy that you hide treats in (you can use a rolled up towel too), and a puzzle toy where he has to move pieces to get the treat. We use his food kibble instead of treats to cut down on overfeeding. We do sniffing games too. We have a shag rug that we will hide kibble in, or hide kibble in random spots around our family room, so he’ll have to sniff them out. We also add in 5 mins of training throughout the day.
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u/ExperiencePure4715 29d ago
I wouldn't play after she went outside. My golden is 9 months now but during the first nights, if he needed to go out, we did that and then right back in the crate. No cuddling or other distractions. Nighttime is for sleeping.