Is crate training puppy first night is your one of your concerns when you plan to get a new puppy? Hmm, I think you need to read this article then!
Raising a puppy is not an easy task, at ALL. This beautiful little creature would need tons of things in order to be well taken care of; training, grooming sessions, and bonding time and more. Indeed, taking care of a puppy requires a lot of effort and patience but isn’t that what happens with every other thing?
You will start the journey with your puppy from day one. Crate training puppy first night is one of the things that would be tough especially for the first week or so.
So, welcome to the world of sleepy pet parents for some time! There are a lot of things you can do to lessen the obstacles you are going to face at first when you crate train your puppy, the first one is to understand the importance of crate training.
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Crate Training Puppy First Night; Why It Is Hard For The Puppy
Puppies are just like humans when it comes to the feeling of affinity towards their families and surroundings. The puppy you chose to get has a family of his mother and siblings that he has never been separated from them before.
Your puppy didn’t spend a lot of time in this world yet, so his only experience of the outer world was always accompanied by the warm bodies of his siblings and the sense of security and comfort of the presence of his mother.
The minute you took him, it is like detaching him from the world he knows, so the first thing happen to the puppy is to be anxious because of the big change that happened to him. Separation discomfort is reasonable at this stage and patience is required from you till you get your puppy out of this tough stage.
Crate Training Puppy First Night; Training Starts From The First Minute
The beginning of crate training at night would start from the first moment you get your puppy home. You have to plan for the schedule of the whole first day from feeding and settling on the best options of food for your canine to how crate training puppy first night is going to be done, all should be planned beforehand.
Also, you have to prepare all the items you will need for the new puppy as soon as possible. For the crate training, you need to get a suitable crate for your puppy’s breed. If you got a large dog breed puppy, you will need to consider the rapid growth rate of puppies and keep it in mind when you are purchasing a crate.
If you are getting a small or a medium sized breed, get a crate that is not too small. The perfect crate should have plenty of space for the dog to stand, have some chews and toys with him and can turn around.
Get An Adjustable Crate
The best advice I got when I was getting a crate for my puppy was to get a crate that has dividers. This kind of crates is amazing as you will adjust it for the puppy to be more comfortable as he grows up.
Let Your Puppy Get Familiar with The Crate
Give your puppy the time he needs to inspect the crate when you get him home. Equip the crate with some chew toys and a comfortable blanket. Don’t put your puppy there and close the door, leave the door open and let the puppy get in and out as he likes but under your supervision of course.
Now the fun part, you just got the cutest creature ever so of course, you would like to have some activities and games with him. Fun and amusing time with the puppy is not the only reason you should plan for activities and games.
Crate Training Puppy First Night; Play It Smart
Planning what you are going to do with your puppy is a great start for both you and your puppy. A schedule should be there for every skill you need to teach for your puppy; potty training, feeding schedule and of course, playtime.
Games and activities are a very good tool to enhance your puppy’s mental and physical shape healthy, puppies are a little bundle of energy that you have to implement it on the right track or your pup will find his way for doing so!
When you are planning for the first-day playtime, keep in mind to use this time to tire out your puppy so he could sleep soundly at night. Here is what you could use with your puppy;
Take Your Puppy For a Walk
Take your dog for a walk at the backyard or around the neighborhood, it is the ideal activity for young dogs. Walking out would give your puppy a great chance to burn his energy in exploring. Walking, balancing, jumping and having plenty of new scents around.
Keep Romping with Your Puppy
Don’t let your dog sleep at your feet when it close to bedtime, keep romping with your pup so that when it is time for you to put him in the crate he would full asleep without a fuss.
When it is time for sleeping, put your little canine in his crate and hope for the best(which is little times of getting up at night).
Crate Training Puppy First Night; The Crate’s Location
Place the crate on a quite draft-free area in your bedroom, preferably next to your bed so your puppy feels your presence with him. Being with you in the same room would give your puppy a sense of security and comfort.
You could put a blanket over the crate to create a more cozy feeling for the pup.
The tough part starts when your puppy starts when puppy crying in crate first night begins. Your puppy will whine, feel anxious and uncomfortable because he is not used to be lone.
You have to understand that crate training at night requires being patient and understand why your puppy is crying at such time.
Why Crate Training Puppies at Night Makes Them Whine?
Crate training a puppy at night is not easy, perceive the whole thing from an evolutionary perspective, dogs got natural traits that help them in surviving. Being left alone, puppies would feel insecure as predators may kill or injure any of them so as an instinctual reaction they would cry and whine for their mother to come to protect them from any potential danger.
So they keep whining for their mother so she will have to be close to them to ensure their security by keeping them quite and if anything happened she would be near to rescue her babies.
Other than this, your puppy might be howling, squealing and crying to get him out for bathroom breaks. Make sure to take your puppy to his eliminating area before sleeping and when he wakes up and starts to whine.
Crate Training Puppy First Night; How to Reduce The Whining
you could try some of the methods to reduce your little canine’s crying but you have to keep in mind that crying for the first night is absolutely normal, it is the first night for the puppy alone so it will be the most frightening night for him, it is his first time to experience being away from his mother and sibling and as an act of survival, he will try to call for them.
If it is possible, you can get a blanket that was at the breeder’s to help the puppy to feel a little at ease. The blanket is not only comfortable but holds the scent of his mother and siblings so it might help him to calm.
You could also get one of the toys that hold the scents and place it with the puppies before taking yours from the breeder. It would be like the blanket having their scent so it will soothe him a little.
Make sure you are giving your puppy enough bathroom breaks. One of the reasons that will reduce whining is to make sure your puppy is relieving himself often so he doesn’t need to wake up at night and start whining for you to get him out for a bathroom break.
If your puppy crying in crate first night after doing all these things, ignore him. If you give your puppy your attention he will keep crying and howling because he now gets that it is a way to get your attention.
Never think about taking your puppy to bed with you as it will be a hard mission to quit this habit afterward.
So, if he wakes up at night and starts to cry, take him out for a bathroom break without any playing time or anything and then place him back in the crate.
This should be enough to survive your first night with your little furry canine, to know more about how to continue crate training, read How to Crate Train A Dog | The Ultimate Guide.
