Up with a puppy

designerdarling

I have a 9 week old puppy. He sleeps for a few hours at bed time but then requires a potty time in the middle of the night. My husband or I have to stay up with him for at least an hour while he plays before he will go back to sleep. Does anyone know of a way to get him back to sleep faster?

blu-eyedwife

Are you crate training? Middle of the night potty training is just that, he gets let out for a bathroom break, then put back in the crate. By playing with him you're reinforcing the idea that nighttime is playtime.

Mrs.Hizzo

Put him back in his crate and ignore him. Earplugs might be a good idea for the first couple nights.

aaf10

Yes put him back in the crate...he will whine for a little bit, but he needs to get used to it or he thinks potty time during the night is always followed by playtime. Our first few nights with the puppy, his crate was next to our bed. We covered it and we put old/dirty clothes that smelled like us (to calm him down). DH would sometimes reach over and put his hands by the crate to help him calm down while we all go back to sleep. 

dexteroni

You're setting a bad precedent by playing with him in the middle of the night.  Put him back in his crate and ignore the whining.  He will eventually settle, and he'll learn that middle of the night potty breaks are just that, potty only.  No playing, no treats, just business and back to sleep.

Also photos please!  

LuckyAngel07

Ditto everyone else. Our pup requried 2 potty breaks a night at that age. We crate trained her right off the bat, and NEVER instituted any middle-of-the-night attention that didn't involved letting her out to potty, praising like crazy for pottying outside, and then a quick pat as we put her back in her crate. After the first week we had her, I don't remember hearing any complaints out of her whatsoever.

Institute Nothing In Life is Free as a training program. You don't HAVE to play for an hour with the puppy; you're just letting the puppy dictate playtime on his terms. You set the terms for playtime, snuggle time, bedtime, etc.

kiwisnmangos

Don't let him get comfortable with the play time.

He needs to know that when you take him out in the middle of the night, business means business.

You'll have to kind of deal with the yelping for a little while. Eventually he'll be able to sleep through the night.

camillaandcarson

Crate train or use an exercise pen as a crate.  This is only temporary, you don't have to always crate past the puppy stage, but crate training help make the puppy stage much more successful when done properly.