Picked up our new pup on Saturday (11 wks old). Saturday night he howled for about an hour, Sunday - 1/2 hr and Monday - 10 minutes so I was really happy. After a visit to the vets yesterday he has to wear a cone at night to stop him licking his stitches from his hernia op. Last night he howled for 2 1/5 hrs non stop and I now have an unhappy neighbour.

He is shut in the kitchen, he has a crate but I leave the door open so that he can toilet on paper by door (which he always does) and I leave the radio on low.

Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what I can do to try and stop him howling as I really don't want to fall out with my neighbours.

All suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks
Chris

i think you're doing the right thing - and once pupster learns it won't get him a nocturnal playmate, he will settle down quietly. It is unfortunate the operation unsettled him and put him back to square one. Take your neighbour a bottle of wine and try and explain that the disruption will be shortlived if you can persevere.

Hope this helps

Pol

Don't laugh but we used to cover Bella's crate with a blanket and that seemed to shut her up (she's related to a Budgie somewhere along the line).

But the bottle of wine to neighbour is an excellent idea.

From the top, what we tried!

Ticking clock near the crate,
Hot water pad in the crate,
Blanket over the crate (to make them feel secure),
Hide treats in the crate, so by the time he realised you are gone, he's already been distracted,
Go down if he cries, put him out for a pee, quick good boy, no playing, back to bed,
Ummm, I am sure there were more!! I like my sleep, so we tried everything.

You are already doing the radio thing, we did that too! We also took the pup to the neighbours, so they saw what a little cutie was making all the noise, along with a bunch of flowers to say sorry, explained what we were trying to do i.e. ignore cryng at night so it ends quickly, and they were really understanding, we also moved B's crate to the other side of the house, away from the party wall!

I'm sure there are loads more things to do mind you!

I'm not sure that 'paper training' or even encouraging a pup to go on paper is really effective, as it can only confure the pup that sometimes it's OK to go in the house, and sometimes it isn't - far better all round if somebody can get up and take the puppy out for the first few weeks - keeping everything low key so puppy learns just to toilet and nothing else. I'm also a great believer in security producing more secure adults - and this works for children as well as puppies, so why not bring pup to bed with you in his crate?

It's so easy to be 'with' the pup all day until bed time, and then expect them to settle, but why not give the pup the chance to be alone for tiny periods, say while they eat occasionally, or when busy with a chew? This will help get them used to being alone when it's cold and dark as well.

Hi I rehomed Racer at 14 months, so I didn't have to worry about toilet training, but he did howl the place down if left at night. Murphy always slept down stairs with no fuss. I started with Racer in his crate in the bedroom, which was fine, but got fed up carring his crate up and down stairs. In the end I gave up and he sleeps happily out the bedroom door.
I do agree with taking the puppy to bed, in a crate, it worked for Racer.
Good luck.
Sue

That worked for me. They are only babies after all !

I still do it now. If either of them are not well, they both sleep in the bedroom so I can keep an eye on them.

Go with the wine to keep your neighbours happy but I'd take your baby to bed!

Thanks for all your comments - Had a brilliant night last night. Shut is kitchen at 10:20 quiet by 1030 and didn't start crying till 6:30 this morning.

Re : training to paper - Max goes outside for all toilets during the day and appears to just have one wee in the night so I don't think it will be long before he is able to go all night !!!.

I'm sure I'll be posting alot more in the coming weeks for advice etc and want to thank you all for your moral support.

Chris

try a radio works with ours though the young ones argue with the older ones over radio 4!