The First Few Nights Home with Your New Dog

by Bailey Coldwell

We’ve chatted about what the first day should look like with a puppy. Let’s take it a step further and talk about the first few nights with a new puppy. 

Puppies typically do best if they are beside our beds at first. This way, they have the comfort of knowing we are nearby. Some puppies, however, will demand more attention if they are next to our beds because they see it as more of an option with us right nearby. Therefore, if you find that your puppy is struggling a lot with sleeping in a crate beside your bed, it is okay to experiment with moving the crate further away from you. 

Regardless of crate location, puppies will often still experiment with barking, whining, and pawing at the crate's door. I have raised a lot of puppies. All of them have barked in the crate at first, but all of them have grown to love the crate. Coming home is a big transition for them; the first few nights are often their first time alone. If your puppy is struggling in the crate, try to prevent giving them attention. The most comfort we recommend giving them is putting your fingers through the kennel. If we go to the puppy when they are barking, they are learning that barking is what they should do to get attention. If you go to your puppy while they are in the crate, even for a potty break, always wait for them to be quiet for at least 5-10 seconds before going towards them. 

Try to limit the puppy to 1-2 potty breaks at night. When pups aren’t active or eating or drinking, they are in a much deeper sleep than during the day. They shouldn’t need to potty nearly as frequently at night time as during the day. Some people will panic if the pups sleep through the night soon after coming home. But this is a good thing! The sooner we can get our puppies into our nighttime schedule, the better. The only time that we ever want to wake a sleeping puppy during the night is if they are having accidents in the crate without any warning. Otherwise, let them sleep. 

If your puppy is whining or otherwise fussing in the crate at night and you believe it is time for a potty break, wait for the puppy to be quiet for 5-10 seconds and then go to them. We want the nighttime potty break to be very uneventful. I like to keep my pup’s collar and leash attached, near the crate. I pick the puppy up (as long as the puppy isn’t nervous about body handling) and slip the collar onto the puppy to bring them to the potty spot. I tend to carry the puppy to the potty spot at first because sometimes, as soon as they walk out of the crate, they will potty. I bring the puppy to the potty spot, give them the cue, and reward them using light praise if they potty. I don’t give treats for nighttime potty breaks and I keep praise to a minimum. This is because I don’t want the puppy to start thinking that they should wake up at night to get treats. If my puppy doesn’t potty within a few minutes of being at the potty spot, I put them back into the crate. 

When doing nighttime potty breaks, keep track of the time. This is because you want to try to get up later and later each night. If we always get up with our puppies at the same time every night, they can quickly get into this routine and think it is simply what they should do. We often have to help puppies get out of habits we don’t want them to be doing long term. So, if I woke up with the puppy for a potty break at 1AM the previous night, I would wait until at least 1:15 the following night for a potty break. If the puppy lasted that long the previous night, they should be able to last the same amount of time and then some the following night. If at any time your puppy has had an accident in the crate, simply plan to get up slightly earlier the following night.

When getting up for the day, try to wait until YOU are ready to wake up. If you usually wake up at 7AM, you should not get up at 5AM because the puppy is ready to start the day. If you think the puppy needs a potty break, give them a quick break and then put them back into the crate until you are ready to wake up. Of course, if your puppy has already been in the crate for over 8-10 hours, you will want to get up. This is why I recommend having the puppy go to bed when you go to bed. If the puppy goes to bed at 8PM and you go to bed at 11PM, your puppy is likely going to need to come out of the crate in the morning before you are ready. Many new puppies will, however, become tired before you are ready to go to bed. This is a good time to work on calm activities such as grooming, a puzzle toy, or even snuggling with your puppy (if they want this). This way, they won’t be completely passed out and in their deep sleep earlier than you. I also recommend giving your puppy a nap in the early evening, to help prevent them from getting too overstimulated before bed due to being overtired. 

Another goal to work towards, is to not go straight to your puppy when you wake up.  When you have a brand new puppy, sure, you might need to go straight to them to avoid an accident. But as they get older, it is good for you to get up and go to the restroom, get dressed, or take a few minutes to yourself before going to your puppy. It is great for the puppy to learn that just because you are awake, it doesn’t mean that all of your attention immediately goes right to your puppy. Along those same lines, I recommend keeping mornings boring after the initial potty break. I try to avoid immediately giving my puppy a full meal, playing with my puppy, cuddling my puppy, or walking my puppy within the first hour or so of waking up. We often see puppies start to whine/bark in the crate during the early morning hours because they know that something amazing happens as soon as they wake up. Instead, try to give the puppy a potty break and then either put them in a pen or on a leash with you as you get ready for your day, rewarding them for offering good behaviors. 

Within the first week or two, it should be a good benchmark for your puppy to be sleeping for at least 7-8 hours overnight. Eventually, you can allow your dog to sleep on your bed if you prefer this. You will want to wait until the puppy is potty trained, is not chewing things up, and is happy in the crate before doing so. I usually wait until my puppy is between 1.5-2 years to make the switch from sleeping in the crate to out of the crate if I decide to do so. 

Don’t be alarmed if barking in the crate at night gets more intense after a few days, weeks, or even months after coming home to us. When initially coming home, our puppies are exhausted and haven’t formed a bond with us yet. As they learn to love us, they sometimes will then start to struggle with the crate at night. We might also find a natural crate regression during adolescence simply because they are curious “teenagers” who experiment with barking. If that happens, take the same advice as stated in this blog post, but with fewer potty breaks since we know they can hold their bladders for longer. 

Another tip, plan for some naps those first few days/week. Know that less sleep is temporary, as long as we help to set our pups up for success by following the above advice. You will likely experience your puppy whining, and you will not get as much rest in the beginning. Your sleep-deprived self might try to convince you to take the puppy out of the crate when they are barking and either allow the puppy to sleep on the bed with you or for you to sleep on the couch with them. This is heavily rewarding the puppy for the unwanted behavior and we strongly recommend not doing so. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need extra support on this. We want you and your puppy to be able to get sleep at night, sooner rather than later. We are here for you!