Help!! 11 week lab puppy, will not sleep at night!!!?
She doesn’t like being left alone. During the day you will be down stairs with her but on a night your not there. You could leave her to cry all night and hope she gets used to it or you could let her sleep up stairs in your room, I have always let my dogs sleep in my room and never had a problem with them. She’s only 11 wks old, so she won’t be used to being on her own.
Imagine yourself a little toddler. Your mother leaves you in a cage downstairs, alone, and goes upstairs. Pretty scary, isn’t it? So it is for your puppy. At 11 weeks old, he’s still a baby. He has been removed from the warmth of his mother and the companionship of his siblings. And he’s scared and lonely. He’s too young to be left alone in a dark cold kitchen completely removed from everyone. If you must put him in a cage for his safety, at least take him upstairs with you so that he can hear you breathing and knows that should anything happen, there’s someone there to respond . Leaving him alone in the cold kitchen to ‘cry it out’ is cruel.
Dogs are pack animals. She is used to being with her mother and littermates, and now she is being left completely alone at night. She feels abandoned. Try moving the crate into your bedroom instead of the kitchen. She will be with you and should settle down. You may want to invest in a second crate rather than carrying the one you have up and down the stairs every day. If she continues crying (and I don’t think she will), cover her crate with a towel. A little white noise might also prove helpful. Good luck with her.
