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Old May 26th, 2011, 07:59 AM
Doggiedose Doggiedose is offline
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Canada
Posts: 18
New puppy - waking up a lot overnight!

Hello,

I need some help....I'm sleep deprived and starting to break down - and feeling stressed out whenever I want to go to bed.

About a week and a half ago, we got a boxer puppy - she's a female, and turns 10 weeks old today (she was 8.5 weeks old / 2 months old when we got her). Each night we put her in her crate and she falls asleep for a few hours, and then from that point on - usually from about 12:30 / 1:00 a.m. until we get up around 5:30 a.m - she gets us up every 45 minutes to 1 hour. Each time we get up and let her out in the backyard (to ensure she doesn't have an accident in her crate) and she seems to be going to the bathroom each time.

Is going out for the bathroom this frequently (at this age) normal, or is she just trying to get herself out of the crate? I've read that if you take a puppy's age in months and add 1, that's generally the number of hours that they should be able to hold their bathroom habits - e.g. my puppy is 2 months old, so she should be able to hold it for 3 hours. Does this "rule" only apply when the puppy is a bit older - is she just too young to even attempt to hold it at all?

Are we doing anything wrong, are we missing a critical step in this process? We also have a 3.5 year old male boxer who (now) is completely trained and reliable in the house. I remember when he was a puppy, he also woke us up at night, but I think it was only a couple of times at most, and that only lasted for a couple of weeks. I don't think we're doing anything different in how we're treating/training the new puppy compared to our first dog (although I think he may have been closer to 11 weeks old when we first brought him home).

Can anyone reassure me that this will get better? Any tips on how to get her to settle for longer periods of time at night? Someone please tell me this will get better real soon!!!......Thanks.
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