# My 10 week old pup won't sleep in his crate if he's in the room alone



## ahmanduhhh (May 13, 2012)

When I got him last weekend, I felt bad to make him go into a separate room so I put him in mine with me but he was still in his crate. He'd cry for about 10 minutes and then fall asleep. Two nights ago, I put him in his crate in the guest room and he cried all night nonstop and didn't sleep at all. So yesterday when he started crying for hours I went to sleep in the guest room myself and he fell asleep within a couple minutes. He's really attached to me and I think he may be having separation anxiety when we put him in a room alone? The reason why I'm trying to get him used to sleeping alone is because he won't be allowed upstairs in about 2 weeks to a month because of the hardwood upstairs that my parents don't want him to walk on - so right now I'm picking him up in the hall and I won't be able to soon because of his growth. He'll be downstairs and my grandfather's there so he won't be alone, but it's me he's attached to and he seems to need me to sleep. I just don't know how to go about making him happy but also enforcing that he has to be able to sleep without me. If I just let him cry it out for a few nights would he eventually stop and sleep alone, or should I ease him into sleeping without me some other way?
This is sort of long so thank you for reading and for any suggestions you may have.


----------



## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

Welcome

I understand your parents rules and you have to follow them. I am glad you are keeping the upstairs rule in mind while you are crate training your puppy.

Because your puppy is only 10 weeks old, he's still being potty trained. You want to be in the same room with him at night so you know when he has to go outside (their bladders are still small at this age, can't hold it for too long). GSD puppies are easy to potty train with consistency, so that's good news to your parents. 

Perhaps ask them if the puppy can stay in your room at night (crated only) for several more weeks to get the potty training done? After that he will have to be crated in another room & will be fine, he may cry but will settle down. Make sure you are crating him during the day at times so he gets use to the crate & knows it's a safe, quiet place for him to rest.

Good luck!


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

if your pup has to sleep in another room put him
in the other room and just wait it out. don't wait untill
it's bedtime to crate your pup. throughout the day
crate your pup for short periods of time. remain in the room
with him sometimes and at other tmes leave him in the room
alone. when my pup first came home he was outevery 15 minutes, 
then every 20 minutes, then every35 minutesand so on. over 
night my pup was out every 2 hours but that might not be necessary. 
my pups crate was in the livingroom.


----------



## ahmanduhhh (May 13, 2012)

Thank you both  I think I'll just slowly wean him into the guest room as doggiedad suggested.


----------



## ParkersPopLou (Apr 15, 2012)

The same thing happened to me and Parker. He would not stop crying during nights when i left him alone in our sunroom. At times i had to go sleep with him in there with him. 

The whole point is that he DOES has separation anxiety...but with his litter. You have to remember that that was his WHOLE world and it got transformed into something totally different. Try getting removed from your family when you were 6 years old, you would be crying as well . 

Make him feel comfortable, give him a shirt of yours that smells like you a lot! a plush toy helps as well, although if he's not quite potty trained he might get that soiled. But the way i dealt with this with parker was to just put myself in his position. I thought to myself that if i was 5 and alone, all i wanted was to be with my parents. Be that parent for him and stay with him for a few nights. If not do the shirt and plush toy. 

I suggest as well just making him feel comfortable and trying to exhaust their energies before bed. Play fetch with him for all he can handle before he goes to bed.

Its not going to be easy, the first few weeks are very hard for him/her because their whole world got turned upside down. Welcome to puppy-hood! :crazy:


----------



## jakes mom (Feb 29, 2012)

During the daytime, have his crate where he can see you and when he goes in for a rest - make a habit of leaving the room for very short periods and coming back in - slowly extend the length of time you are out of view. It will start to desensitize him for when you do need to leave him home alone.

Also make a habit of picking up your keys and you coat - or whatever you normally do when you leave the house. Go the door -open it - come back in. Then move that up to go out - shut door behind you - go back in - remove coat - put down keys. Again extend the time you leave him gradually - he won't panic then. 

Do it very casually don't make a big issue of it. Perhaps say "See you later bud" when you go and "hello bud" when you return. Give him a pet and/or a treat when he's calm. 
_________
Sue


----------

