How do I get my puppy to sleep through the night?

Sleep is incredibly important for young puppies - and us! Getting it right means you can both enjoy a good night's sleep from the beginning

Young puppies need warmth and security to be able to settle down and sleep away from their mother and littermates in those early days with you

The biggest mistake puppy owners make is to ‘start as we mean to go on’. Now, I understand the logic, but what’s overlooked by this approach is the puppy’s development stages. Too often new puppies are placed overnight in a room like the kitchen or utility, which the puppy has barely been in, and/or in a crate, which perhaps the puppy has also barely been in. Then they are left alone in the dark, and it's quiet, and cold too, since they are used to sleeping in a lovely warm heap with their littermates. Of course they cry! As young, vulnerable mammals, they’re programmed to know they’re in danger if they’re abandoned so they do everything they can to bring their protector (that’s you) back to them. You, meanwhile, are upstairs feeling like the worst human being for ignoring a puppy crying in distress, but you tough it out because you read somewhere you should, or your Uncle Ian said that’s how he always did it.

But your instincts are right! For a significant proportion of puppies, even one night spent crying for help is enough to ingrain separation anxiety – and as a behavourist who is often asked to help with this, let me tell you, it’s a heartbreakingly difficult thing to resolve. Scientific studies show that the best route to a dog who is confident enough to be left alone when they are old enough is to build what’s called a secure attachment bond with your puppy. (Interestingly, the importance of this attachment style has been known in child psychology for decades but only recently has it been shown to be true for dogs too). The way to build a secure attachment bond is to be available consistently for your new puppy, day and night, for the first 7-10 days. That doesn’t mean you’re glued to your puppy but just that if they need you, they can find you.

There’s a whole load of advice about how to help your puppy to choose alone time in another blog, or if you need 1-2-1 guidance on this, on building a properly constructed separation programme or any other puppy matter, get in touch. Puppy advice - info@hotdogtraining.co.uk

So for the first few nights, have someone sleep in the same room as the puppy, with the puppy in a pen (see our other blog about the pros and cons of crate training and how to do it properly). You can be in the same room as the puppy, or bring the puppy into your bedroom in a pen. My preference is to sleep downstairs with the pup, so you don’t have to change the puppy set up by gradually moving them downstairs. You’re also going to have to decide whether house training or a good night’s sleep is most important to you. Personally, I love my sleep, so I’m going to set up the pen with a super cosy bed, piled with blankets or towels (because puppies like to snuggle into material – just think about those puppies sleeping together in a nice warm heap) in a big cardboard box on its side to create a den. If you’re going down the crate training route, you could have the crate inside the pen and leave the crate door open and cover the crate on the other sides with a blanket. Your puppy must have access to water overnight (trust me, dehydration is NOT a toilet training method) and they will also need an area within the pen where they can toilet if they need to, which is likely in the early days. Newspaper for this is just fine: I’m not a big advocate of puppy pads and please don’t use towels – you really don’t want a puppy who sees fabric as a great surface to pee on (see our house training blog). Now your pup has all they need – warmth, water, a toilet area away from their bed, and someone to reassure them if they need it. This means that if your puppy is whining or barking, you know that it’s not because they are cold or frightened, it’s because they’d rather be right next to you (and why wouldn’t they? you’re warm, you smell good, you’re comforting). So this is frustration, not fear, so ignore any initial fuss they make, because you’re there, they know they’re safe. You can give them a quiet stroke to settle them.

If the first few nights are successful, you can move to a different room, or move the puppy pen to a different room, but in a position where the puppy can hear you and smell you (this is no slight on your personal hygiene, pups have an amazing sense of smell). After another 2-3 nights, you can sleep upstairs in your own bed.

TOP TIPS

Puppies have a short sleep cycle, so probably won’t sleep for more than 5-6 hours at a stretch. When they wake at 5am, take them out for a pee, let them have a quiet wander around and, if you’re not ready to get up, give them a small meal and a puppy safe chew and see if they’ll settle back down.

While you are sleeping nearby, if puppy wakes in the night, all they need if they seem upset is a quiet stroke to reassure and settle them, but don’t engage too much.

Very young puppies aren’t great at regulating their body temperature, so they need the choice of warm and cosy and also cooler surfaces to sleep on.

Want proper advice about how to raise a happy, confident pup? Carol is our qualified Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy expert. Get in touch and ask about our Flying Start sessions, available in person or via Zoom/Teams info@hotdogtraining.co.uk