Rough Night with Miley!

[Ashley-Mileys Mom 0]

Does anyone use a playpen for their pups? I read on-line that I should set up a play pen or an area where she can be safe and she can be contained at night or when we're gone so she won't potty in the house. So I set up one of our used Pack-and-Plays for her with a cozy bed, blankets, a toy, & puppy pads. Problem is...she HATES it. She screeches and cries as soon as she gets in the playpen, unless she needs to potty..then she does her business and then she starts the crying to get out. I hate to see her so upset, not to mention her crying is SO loud that when it's bedtime no one can sleep because of the crying. We tried putting her in our bed because it was the only way she would stop, and she sleeps well with us, except last night she pee'd and pooped ALL over our bed at 3 am. The last few nights she would whine and we would put her in the playpen to potty, but last night she just went without telling us she had to go. We obviously don't want a repeat of that again tonight or any other night, but I'm not sure where to put her so she will sleep without us. We tried one of our bathrooms and put all of her things in there, but no luck. Another thing she is in the habit of doing is waking up half way through the night and nipping at us..trying to play. And she loooves to chew on my hair when I'm asleep, LOL. Gross.

I have no problem being patient and waiting for her to adjust to being away from her mommy and family, but is there any way to help her sleep better at night, in her playpen or bathroom, at least until she is totally potty trained? I told my husband we're probably not helping the situation by taking her out of the playpen everytime she cries, but she will literally cry for hours and hours in there.

If anyone has any suggestions or tips..I would love to hear them!

[bellasmomma 12]

A playpen is too big for her to be in overnight if you are wanting her to hold her bladder and poo. She will need a small crate with only enough room to turn around so that she won't want to go where she sleeps. In a big playpen she will just make two areas, one to sleep and one to poop. As far as the crying, the only way she'll stop is if you will stop going to her when she cries. It's SOOOOOO hard but you will have to let her cry. If you think she is crying because she has to go outside, then go pick her up, take her outside -- no playing, no talking, no snuggling, praise her for doing her business outside and then right back in the playpen. She'll learn night time is for sleeping. It's hard but it works.

Now if you want her in your bed at night -- I am not a good person for advice. But there are lots of great people here who sleep with their fur babies so stay tuned, I am sure there will be good advice coming.

[My2Cuties 0]

Dixie slept with me from day one when she was a baby and would whine when she had to go potty. I never had any accidents in my bed with her.

Molly also slept with me from day one at 8 wks old. When she had to go potty she would try chewing on me and acting as if she wanted to play. I misunderstood her ONE time in the beginning and she peed. I use to have to wake up a few times in the night and take her to her pad to potty. Now she is 4 months old and sleeps pretty much all night till about 6:00. She only had an accident that one time and never since then.

[TheShihtzuation 0]

Yes - I agree the playpen is way too big for a wittle baby.

You should think about getting a crate.. (This Petmate one from Lowes is only $15.. I think this is the same exact one we use with Pokey!) And the key (at least for us) was diligently sticking to the going outside every. 2. hours --- even in the middle of the night! And at the early age we always took Pokey out to pee in the same area everytime.. It's extreely tiring .. (the every 2 hour thing) but its worth it. Make sure to really play up the praising when she goes peepee where you want her to too!

[kcsheperd 13]

Payslee started off in a crate..same night, she ended up in my bed. I couldn't do the crate thing at night..Sawyer is also in my bed..They are 18 & 17 weeks old now, and Payslee has been sleeping with me since 8 weeks old..I would just take her out before we were going to bed, and then put her to bed and say, "Night Night Payslee" and eventually she would bounce around, start digging in the covers and curl up..NOW she did PEE IN MY BED several times, and yes, that sucked..I have no idea why she did it. I had just taken her out, but for some reason she wanted to pee on SOFT stuff..That being my bed, her puppy bed, a fluffy blanket..etc.. NO IDEA why..But she DID outgrow that, and has not pee'd on the bed in forever.. so it must have just been a stage she was going through or something.

Now she wakes me up (by putting her paws on my face) in the night if she needs to go out, and out she goes, then right back to bed..So I hate to say, but it might just be a 'silly puppy stage' she is going through..if you DO want her to sleep with you in the bed, maybe you could put a little bed ON top of your bed and she would sleep in that? Either that, or just put some towels down! But its worth it once they get it and you have that cuddly little shih-tzu baby sleeping right beside you!

[GizmoHappyKitty 1]

I got both of my babies at 10 wks old, and Giz started out in a crate, but ended up on the bed after 2 sleepless nights trying to get him to stay in his crate. I don't ever remember him peeing on the bed, but I'm a very light sleeper and would wake up the moment he started moving around and would take him outside.

Now Kitty, on the other hand was fine staying in her playpen all night long without any problems. We set up her playpen with a litterbox lined with newspapers on one side and her bed on the other side and she would potty in her litterbox if she had to go during the night. She loved her playpen, during the day if we had her out running around, when she'd get tired she'd run to her playpen and scratch on it to get lifted into it so that she could take a nap or go pee in her litterbox............lol. We eventually moved her litterbox out to the balcony as she got older, and now she doesn't use it anymore (we no longer have it set up for her) but she still lets me know she has to go out by sitting in front of the balcony door with that look on her face and will get all excited if i ask her if she has to go outside to pee.........he he he.

Michele and the pups

[Stacey 7]

Every single time you take her out of the play pen when she cries, she will learn that crying gets her, her way and will continue to do it. So this is a big no no lol

I suggest getting a wire crate as every has stated, use the divider and feed her in her crate. This will help teach her that the crate is a "good" place to be regardless of what she's doing.

Shes only 7 weeks old, and wont be able to hold it through the night until around 3 months of age, it may be sooner but thats a good rule of thumb as I've seen with mine and others.

Keep the crate door open when she's running about. And in plain site so she gets accustomed to it.

She can only hold her pee/poo for about 2 hours at this point.

There is another way to crate train her.

Put her in the crate, shut the door, leave the room, only come back in when she's calm and collective, then if she starts to whine, turn around leave the room again. Do this until she understands that not crying will get her out. Once she's out love on her and show her a good time with a treat even.

Do this several times a day and eventually she will understand that its a good place to be.

Now I used an excercise pen when my pups were babies..... I had one area setup with puppy pads, I put the crate inside the pen with the door open, this also allows them to understand the crate is good and not bad.

Edited February 16, 2009 by Stacey

[ShihtzuBeauty 47]

I used a playpen for mine when I was cleaning the house doing laundry etc...but if we were gone I always used baby gates I would just gate them off in the kitchen w/their bed or big soft blankie and a safe stuffie. All of mine from day 1 have always slept in our bed.

[TheShihtzuation 0]

Stacey hit another important thing that we did with Pokey! We always fed him in his crate with the door shut. Nowadays even though we've been using the crate less and less.. at dinner time he automatically runs in thinking thats where he still has to eat. lol

[Ashley-Mileys Mom 0]

Good tips, thanks girls..I appreciate all the advice :closedeyes:

[CrazyTzuLady 16]

All 4 of mine sleep with us to we had a few pee pee accidents and even a couple poopy accidents, usually Delila, but they grew out of that pretty quickly.

[mcnemo 0]

Yea Dexter did not do the crate thing at all hated it so he ended up in the bed. We encourage him to sleep at the end of the bed and every time he falls asleep i lift him down and put him in the open crate. He wakes and pees on a puppy pad and at the start he wanted back up on the bed and i do it all over again (every 2 to 3 hours) but he has started going back into his crate instead of wanting up on to the bed some nights better than others. Just do what you can to make to make her comfortable and remember that her bladder is very small and she can only hold it for 2 hours or so a general rule is an hour per month 2 hours for 2 month old 3 for 3 etc . Dogs do not like soiling there own bed so just establish her sleeping area and try and keep her there . We have a towel at the end of the bed and he sleeps on that and we keep it that way. Hope it helps stay strong it will get better.