Finn the Puppy| Puppies and Sleeping at Night

Bringing Home Baby

Puppies and sleeping at night, is it possible?

Parents, remember when you brought your new beautiful, bundle of joy home and everyone told you to nap when they nap, sleep when they sleep, and you ignored their advice because you had way too much on your plate or so you thought? I’m getting that feeling again. Except the new kid on the block has four legs, huge paws and soft fluffy puppy fur.

This is Finnigan or Finn the puppy for short. He’s 8 weeks old. The kids picked out his name. We wanted “The Dude,” as in the Big Lebowski, but that didn’t go over too well.  Plus, we sometimes call our son dude, and god forbid we call him and the dog the same name.

Puppies and sleeping at night

We brought Finn home on Friday. It’s been five days and my husband and I haven’t slept in the same bed at the same time ever since.

Like an infant, the puppy is up a minimum of 3 times per night. Sometimes he’s thirsty, sometimes it’s to take him outside to pee or poop, but for some reason he won’t go at the same time, and sometimes he just wants to play. Which is not ok.

Night 1: We started off in our room with Finn’s Kennel open and a child gate that allowed him some movement. That is what the breeder recommended.  It didn’t work. He cried all night. We were going up and down the stairs almost every hour to let him outside to pee. We knew this first night would be tough.

Night 2: Started off the same way as the first night except my husband slept on the floor next to the crate. Kinda funny, he used to do the same thing with the kids, minus the cage, I mean Kennel.  Worked with the kids, not so much with the puppy.

Night 3: New tactic. Finn sleeps in the laundry room downstairs. If he takes to his Crate, bonus! It was a good plan. I take the first shift and sleep in the guest room next to the laundry room in case the puppy cries. We switch somewhere around 2am. What the heck was I thinking! The puppy never really went to sleep or at least didn’t want to sleep alone. After 3 trips outside in the backyard freezing my butt off, I marched up stairs at 2am, threw my pillows on the bed and said “your turn.” It was like deja vu, handing the kid off in the middle of the night. My husband and I both woke up with colds. I guess sleep does matter.

Night 4: Repeat night 3 except my husband slept in the guest room. I slept like a baby who sleeps through the night. My husband not so much. He looks and sounds like hell. I offer a good morning greeting, he grunts back at me. I guess it didn’t go so well.

Night 5: It’s my turn downstairs. It’s almost 11pm and Finn is sleeping. I should be sleeping but instead I’m lying here tying this post, trying not to hack out my lungs too loudly, and wondering if I decide to log off and get some sleep will the little devil wake up?

Help Please

I’m pretty sure this is not the way to successfully crate train your dog and I’m confident that we can’t keep these sleeping arrangements. So I put this out there and ask for suggestions and tips. Thank you in advance. And mom stop laughing your ass off and saying it’s payback. Love you!