Crate Training Your Puppy At Night | Preventive Vet

As your puppy gets used to their very own nighttime "suite," you'll soon be getting that much-needed shut-eye that you've been missing. Raising a puppy can feel overwhelming — and many puppy owners experience the "puppy blues." Having a puppy is, in some ways, similar to having a human infant at home (but thankfully, puppies mature much faster than human babies).

Young puppies need lots of naps, can get cranky if they're tired, and need lots of potty breaks to succeed at house training. Your puppy is learning all the time. The following tips and video examples should help as you navigate raising a puppy. Be patient and good luck!

Table of Contents Why is Your Puppy Barking at Night? Crate Practice for Nighttime Success Your Puppy's Bedtime Routine Helpful Items for Crate Comfort Overnight Puppy Potty BreaksAlternatives to Crate Training The Most Important Thing: Patience

Where Should You Put Your Puppy's Crate at Nighttime?

Where you put your puppy's crate depends on a couple of things:

• Does your puppy become stressed or anxious when they are crated in another room at nighttime?
• Or does your puppy notice the slightest noise or movement close by and get restless during the night?

You don't want your new puppy to feel isolated and start to whine because they're in distress. Their whole world has changed in a big way — while they used to sleep in close quarters with their littermates, now they're sleeping alone in a crate. Having their crate in or near your own bedroom can help them feel more secure.

Placing a Snuggle Puppy inside the crate can also help calm a puppy getting used to sleeping on their own, as it mimics having a littermate's warmth and heartbeat close by. Having them closer to where you sleep also makes soothing them during the night easier.

The flip side is that your puppy's sleep might be disturbed by lots of movement or activity in the room. Try placing their crate in a quiet corner or a separate, less active room.

You can also keep their crate near where you sleep at night, but set up a fan or sound machine to help muffle any noises that might interrupt your puppy's rest.

To learn more about where to put your puppy's crate, as well as what should (and shouldn't) go inside the crate, read our article "Everything You Need to Know About Crate Training Your Puppy."

What Should You Do If Your Puppy Whines Or Barks In Their Crate?

What you do if your puppy starts to whine or bark in the crate depends on the reason they are making noise.

PRO TIP: Setting up a camera to monitor your puppy at nighttime (and during the day) can be incredibly helpful for crate training.

You can even set up notifications on your phone when the camera senses movement, giving you a heads up that your puppy is stirring in their crate. A popular camera option is the Furbo, which has night vision, barking alert, and treat tossing capabilities.

Distress Barking

This kind of whining, barking, and howling is common with puppies still new to the home. The adjustment period for new puppies takes some time, and it's not abnormal for them to be stressed with the new environment and routine.

Going from sleeping in close quarters with their mother and littermates to sleeping on their own is a big change and inherently stressful.

Distress barking is often characterized by high-pitched, non-stop barking or howling, or extended periods of whining. You might also see it paired with your puppy pacing in the crate, attempts to escape the crate, panting, or excessive licking of themselves.

Finnegan, Preventive Vet's most recent puppy addition to the office, shows some distress barking during his first night in his new home in this video. This was just after being put in his crate for bedtime around 10 pm. Shortly after, he was taken out for another potty break:

You can — and should — give your puppy some comfort if they are distress barking. The important thing with this is that you are comforting, but not coddling your puppy. Speak to them in a soothing way and praise them for showing any calmer behavior. If you need to, sit next to the crate to show them that you're close by to encourage a sense of safety and security.

If possible, avoid taking them out of the crate completely, as you don't want to inadvertently teach them that barking means they get to come out of the crate.

However, in some cases, opening the crate door and petting them while they're inside can help your puppy settle down to sleep. You might also want to consider moving their crate closer to where you are to help them feel more secure.

Watch how Finnegan settles down when his owner sits with him during his first night in the crate. They had recently taken him for a potty break, so they concluded that that's not what he needed.

And even with his "big sister" Clover in a crate nearby, Finnegan just needed some human proximity to feel better. While the video is only about a minute long, the entire time she sat with him was just under ten minutes, and notice how she slowly distances herself as she leaves the living room, gauging whether he's settled down or not:

Demand Barking

Many puppies learn that by making noise in the crate, you will come over and let them out of the crate. Demand barking is often repetitive and your puppy is intently looking towards you in anticipation of your next move. This is often simply an unintended consequence of nighttime potty training routines, where owners respond to puppy noises by taking them outside in case they need to go to the bathroom.

Puppies are always learning and are very smart — by practicing consistent and proactive nighttime potty breaks, you should be able to avoid creating this association for your pup. Read more further below in this article for nighttime house training tips or click here to skip to that section.

In your crate training practice, pay attention to your timing for when you open the door to let your puppy out of their crate. Wait for a few seconds of quiet before opening the door. This is also a great opportunity to practice your puppy's Quiet cue.

• Ignore the barking for a very short period of time to see if they give up. I only wait one minute at most to see if a puppy settles on their own.
• Give your puppy the "quiet" cue. Mark a few seconds of their being quiet with a "yes" and provide them with something safe and appropriate to do in their crate, like a stuffed toy or puppy-safe chew.
• Consider if they actually DO need a potty break!
• Evaluate if you need to change something about their crate setup. Are they barking to get your attention because they are too warm (or too cold) with their current bedding or surroundings (like a heat vent or drafty window)?
• Determine if they need more physical and mental exercise before going into their crate for the night. Read more about pre-bedtime routines later in this article, or click here to skip to that section.

Need for a Potty Break

Your puppy might be whining or barking because they need to go outside for a bathroom break. This is common for puppies up to four or five months old. This usually starts as restlessness or moving around the crate before your puppy begins to whine.

You definitely want to respond to this type of vocalization, as you don't want your puppy to have an accident inside their crate — accidents in a puppy's crate can cause a big setback in their overall house training.

As Finnegan became more comfortable in his crate during his first week at home, he still needed potty breaks one to two times a night. You'll see how he starts to become restless when he needs to go to the bathroom.

Watch how his owners wake up before he starts barking to give him a break outside and how they stay calm and matter-of-fact throughout exit and re-entry into the crate. You'll also see that Finn takes a few minutes to settle again after his potty break, needing about four minutes before he lays down again:

Wait for a second or two of quiet before opening the door and take them immediately outside. To prevent this from becoming a demand barking habit for your puppy, and to encourage longer periods of sleep between bathroom breaks, set an alarm to wake up before they do and take them outside.

Proactive dog training is always better than reactive training! Over time, you'll be able to extend the time between alarms until they're making it 6–7 hours overnight without a potty break.

How Your Puppy's Eating and Drinking Schedule Affects Nighttime Potty Breaks

Young puppies should have an opportunity to go outside to the bathroom about 10 minutes after each time they drink water. If they drink water right before going to bed, they're more likely to need a potty break when their little bladders get full in the middle of the night.

Think about their regular dinnertime for nighttime crating success — try to feed your puppy their last meal of the day three to four hours before bedtime. This way, their body will have more time to digest and eliminate outside before settling down for the night. Remember that last-chance potty break! The last person in your home to head to bed should give the puppy another quick trip outside.