# Welcome Archie - Day 3 advice needed please :-)



## RebeccaEve (Feb 4, 2013)

Hi All, 

This is my first post but I have spent a lot of time reading the info on here before we got our puppy and it was really useful and reassuring 

We brought home our blue roan cockapoo puppy Archie on Tuesday morning. He's absolutely adorable! I tried to attach two pictures of him but not sure it worked. Anyway he's gorgeous and sweet with the most beautiful eyes but we are having a few issues with crate training (which I read up on lots before getting him and decided it was a good way to go) so I thought who better to ask advice than all of you cockapoo owners who have probably been through similar situations. 

So we put him in his crate the first night and my husband slept in the same room as him as our book told us to. He cried every two hours for an hour then half then 15 mins. But his cries are heartbreaking. Really loud and like he's in pain. My husband took him out about three times that night to wee and he kept his crate clean in between. 

Then last night both exhausted we tired him out, took him for the toilet then settled him in his crate. He went fast asleep and slept this way till 2am. My husband put his alarm on to take him out at 2am and we hasn't heard any whimpering to this point but when he went down Archie had soiled his crate with a wee and a little poop. He took him out straight away but then we had to wash the bedding get fresh bedding etc. we put him back in his crate at 3am when we were done and he cried for almost an hour. We got up again at 6am and he had done another wee in his crate. 

I know they don't like to soil their dens so could we be asking too much of him to wait all that time in there without a wee? He's so young I just want to do the right thing and not distress him. But we also don't want to be up every 2 hours in the night either. 

We have the option of leaving his crate open and giving him a blocked off area of the kitchen in the night too. We could newspaper it and leave him. Do you think that would be preferable at this young age? 

Any advice is really welcome as I just want to have a happy pup. 

Many thanks

Rebecca


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

He is a puppu its early days try not to change too much. stick the the plan you jave in place. but when you take him out dont talk to or pet him. or what will happen is ue will cry more to get your attention. 

what time is his last meal and last poo before bed. 


the first couple of weels.can be rugh so just stick with it and you will het there.


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## RebeccaEve (Feb 4, 2013)

Thanks for the advice. Do you think it's possible for him to hold it that long? 

We fed him a small meal at 9pm because he barely ate his dinner at 6 and he was sniffing round his food bowl. I think I'll feed him at 7pm tonight and not again.


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## RebeccaEve (Feb 4, 2013)

Oh but we tried to get him to poo after that but he wouldn't. So maybe that's where I went wrong?


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

He looks so very,very sweet!
Is the crate big enough to have his bed at one end and a toilet area at the other? He looks tiny enough to do that, or just leave the crate door open...
Some pups are clean, very quickly - others are just mucky pups who don't care.
But in the end they all get there.
Make sure you get some sleep - otherwise it all gets too much too quickly.


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## Patricia (Jan 28, 2013)

He is so cute. As said in the last post I would have his bed one end and the other end left empty (I put an old pillowcase there to cover the metal bottom). When Dolly was that small I would give a last meal at 5 to 5.30 pm, then you have the rest of the night to go outside with him until bedtime. If we went to bed around 11 ish we would then get up (or my husband would ) around 2.30 to 3 am and take her out. She then woke again around 6 am and we (or he) would take her out again then. She only soiled her crate once.


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

You still need to get up to let him out for the toilet either if he crys or at 2am. you just dont want to make a fus of him or he will see it as play time and cry more. 


during the day start using a toilet command so he learns to to the toilet when you want him to. saves a lot of time later on.


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## RebeccaEve (Feb 4, 2013)

Thanks all really nice to have people in the know to pass on advice. Marie I just ordered the adaptil spray to keep him carm. 
The crate is quite big so I can do the toilet thing at the end. I will feed him tonight at 5.30 then and then he has plenty of time for it to pass through. I think I'll try with the door open tonight as we desperately need sleep and I think he will be much less distressed. He does love his crate and goes in willingly during the day to play and sleep. He just doesn't like it when we leave him in there too long. He's so tiny his bladder must be the size of an eggcup? So I can't imagine how he would hold it for 4 hours. Especially when he's jumping about and whimpering. Not sleeping! 

Will see how we go tonight. My husband is happy to get up every night at 2am to let him out for as long as it takes (bless him! ) so that's what we'll continue to do even with door open. Then hopefully he'll still learn to hold it if he can. 

Thanks again for all your advice I feel much better about tonight now xx


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## Patricia (Jan 28, 2013)

If you block off an area of the kitchen just make sure he can't get behind anything, dishwasher etc. Just made me think as I heard a horror story at puppy class the other night.


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## RebeccaEve (Feb 4, 2013)

Yeah we have a secure area for him to play in that's not too large or too small. Should be fine hopefully. We will wait and see!


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## Jedicrazy (Apr 26, 2011)

Hi Rebecca :wave: just wanted to welcome you and Archie to ILMC. He is gorgeous by the way but then I am biased when it comes to blue roans . I agree on the advice given to split his crate in to a sleeping area and a toiling area. Enjoy your snuggly baby....ooh feeling puppy broody again :baby2: HELP!


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Just liven Archie, he is beautiful.


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## Kt77 (Sep 20, 2012)

Hi there, first of all he is adorable. What a cutie. When I got Bertie I had his bed at the back end of the crate and a toilet area at the front. I used puppy pads it worked for us could be worth a try. Yours is so tiny and they are all different just like babies are. Bertie has been dry during the night and didn't cry since day one however he was very nippy and still has the odd wee on the carpet at 5 months! Enjoy all your cuddles x


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## dio.ren (Jan 18, 2013)

He is so cute!! When I had my puppy she was 8 weeks old so I would feed her her last meal at 5pm. That way she had plenty of time to do her potty before going to bed. I would crate her at around 10pm and set an alarm for 2am and take her out to do her job. I wouldn't fuss over her once she was done I would put her back in. She would whimper a bit but I ignored her. If you take them out then they learn that this will get them out. I could tell if she had to go or not cause if she had to potty her screams were desperate sounding. Then I would take her out again at 5am and put her back in til 8am.

Puppies on average can hold it for 1 hour for every 2 weeks of life but every dog is different. Also if your crate is too big maybe block off part of it as long as he has enough space to turn around and stand and lie down. If the crate is too big then they sometimes use part of it to potty. I had to block off part of Molly's crate as it was a bit too big. She didn't have any accidents so we are lucky. Now she is almost 5 months old and she lasts all night from 10:30pm to 7am with no whimpering and no accidents. Good luck with your new puppy ....so cute!


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

Archie is a darling and I also have a big soft spot for roans having two myself! I couldn't bear to hear my puppies cry it was torture to me! I took their crates to my bedroom when they were tiny and missing their siblings and we all slept soundly. The puppies settled instantly when they were with me at night at we never had a wet crate. Now they choose where they sleep and sometimes prefer to sleep down stairs away from hubby's snoring!


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