Hey everyone!
We brought home our little brand new 7 week old Boxer puppy from the breeder yesterday. We are doing crate training, and she has her little crate that she can turn around and lie down in and that is about it. Last night was our first night with her, and she HATED the crate. She howled all night long. I think we might have done things wrong.
We have the crate in our bedroom with us, not close enough to the bed to touch her but on the other side of the room. We have been slowly adjusting her to the crate by feeding her treats in there, letting her go in and out on her own. She takes naps in there during the day. At bedtime, we let her walk into the crate on her own and then closed the door. After about 15-20 minutes, she stopped howling and went to sleep. Then she slept for an hour or so and woke up and howled. We let her outside to potty, which she did. Then we brought her back in and put her in the crate. 15-20 minutes later, she stopped crying and fell asleep for an hour or two. Then we took her out to pee. etc. I think we ended up taking her out about 6 times, and she went potty each time we took her out.
However, we got NO sleep. I think this might have been a mistake because now she thinks when she cries we'll take her out. So here are my questions:
At 7 weeks, how long can we expect her to stay in the crate at night without going potty?
Do you set an alarm to let her out, or do you listen to her crying and let her out when she cries?
Thank you all!