How to Stop Puppy Crying at Night Without Stress
- Rachael Henson
- Nov 27
- 6 min read
You’ve finally brought home your long awaited puppy, they’ve spent the day exploring your house, bonding with you and getting to know their new family. Everything's b
een going well, you’ve had successful toilet visits, they’re playing well and even done a few sits!
However bed time comes, you pop your puppy in their crate, turn of the lights and all hell breaks loose, they’re screaming, crying, howling and trying to escape the crate. You’re panicking, you heard you shouldn’t let them out whilst they’re crying but you have neighbours and its 11pm!
Well fear not, in this blog we’ll help you to get to grips with sleeping through the night so both you, your puppy and your neighbours can sleep soundly!
How do I stop my puppy whining at night?
The fastest way to stop your puppy crying at night is to look at where they are currently sleeping. You should bring them into your bedroom, in their crate and put their crate right next to your bed. Your puppy should be able to see you and you should be able to reach down and put your fingers through the crate to reassure them if they do wake. This way if your puppy wakes up frightened they can immediately be reassured by your presence without needing to start crying. If they do wake needing the toilet they can alert you quickly and you can take them out swiftly before any accidents happen. Dogs are social creatures and we have specifically bred them to absolutely love human company! Asking a puppy who’s just left its breeder and the rest of its litter to sleep downstairs in a dark and strange utility room on their own is way too big of an ask and can lead the lasting problems.
Do you leave a puppy crying at night?
No. It’s never okay to leave a puppy to “cry it out” at night time. Puppies are infants, their brain is still developing and they are not yet mature enough to be alone. If you leave your puppy alone at night they will almost definitely cry as a instinct to being left alone which in the wild could be very dangerous for a young pup. Leaving your puppy to cry it out at night does absolutely nothing to benefit their development, contrary to old fashioned beliefs it does not build a more resilient dog or a dog who is able to cope alone. In fact the oppositite is true. Puppies that are left to cry it out are more likely to have separation anxiety and can also have a host of other problems including;
Increased fear of novel objects and experiences
More likely to startle at stimuli
Less ability to adapt to change
Increased chance of aggression
Reduced social ability
Reduced ability to learn
If you want a confident, resilient and robust adult dog do not leave your
puppy to cry it out at night. It’s also perfectly okay to comfort your puppy if they are crying in their crate. Reassuring puppies when they’re scared does not make them more likely to be scared in future. If you were scared of a spider and I comforted you would that make you more likely to be scared of spiders in future? Of course not, reassurance does not reinforce fear. What does make fear more likely is continued exposure to the fear at too high an intensity, i.e. continuing to leave your puppy to be scared and alone.
At what age do puppies stop crying at night?
If you’ve set yourself up for success your puppy shouldn’t be crying at night at all because they are sleeping soundly next to you in their crate. If your desired goal is for your puppy to sleep somewhere else eventually then over time you can gradually start moving their crate further away from you and closer to the end goal, but your puppies confidence and development will determine how quickly this can happen. If you move it too far and your puppy begins to cry then move it a bit closer again and try again in a few more nights. Remember that confidence ebs and flows during development and this will not be linear, one day your puppy may be feeling very brave and the next day they may feel a little unsure. Thats perfectly normal and its okay to go back a few steps now and again.
Typically once puppies hit adolescence at between 6-12 months (depending on breed and size) they begin to feel more confident moving away from their caregivers and exploring alone. Again this is evolutionary as before this age there would be a risk to puppies being alone, once they begin to mature they would naturally start to move away from the den and begin exploring the world more alone. At this age your puppy will likely have the confidence to begin to spend periods of time alone. Always bear in mind that this will eb and flow so be prepared to take it nice and slow.
Do puppies grow out of whining?
As your puppy develops they should gain confidence and therefore wine less as a form of communication with you. Young puppies whine frequently to communicate their needs to caregivers and its an important communication tool for them just like babies cry. As they mature and move into adolescence at between 6-12 months the whining will decrease as they require less assistance from us and learn new communication tools.Its worth noting that leaving a puppy to “cry it out” will eventually result in your puppy stopping whining however beware of a puppy that gives up crying. This is a puppy that has learnt that crying does nothing, their body can no longer take the level of stress they are experiencing and they go into “shut down” which is where they shut down all emotion and simply accept their fate. This is seriously neurologically damaging for puppies and results in any problems in adult dogs aforementioned.
How to punish a puppy for whining?
You don’t need to punish your puppy for whining, its simply a communication tool and an infants way of asking for help. If your puppy is whining go to them, comfort them and teach them that when they are worried you’ve got their back, if they need you you’re around to support them. This is what builds a confident adult dog who is less dependent on you as an adult. Our goal is to build a secure attachment with our puppy and that comes from being there for them when they need it. Over time as they mature and need you less and less they are more able to cope when you are no longer available because they feel secure in their attachment to you.
Verbally is physically punishing a puppy for whining would be like punishing a baby for crying. We need to support them as they are growing and silencing them does not resolve the reason why they are crying. Yes they will likely be quiet but they will still be feeling the emotions that resulted in the crying initially.
Shouldn’t I start as I mean to go on with my puppy?
The old school advice used to be start as you mean to go on, put your puppy in their crate downstairs and leave them to it. After a while they’ll get used to it right? Well as we’ve discussed this can have disastrous effects in your puppies development, you spent a lot of time choosing your puppy, making sure you researched and gained knowledge in how to raise them properly in the hopes of having a well rounded and happy adult dog. Don’t let that go to waste by exposing them to high levels of brain altering stress early on in their development. Start with your puppy in your bedroom with you, or you sleeping next to them downstairs, provide comfort if they need it and over time gradually move them to the desired area.
We don’t send kids to university as soon as they hit school age do we? We start them off in reception and they learn gradually over a period of years. Puppies are no different except they develop far quicker than children, so start them off in reception (your room) then gradually progress them through to university (the utility room).
Final Thoughts
If you need more support in your puppy journey join us for our 6 week Puppy Life Skills course where we cover everything from socialisation, loose lead walking, recall, puppy biting and more! We’ll set you and your puppy up for success with fun and engaging exercises each week alongside access to all of our training guides through our private facebook group. CLick on the link below to sign up!
If you’re struggling to settle your puppy at night or during the day then get in touch!
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