In the first few weeks of owning a new puppy, I couldn’t get any sleep what so ever. All night she would cry and whine for no apparent reason. What I did know, was that it was a big problem that had to be solved, and fast! That’s what led me into finding out how to stop a golden retriever crying at night.
Today I’m going to share everything I found with you…I to your saviour, YES I did find the answer, so keep reading as I’m about to spill all the beans!
The intro
As I explained above, there were many nights of me losing countless amounts of sleep due to my new puppy wanting to stay up and whine through the night. Its sad to say but it was a dreadful time and I was honestly at some points thinking about giving her a new home.
Through digging and persistence, I was able to find out a few solutions that simply saved my life, my job and my dog too! Before we get into the meat and potatoes, we must first understand this problem in detail first. In the following section, I will be sharing a few reasons why your dog may be whining in the first place. As once you can identify the problem then it’ll be a whole lot easier to find a solution.
Why do puppies cry at night?
After countless hours of not sleeping, I decided to go out and find the reasons why puppies cry at night. There were many different reasons that are found but if you stood out to me as they kept coming up time and time again. A few reasons why your puppy may be crying at night include:
- Lack of stimulation (caused by lack of exercise)
- Wrong timing of potty breaks
- Wrong feeding times
- Anxiety (caused by new environment)
- Being taken away from a parent too early
These are just a few reasons, but let’s talk about exercise. Exercise is a great way to provide stimulation for your dog. A simple walk each day after you return from work can make a huge difference in your dogs day, and even better in their night too.
Another few reasons include the feeling of hunger, frustration and anxiety. You may find its just 1 of these reasons or all of them at once. Either way, they are all indications as to what steps you should be looking to take next. I used to suffer from this problem hugely with my dog (Bella), it was an issue that had to get fixed pronto.
Luckily I was able to come across a few resources that led me onto the answer. Keep reading to see what it is and how it can help you too!
How to stop a golden retriever from crying at night
A great way that I found on how to reduce the crying through the night was to provide more stimulation to my pup throughout the day. How do you do that? Well, one of the ways I decided to test was to take her for a walk not long before bed.
I purposefully try to get her to engage in a physically demanding game such as fetch too. This really helps to tire her out and burn off some energy before bed. You do want you to be careful here, as there is a fine line between time out and fuelling her for more activities.
Try to make the walk no more than 30 minutes. That way, they will have enough time to burn off some energy whilst also understanding that it’s not going on all evening. When I will arrive back home after taking her out for a walk. I then use a brain stimulation toy inside of her crate to keep her stimulated through the night. I never thought a $20 toy would do the trick but it did. Here’s a link to Check out the KONG dog toy on Amazon.
You can stuff the toy with food to create a small challenge for your pup too. Heres a video on how it works below >>>
Here’s a great video to explain using the Kong toy for feeding
Brain stimulation toys
By using this brain stimulation toy. I was quickly able to reduce the crying at night. However do be careful with using this method, as it is only an alternative and not a solution. You could also cause a dog to put on a few extra pounds. So the way that I actually found to stop the problem completely. What’s the first identify exactly what was causing it.
As I explained earlier it could be one of many reasons only way your golden retriever is crying at night. For my dog (Bella), I was able to identify that the problem was putting her in the crate. Boy o boy was this tough though!
When tough gets tough
This can be quite difficult to fix when you’re dealing with a newborn puppy. As they simply don’t have the same skills of holding themselves from going to the toy. It will be your job to actually create and train them to ensure that they sleep safely through the night. You might have to get up at around 2 or 3 a.m. to allow them to go to the bathroom at first.
This all depends on whether you’re using a crate or if you simply just let them sleep inside the house. Now I can assure you this method did work. I learned the crate training techniques from an online dog training program that I purchased a while back.
The program was so helpful that I decided to write a review. Continue reading to find out how long this took me to fix.
How long does this take to stop?
To give you a timeframe on how long you can expect this to go on for. Well, for me and Bella it actually took around 3 weeks for her to start settling into her new routine. It’s really important that before you put them to bed that you don’t engage in conversations with them.
As well as any other fun playful games that could encourage them to want to play. Now in regards to how long this could potentially take. I’ve actually read articles on some people explaining that it has taken them up to 6 weeks.
However, with the right training, you’ll have your sleep back in no time. I would not go as far as yes, but I can definitely say that you could take up 2 months before you can get your dog into a routine. Changes in environment and changes in activity or task can be sometimes overwhelming to a newborn puppy.
My pup was definitely a good dog for the majority of the time. And even for her, it was difficult to take on such tasks at night-time. To achieve a faster result then you will need to make sure that they are well trained for their crates too. If you are not using a crate then the same rules apply to wherever you place their bedding.
Remain patient & stick to the plan
This gives them the indication that it’s a good place for them and they will be safe. As I explained earlier, one of the biggest reasons for puppies crying at night is down to them feel anxious and scared. Moving into a new environment is scary, so try to make it as homely as possible for them.
Why does this only happen at night?
The main reason for this happening at night it’s down to the fact that this is the only time your puppy feels unsafe. When you leave your puppy in a place they are unfamiliar with or uncomfortable with it causes them to react in a certain way.
Just like if you would leave a baby inside of a crate or in a bed at night. Not that I’m recommending you to do so at all! Throughout the day your dog is in the care of yourself or your family. You may even have other pets in the house that keeps them occupied too. So there is no real-time when they feel alone or bored.
Aside from when you put them into bed, they finally realize how bored they really are. That’s why it’s very important to use a few of the tips mentioned above. It is your duty to provide as much stimulation to your dog as possible throughout the day. This will ensure to guarantee a good night’s sleep for you and your puppy.
In some cases, you might find that even after all the information provided here, your puppy still does not sleep at night. Here are a few options or routes you can go down if you experience this problem.
What if the steps don’t work?
The best thing you can do if this doesn’t stop is to contact your local veterinarian. If you find that even after trying out the methods mentioned throughout this article there is no success.
Then it may be time to contact a professional to get some extra help. There could be a problem that is deeper than what appears to be at the forefront. A common reason why dogs could be crying and whining at night is due to pain. Communication and he goes so far when a dog is a brand new puppy.
They cannot tell you if they are in extreme pain I feel uncomfortable in certain areas. This could only become apparent to them when they lie down to go to bed. It’s important to take them to the vets to identify if there are any further problems. As in some rare cases, you could have a bigger problem to deal with. Lucky for me this wasn’t the case!
I highly recommend that you check out some training that can help you with sleeping at night. The one product that helped me was the brain training for dogs online program. If you want to see what it’s all about, then you can see my review.
Conclusion
Are you suffering from your golden retriever crying at night? Then it is highly likely that your dog is overexcited or overstimulated before bed. The tips above should have given you everything you need in order to get them off after. If the problem still continues after weeks of training. Then seek some professional help as you may need to take a trip to the kennels.
