How Long Until I Can Sleep?

[Acemac]

so we picked up our new French Britteny on Sunday....

She was great on Sunday came home and ran around for a while (after being kind of car sick) and then went right into her box and pretty much slept all night without much fuss.

We though wow this is going to be easy...... WRONG

Night #2 she was not happy to be in her box. I think i got about 2 hours of sleep last night. I think the traumatic ride to the vet in the box did not help matters much, but we really had no choice as I had to work and the wife had to take her alone. We also found out that she has a mild case of giardia so I think that may explain some of the car sickness.

When she is in the box she will calm down when i get in the room and i never take her out until she has been silent for a while.

I have a few questions though.

1. what should i be using to clean up urine accidents in the kitchen? right now I have been first using a bleach water mix and then a vinegar water mix, but I am not sure if that is good or not.

2. when I wash the blanket that is in her box (she got sick on it) should I be using regular laundry soap or is there something better?

3. Is there anything I should be doing for her playful biting? I know she is just 8 weeks old and does not know better but she has sharp teeth...

4. My wife pretty much never stops playing with and petting the puppy is there such thing as to much play?

Right now she is in the crate all day (for the rest of this week as my wife is taking a class and cant be home while I am at work) I do get home around lunch to let her out. we try to really get her lots of exercise before putting her back in the box at night. How long does it take until then stop crying?

just a rant from a tired new dog owner...

[Ralph Wiggum]

1. Bleach/water works. If it's tile/linoleum, it doesn't really matter. For carpet, they make an enzymatic cleaner for pet stains that works well.

2. Regular laundry soap is what we have used.

3. Put a stop to it now. Lot's of schools of thought and it's been discussed quite a bit here. Do a little research and decide what you want to do, but bottom line is that she needs to know that using her teeth on a human DOES NOT happen.

4. Possibly with giant breeds, but I can't imagine too much play for a brittany. Puppies generally play hard, then sleep hard. Take advantage of the sleepy times

5. The crying will probably get better each night. All dogs are different, but it should get better within two weeks. Biggest thing is to stick to your guns--just let her cry. Sleep with ear plugs in if need be. It helps a ton (as long as you can still hear your alarm).

Good luck!

[Setterman]

Beautiful puppy! Where did you get her? I take it you will be hunting. I also have a new pup she quieted down after about month. I would not play tug of war with her, that will only encourage bad things when retrieving. Biting I keep alot of the small rawhides on had. When she starts I give her that.

[jigging-matt]

Ralph answered all your questions, but I have one more suggestion. When we brought my Brit home a few years ago, he was pretty vocal at night, so we gave him one of my old t-shirts and played the radio for him at night for a couple of weeks. This seemed to help keep him quieter. Might be worth a shot.

[mojoputter]

As far as the biting, we got our dogs to stop by yelling OUCH real loud everytime they would start biting, eventually it stopped.

[hanson]

As far as the biting, we got our dogs to stop by yelling OUCH real loud everytime they would start biting, eventually it stopped.

This worked for me as well with my Lab and I also used the fish mouth grab too. It just took a very long time. He was pretty mouthy for a solid month. With anything dog training related, don't expect immediate results. Its repetition, persistance, and patience thats required.

[pikehunter]

First of all, congrats! Good lookin pup.

Second, nothing you are experiencing is out of the norm. Several of us have asked the same questions here before. Some a month ago, some five years ago.

My Brit turns two this month and someone gave me a tip on this board back when he was a pup that helped me get some sleep: Take an old tube sock, fill it with rice, tie it off and throw it in the microwave. Then leave it in his crate when you go to bed. The warmth will help him miss his mama a lil less. Also works with some pups to leave a radio on - quietly - so he or she thinks someone is in the room with him.

[Ely Lake Expert]

I just showed this to my girlfriend and she said aww cute and tell him to not to expect be sleeping anytime in the next 12-15 years.

[HookEmHard84]

Haha, I love the title of this post. My wife and I just got a GSP pup on June 19th, so were coming up on having him for two weeks now. Lets just say I now bring a pillow in blanket with me to work and have found my hour lunch break to be a great time to take a little nap!

Prior to getting him I went back in the archives and read a ton of the tpoics and tips from on here. There is some great info availible on this site! Thanks to all that chime in.

Actually our pup did really well with the crate training. He really only cried for 2 nights. The killer is that I wake up an hour and a half earlier so I can play with him.

Just another thought on the crying. For the first week We really wore the little guy out before we put him in the crate. Seemed to help him not cry so much, he was just so tired and wanted to sleep.

We are working on the biting thing right now, we are also using OUCH. He seems to get it most of the time, but every once and a while it seems to get him more worked up, a few times he has evn started growling/barking at me. My response to that was just to ignore him and bring him outside to play. Anybody else have this happen? What are your thoughts?

[Acemac]

well things have gotten better. She is sleeping at night and has not had any accidents in the box yet (knock on wood). she makes a fuss right when she goes into the box after going out in the middle of the night but seems to calm down quickly.

she is still ignoring me any chance she gets and eats ever thing outside (leaves grass sticks basically if it fits in her mouth she wants to eat it.

I bought her one of those great big hollow cows bones and that keeps her busy. its bigger then her so at this point she can only chew it in the place i give it to her. that is working nice to keep her in one place for more then 2 mins.

[870Express]

Haha, love the post. The pictures make me want another one (my Brits about 16 months), then I read the post and remember how greatful I am to not have a puppy right now! I remember when seeing my puppy's old grandpa I asked the breeder how long it takes Brits to settle down. He responded "oh, about seven years."

Have fun and take a ton of pictures. *Remember, one day in the not too distant future, you WILL be able to sleep through the night.