First time yorkie mom... Please Help!!

[amyc514]

Hello everyone, I just brought my 9 week old Gracie home 5 days ago. I've never owned a puppy, as my other dog was 7 months and already trained when we brought her home. I knew it would be difficult, but let's just say it's so much harder than I thought!
I set up a little gated off area in my room, with a bed, food & water, toys, blanket, and pee pads. So I've opted for a pen instead of crate, but now I'm starting to wonder if crate training would be better? Or do you think I should keep the pen as her safe space? The problem is she is constantly barking and crying in the pen and I haven't slept much since I got her. I can't leave her alone for more than a minute or she'll start crying again. A friend recommended that I move my mattress on the floor next to her pen so she can see me, and I've done that for 2 nights. She usually sleeps about an hour and then she'll wake up crying. I'll stick my finger in the gate and let her lick me and talk to her and she'll usually get back in her bed. Right now with my mattress on the floor, I'll let her sleep with me if I take a nap in the afternoon and she is fine. But I don't want to do that at night because I want the pen to become her safe space for when classes start back up in the fall and I'm not home as much. When I leave the house right now and put her in the pen she's barking and crying, and when I come home she's still crying. I make her calm down and stop for a few minutes before I take her out. Should I continue what I'm doing, and she'll eventually sleep through the night and get use to the pen? Are there any other tips you have to help her stop crying at night and when left alone? I heard a ticking clock wrapped in a blanket helps so I may try that.
I appreciate any advice you all have for me! Thank you

[Lovetodream88]

They normally are with their moms until 12 weeks. You have to remember all this is new to her, she is used to being with all her siblings and mom. It sometimes takes a few weeks to get them used to it. I would put something that smells like you in her area. They also make these things called snuggle puppies you can find on amazon or petsmart has their brand and they have heart beats. Getting a new puppy is like having a newborn it's tough.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

They normally are with their moms until 12 weeks. You have to remember all this is new to her, she is used to being with all her siblings and mom. It sometimes takes a few weeks to get them used to it. I would put something that smells like you in her area. They also make these things called snuggle puppies you can find on amazon or petsmart has their brand and they have heart beats. Getting a new puppy is like having a newborn it's tough.

[BayleighL]

Originally Posted by amyc514

Hello everyone, I just brought my 9 week old Gracie home 5 days ago. I've never owned a puppy, as my other dog was 7 months and already trained when we brought her home. I knew it would be difficult, but let's just say it's so much harder than I thought!
I set up a little gated off area in my room, with a bed, food & water, toys, blanket, and pee pads. So I've opted for a pen instead of crate, but now I'm starting to wonder if crate training would be better? Or do you think I should keep the pen as her safe space? The problem is she is constantly barking and crying in the pen and I haven't slept much since I got her. I can't leave her alone for more than a minute or she'll start crying again. A friend recommended that I move my mattress on the floor next to her pen so she can see me, and I've done that for 2 nights. She usually sleeps about an hour and then she'll wake up crying. I'll stick my finger in the gate and let her lick me and talk to her and she'll usually get back in her bed. Right now with my mattress on the floor, I'll let her sleep with me if I take a nap in the afternoon and she is fine. But I don't want to do that at night because I want the pen to become her safe space for when classes start back up in the fall and I'm not home as much. When I leave the house right now and put her in the pen she's barking and crying, and when I come home she's still crying. I make her calm down and stop for a few minutes before I take her out. Should I continue what I'm doing, and she'll eventually sleep through the night and get use to the pen? Are there any other tips you have to help her stop crying at night and when left alone? I heard a ticking clock wrapped in a blanket helps so I may try that.
I appreciate any advice you all have for me! Thank you

Our yorkie was 12 weeks when we got her - and as another comment said 9 weeks is pretty young. We gave her a bear that became her "sibling" and she bonded immediately. We also kept her with us continuously during the day. We opted for crate training right from the start for night time and put the crate up on a hamper at the mattress level within reach. Yes she fussed. We would get her out, take her to the pee pad and then right back to bed. Before long she was sleeping through the night - mostly. Slowly we moved the crate further away but she is still in our room. We did find she slept better in pjs, maybe warmer? But it did help on two fronts - she was warmer and she had a bedtime routine. Over time we did put a pen out in the kitchen area with a soft throw rug, a dog bed, and her food and water. When we are away she stays in there. We trained her with treats to go in and when we returned she had to be quiet to get taken out. We carefully trained her not to bark at any time - mostly (she is a dog). We tried leaving a pee pad in the pen but she did not like that and would rather wait to go until she comes out.

[pstinard]

Originally Posted by BayleighL

Our yorkie was 12 weeks when we got her - and as another comment said 9 weeks is pretty young. We gave her a bear that became her "sibling" and she bonded immediately. We also kept her with us continuously during the day. We opted for crate training right from the start for night time and put the crate up on a hamper at the mattress level within reach. Yes she fussed. We would get her out, take her to the pee pad and then right back to bed. Before long she was sleeping through the night - mostly. Slowly we moved the crate further away but she is still in our room. We did find she slept better in pjs, maybe warmer? But it did help on two fronts - she was warmer and she had a bedtime routine. Over time we did put a pen out in the kitchen area with a soft throw rug, a dog bed, and her food and water. When we are away she stays in there. We trained her with treats to go in and when we returned she had to be quiet to get taken out. We carefully trained her not to bark at any time - mostly (she is a dog). We tried leaving a pee pad in the pen but she did not like that and would rather wait to go until she comes out.

We got our Bella at 8 weeks (we didn't know better), but we did crate training almost exactly as described above, and it worked for her. We keep Bella on our night stand in her carrier with a baby blanket where she can watch us at night. It's her nightly routine, and she dutifully goes to her carrier at bedtime. If she whines in the night, we take her to her potty pad, but now she's an adult and she can make it through the night without a potty break. It took a few months to reach that point. For the first few days we had her, she would cry for about 10 minutes before falling asleep, but she adapted quickly to her routine.

[Captainzing]

Hello and welcome to YT

Grats on your new fur baby

[canana]

Welcome to YT!

As others mentioned, your baby was taken from her mother too young. So you'll have some difficulties due to that aspect.

But, with the crying.. it's quite normal. And the difficulties dealing with it - that's quite normal too! We've all been there, but don't worry you'll get through it. You can liken the whole crying thing to when moms have to sleep train human babies - it's not easy, but you have to train them to sleep on their own.

I had my fair share of sleepless nights, for a few months actually. I opted for crate training with my Scottie because I wanted him to be outdoor potty trained. He HATED it.

First though, we went through a lot of training to deal with the separation anxiety. You may want to look into that first so that your baby can be left in her pen alone without freaking out. Basically you leave her alone at small increments of time and reward her each time she's quiet when you come back. Start with a few minutes and increase to 5 minutes, 10 minutes etc...eventually an hour, two hours etc.

I had to do this so that Scottie didn't bark or make noises while I was out as I live in a condo. It's always very important you train them that it's okay when they're alone for their own mental state of mind. And it's good to start training this when they're very young. I took a week off work, but then again, I got Scottie when he was already 5 months old. At 9 weeks, you may need more time and patience...

For the non-stop crying - I tried many things. After training him to actually like the crate, each night I took him out every few hours through the night for potty relief.

When I knew it wasn't because he had to potty...
I covered his crate - partially covered, fully covered etc. I left him something of mine that had my scent. I put a loud ticking clock over his crate to mimic a mother's heartbeat. I put his crate by my bedside.

Eventually after reading everything I found on the internet, I let him just cry it out. When you attend to them each time they cry (and it's not a potty cry), they learn that they get your attention when they cry. It was incredibly hard to ignore the cries. I'm sure my neighbours were super irritated. But it worked. After what seemed to be a few weeks. He finally stopped and eventually slept through the night.

Anyway, that was my experience. I thought I'd become bald from pulling out my hair! I'm SO glad it's over, but I very much miss his puppy days.

Good luck!! With puppies, it's a lot of problem solving, trouble shooting, and thinking outside the box.