No wonder, at 6 weeks he's a little young to be away from his litter mates. But he's home now. So you have to make do.
How long have you had him? You need to try and persivere with the crate. Even if he doesn't like it. There are some stickies in the puppy section that will give you a bunch of things to try. But most of all you need to stick at it and don't give in to his crying. Yes he doesn't like it, but that doesn't mean its not whats best for you and him.
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To be honest with you we did tell the breeder that we didnt want him until 8 weeks old but the breeder insisted that he would be fine at 6weeks.
Plus his living conditions werent great =(
He arrived with us on saturday evening, he is fine during the day but cries really bad at night time. I took his bed upstairs with us last night and placed him in our room and he was a bit more settled but not much
The approach I have taken in the past, particularly with the first one was to sleep in the kitchen with him a couple of nights. Then sleep in the living room wiht the door open then cold turkey left him in his crate about night 4 or so. Yes he certainly cried hard the first time, but by a couple of nights in he stopped protesting and started to realise this was the way of things now and he had to get used to it.
Some take longer than others, you have to just stick it out. It won't last for ever.
When you put him in the crate at night give him a few bits of kibble scattered around and leave him busy with those. Then ignore as best you can. Don't return to him when he is shreiking. Wait till he is quiet.
You may need to get up through the night to let him out for a pee for a week or 2, but do this with as little fuss as possible. Don't engage in play, just lift him out for a pee praise him when he goes then back in the crate and back to bed.
He will honestly get the hang of it, you just have to be tolerant for awhile.
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Is there anything near his crate that can make a noise - if not try an old fashioned wind up clock that ticks, just so there is background noise for him. If he is not a shredder try a large cuddly toy for him to snuggle up to - it must be very strange coming from somewhere with littermates and mum with all the associated noises, smells, comfort etc into a quiet, isolated area.
He is comforted by having you around, so perhaps putting something that smells of you in the crate would help. I mean something like an item of your clothing, such as an old T shirt you have just taken off (do not wash it, you want to leave your scent strongly on it). He might find that comforting.
Persevere, as Fee said. Use earplugs if necessary, and don't give in to every cry.
If he is more settled by being in your room with you then you could start like that, and gradually move him out of the bedroom, a few feet at a time if you like until you eventually have him sleeping where you want him to be. Some people do it that way. Others, like me I'm afraid, go cold turkey (there wouldn't have been room for a crate upstairs in our house anyway, so no real choice).
Six weeks is very young to have left the litter, and he will be missing his mum and litter mates, but I can understand why you still did it if his living conditions were poor.
Hmm sounds familiar a "breeder" getting rid earlier than they should. I know its hard having them so young as i got harry at 5 weeks. Due to him being so young I got a big duvet and put it in my room near my bed and made a hole for him to sleep in so he was all snuggled into the duvet. He loved it, he also had a clock that ticked under where he was lay and if you go into some of the charity shops you might be lucky and find the very old hot water bottles the stone ones, I had one of these which will be nice and warm and act as the heat from mum and litter mates. Failing that go into pets at home and you can get a puppy "thing" the inside goes in the microwave for a few seconds then put it in its cover (a little red dog with chewy corners) and pup will cuddle with it. Harry still has his when its cold at night.
It only took him about a week untill I could put him in his pen downstairs at night, where he cried for 5mins then that was it untill around 3am when eh wanted to go out for his wee, then back to bed which we found was the hardest as he wanted to play, but 10mins of him crying and he got the idea it wasnt happening.
Oh if you have a teddy for him to cuddle or climb on top of as he would his litter mates i find thats great, i usualy go with the bigger the better. Harrys is still bigger than him and hes nearly 16 week just make sure pup cant get the eyes ect off so ideally remove them.
And the best big of advise is spend the £10 to become a member on here as its the best thing i have ever done. You will get loads of help and.advise.
You've had all the brilliant ideas above, but remember, once he's around 7-8 weeks and you can begin crate training seriously the biggest piece of advice I can give you is "don't give in".
The crying will be incessent and heartbreaking, but you will begin to notice a difference between "Let me in your bed" cry and "I need the toilet" cry. My first pup cried for one night, my second cried for 2 weeks straight, they're all different.
I left the crate door open until he was totally without "accidents" at night, then I started to lock it.
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Mooz, Ivan & Milly xxx
My puppy Django cried very hard on his first night in the crate. Both my OH and I found it heart wrenching so we brought him up to our room. He still sleeps on a mat on the floor on OH's side of the bed and we'd miss him if he wasn't there. And in the summer he chose for a few nights to sleep on his own on the cold tiled kitchen floor. No problem, no crying. Little old terrier generally sleeps under the bed but sometimes chooses the landing and sometimes the sofa.
And no, we don't feel dominated by out of control dogs. They fit in with us and that works for us.
I sometimes think there is a new orthodoxy that says crate training is the only way to get a house trained well-balanced dog. It may do this, but it isn't the only way. If you can't bear the puppy crying, you don't have to.
If you can't bear the puppy crying, you don't have to.
But it's a much easier life if you start separation training as early as poss, whether in a crate or in the next room without a crate. Night-time is perfect because they start to associate the crate/room with comfy sleepy-time.
You don't need a crate (first pup was many many years ago before the availability of crates for the normal pet-owner). But now we have them, they're so useful.
Everyone's lifestyles are different, but I'm soooo glad I put up with those few nights of whinging. It made puppy-training, time-outs, trips to the shops without him, holidays where I had to leave him with rellies, and everything else so much easier to be able to put him in his little "haven" to relax his brain. The crate is their little "den".
But, I think 6 weeks is a bit early to be cutting the apron strings just yet.
I have an 8-yr-old rescue dog who obviously has been sleeping in the bedroom with the previous owner. I'd love to be able to crate train her but she burrows and burrows and I think, maybe, there is an age limit to starting the training and I don't want to stress her out too much being an older dog. But, I've made a rod for my own back because we didn't persevere with the separation training, we have to leave her with my bro to go away for the weekend and I just KNOW she's going to act up....whereas the dog we've had since a puppy will just head for his bed in the crate and stay there, upside down, throwing zeds to the sky, until morning.
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Mooz, Ivan & Milly xxx
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just make sure pup cant get the eyes ect off so ideally remove them.
