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My husband and I just got a French Bulldog puppy (12 weeks old) 2 days ago. First night was horrible with the non-stop whining while in the crate. Per our vet's instructions and a friend who is a dog trainer, we moved the crate out of the room (he is in the room next to ours). He did better last night and only whined for about 15-20 minutes before settling down and did that about twice during the night. However, he is continuing with the constant whining and absolutely refuses to go into the crate willingly. He will play with a toy all the way to the crate and then once he gets to the door, he stops playing and walks away. I've been able to get him in a couple of times willingly by putting his food bowl inside the crate but the minute I move more than 6 inches from the crate, he will stop eating and start whining (think Roxy the English Bulldog). I've walked away, turned my back, ignored him and it still persists. He gets plenty of praise when he is in the crate and quiet and he gets ignored when crying and I have never let him out when he cried.
He is also just not interested in anything other than hanging out in my or my husband's lap. He sleeps there about 95% of the day which I know is not healthy for the dog. I read the one post about how to make yourself uninteresting to the dog but I can't trust him outside of his crate because he is not housebroken. We are doing leash bonding but that pretty much guarantees that he follows me around. We have an ex pen that I've put him in while I've buzzed around from room to room picking up, doing laundry, etc and he will still whine.
So, people smarter than me... Am I expecting too much out of the pup? The last time I had a puppy, I was 8 years old and obviously don't remember much. My husband and I both go to work tomorrow but we are able to switch our schedules up a bit so he should only be alone in the crate for 3-4 hours before I come home and he is able to hold it for a very long time--especially when it is rainy or cold!
I don't think your puppy is crying to demand attention. They cry for as many different reasons as a baby. The transition from being part of a litter to a dog on their own is often very unsettling for a puppy. He probably doesn't understand why after spending alot of time on you and your husbands lap in the day he is then shut away from you all night.
Personally I would bring the crate back into your room and place it next to bed, this way you can reassure him of your presence throughout the night. You may experience a few sleepless nights to begin with but this is part of having a puppy. All of mine have stayed very close to me at night, it helps them feel secure to know that they are not alone, as you progress it will help massively with toilet training because your dog will be able to let you know when its wants to go and I think it also helps build a stronger bond between you and your dog.
Thanks for your reply! His crate is in our playroom so we started Sunday night staying with him in there until he falls asleep. He woke up twice during the night and that was it. Yesterday, I slept on the couch with him in his crate (about 6 ft away) and he did better--also only woke up twice but never needed to go to the bathroom. He also was crated for the first time yesterday while we were at work (2 hrs yesterday and it'll be 3 hrs today) and he did better. My husband said he had stopped whining before he even left the house.
He's an overall great puppy. Minor chewing problems which is normal (heck, my boxer never grew out of it) and the whining but that is also getting normal. We've been talking to some other Frenchie puppy owners who said that he'll probably keep this up for a couple of weeks and then settle down. I was just worried that he was getting too dependent on me always being here and it would set up some separation anxiety issues.
