7 days ago I picked up a 7 week old boxer puppy for my kids. I've had many puppies throughout life and have raised/trained some great dogs.   Currently I have a 10 year old boxer that is a great dog and was a breeze to train.  The first few nights with the puppy were a nightmare.  Puppy was clearly stressed out about being away from mom and siblings and would not tolerate being in the crate for more than a moment before screaming her guts out.  I slept on the couch with the dog for nights to ease her into her new surroundings.  Now Now the puppy can stay in the crate for a little longer (about an hour)  at a stretch each night before waking up whining. I take her out of the crate to go outside (last night it was every freaking hour all night) and she still crapped and peed in the crate.  I don't mind that as much as the constant unrelenting waking up throughout the night.  It's affecting my work and I can't take it anymore.  I guess I had hoped a week into it the puppy would at least be able to stay in the crate for a few hours at a time overnight.  I have also been taking the puppy and crate to work with me to help her get used to the crate and she will stay in the crate for longer periods at work and sleep quietly with no problem.  I told my wife if the dog doesn't show improvement by the weekend I'm giving her away to a friend.   What the hell am I supposed to do here.  I'm sleep deprived, agitated and pissed at this furball.

You're not going to want to hear this but it's a 7 week (now 8) old puppy, tgis isn't uncommon. Hang in there

I raised a many a pup and 8 to 10 weeks is normal for me to release to new homes, so 7 weeks is a little young to be set loose on the world .

You got to look at from the pups still growing digestive track and mind set.

Could it be a health issue. How is the stool and urine ?

Change of food, worms, Blatter infection

Is the pup is ok out of the crate ?

If yes to all that would rule out issues with health.

If it's not a health issue

It's only temporary, it gets better.

Good luck

My dog was like this.  Only thing that calmed him was giving him some thing to chew on and his own bed in view of ours.  He usually chewed himself to sleep.

My experience...  I put the pups crate in our bedroom at night.  The dog still woke up in the night to go out to pee but it was calmer in the interim just being with us and my adult dog in the same room.

we also put the crate in the bedroom.  I am sure you are taking the dog out before crating, but taking him out of the crate when he wakes up crying in the night teaches him that's how he gets out.  I would crate him before bedtime, and then get up once or twice during the night on your schedule, but not when he whines or cries.  gradually you should be able to stop the night time trips outside.  

having the crate in the bedroom helps because you can shush the dog and speak to him reassuringly without getting out of bed.  it's not really being in the crate that he hates, but being alone.  good luck.

How big is the crate? A lot of dog owners who have problems with dogs messing in the crate are using a large crate when a medium or small crate is needed.

You continuing to get up in the night is feeding the dogs whining. It whines, you go see it. Any attention is good attention


You said it yourself, even when you take it out every hour it still craps in the crate. So why are you taking it out? It's a puppy and needs to learn to hold it. Eventually it won't have anywhere else to go in the crate, assuming you have the correctly sized crate, and will hold it.




Lock him up for the night and walk away. Don't go back until YOU get up in the morning. First few full night's will be rough but it will learn




It's a puppy. What did you expect?  Now you're going to dump it off on someone else? It's not the dogs fault. Puppies take YEARS to raise properly and you're giving up after a few days?




This is why our shelters are flooded with more animals than they can handle.


 

Having raised several great dogs from puppies without much trouble I guess I just got spoiled by great dogs.

#1 you should have left the pup with Mom for at least another week, if not 2.

#2 What steps did you take prior to the pup's arrival to ease the transition?  Did you send the owner some of your smelly garments to put in with the pup to build familiarity with your scent?  Did you send any new blankets/toys to be with the pup for a few weeks that would then come back to you with the pup so it would have some bridging items?


#3 what steps are you taking to bridge the gap now.  It sounds like you are sleeping in the same room, that is good.  Something like a ticking clock can help.  I would also suggest positioning the crate so the new pup can see the older dog sleeping.




#5 aside from hearing the pup whine and giving it a pee break, you may need to let the pup whine in the crate.  Right now it sounds like you are training the dog "If you want out of crate, just whine for 10 minutes straight"

What akodo said.

My now 2+ year old Akita was a crate screamer and a crate pisser, even though I did "all of the right things". The screaming finally stopped when I actually violated "crate rules" and yelled at him for screaming. That stopped it, but I was right on the edge of moving the crate to the garage. The peeing was much, MUCH tougher, but it eventually stopped. When I finally figured out that he would mess the crate to get out, what worked there was to tether him to the crate with a very, VERY short lead, clean the crate, then dump him right back in without paying the least attention to him. A little bit opposite what you might ordinarily do for crate training, but you've got to work with what you have, not what the book says is what you have. But try the book solutions first, of course.

As you said yourself, you are spoiled. Suck it up, buttercup, and do the right thing, which is to stick with it when you took the dog one or two weeks sooner than was probably optimum.

Puppyhood is a rough venture and all of them can vary in need. All i can tell you is things will get better; she'll grow out of the bathroom thing. Here's hoping you can see things through. It's always unfortunate when people give up on a puppy -- not judging you if you do.

The dog is not the one that needs 'improvement' here in my opinion.

You got a perfectly clean slate to work with and are fucking it up.

Give the dog more activity during the day cut off the food and water in the evening

One thing we used a while ago.

Had a pup, but she was 10 weeks old when we got her. She had similar issues at night. We found this stuffed toy with basically a clock inside. It mimics the mother's heart beat so when the pup sleeps it hears/feels it. Basically calming the nerves as if it was coddled with its litter.

Just a thought, it worked for us but all pups are different.

The pee/poop bit can be separation anxiety. Had a adult we adopted do that, NOT FUN....

I actually fell asleep with the dog in his kennel for the first few weeks... sometimes it takes puppies longer than others to feel comfortable and not abandoned.

You can also try this, it works for my Golden who gets anxiety whenever things change (new people, moving, etc).  She loves it. Adaptil

 
Certainly a possibility. We had to totally wear out our Rott pup in order to get a good nights sleep. By totally wear out, I mean, you practically carry a passed out dog into its kennel.

Even at 6mo he can still get fussy if we were busy and he didn't get enough exercise/play.

I don't miss this stage at all. I feel your pain, man. However, hang in there.. it will end up being worth it.

Same thing other folks have said here. Just let it cry. Easier said than done.. but with you letting it out so frequently when it cries it learns that that's all it needs to do to get out of the crate.

If it is shitting and pissing in the crate you likely have too large of a crate or the dog is legitimately sick.

F(Two)PNI

How 'bout an update OP?  Did things get better or did you give up on what will turn out to be a perfectly good Boxer?

This.
Buy earplugs.
Like an infant, they know screaming and crying will bring you running.  Do not reward bad behavior.  Ignore cries like this at night.  Eventually the dog will learn you aren't coming.

My first dachshund puppy did this horribly.  Both me and the roommate bought earplugs and eventually the dog learned to sleep through the night.