Puppies usually whine and cry when their owner takes them from their mothers. Some puppies whine for only a few hours, while others whine for the first few days.
However, if you take a puppy away from his mother after he’s six to eight weeks old, he should be able to tolerate being alone, but it will take time.
If your new puppy is barking, whining, or crying when you leave him alone, don’t worry, it’s normal behavior.
Still, you should learn how to get your puppy to adapt to his new home, which is what we’ll be addressing in this article.
Why Do Puppies Whine in a New Home?
Puppies are just like babies; they need their mothers' love and affection. So, if your puppy is whining or crying, he's not trying to annoy you. It's just his only way of communicating that he wants care and attention.
Plus, it might be that he’s feeling lonely, despite not being able to remember specific memories of his mother.
Puppies don't have the human imagination to picture their time with their mother and siblings. So, your puppy will only miss the smell of his siblings and the sense of their heartbeats around.
Still, you should keep in mind that a puppy might whine for other reasons besides loneliness. These include:
- Sickness
- Pain
- Hunger
- Boredom
- Fear and anxiety
You should rule out these potential causes to figure out whether or not your puppy is whining because he left his mother.
How to Respond to My Puppy’s Crying?
There are different approaches to responding to your crying puppy.
However, before you try any of them, keep in mind that your goal shouldn’t be to keep your puppy quiet for the night.
You need to teach him how to stay alone in the long run without making too much noise or feeling lonely.
1. Immediately Respond to the Whining
Most new dog owners will do that, especially if the whining is heartbreaking.
If you react to your crying puppy by going to his room and talking to him or picking him up, he'll most likely stop whining.
However, we don't recommend doing this every single time he whines.
This type of response can turn your puppy into a whiney adult dog who uses crying as a tool to get whatever he wants.
This might include your attention, treats, or objects that he wants to play with.
Still, you can respond immediately to your dog in case you need him to be quiet right away. This might be the case if your baby is sleeping or you have an online meeting.
2. Respond After a Period of Silence
We highly recommend responding to whining this way.
First, ignore the whining for a bit, then after the puppy stops making noise, go to his room and stand in front of him, but don't yell or confront him.
If you do this, your puppy will understand that whining gets him nothing.
You can also consider giving him treats when he stays quiet so that you encourage him to deal with being alone at night and when you're not home.
The good news is puppies are fast learners, so if you put time and effort into training them young, you'll save yourself days of behavior modification in the future.
3. Ignore the Puppy Until He Stops Whining
Some prefer ignoring their puppy's whining unless he's sick or needs a potty break. Accordingly, they'd rather make the puppy's kennel far away from their room so they don't get bothered by the noise.
Some dog experts prefer this approach, however, it doesn’t always work and may complicate your relationship with your puppy.
We recommend going this path only if you suspect that your puppy whines because he wants to play or wants extra attention.
Try to ignore his whining for about thirty minutes. If he doesn’t stop on his own, then maybe there’s something wrong and you need to go check on him.
What Are a Few Approaches to Try to Stop My Puppy From Whining?
Suppose you just got a new puppy and brought him his kennel and toys. But, at the end of the day, you went to bed and couldn't sleep because your puppy is continuously crying.
We have some tips for you to help your puppy adapt to his new home and stop whining when you leave him alone.
1. Keep Him Tired
Puppies have a lot of energy; they'll spend the whole night whimpering if they can't let it out.
Simple training, games, and toys will help get that energy out. Make sure your puppy is always doing something, especially before bedtime.
In addition, a great way to maintain your pup’s good health while also tiring him out is through exercise.
2. Crate Train Your Puppy
Crate training is a great technique to start potty training and an excellent method to get your puppy used to staying alone without whining.
Try to make the crate a comfortable place for your puppy. You can do this by letting your puppy have all his meals inside the crate and rewarding him when he stays inside it.
If you get your puppy familiar with the crate, he’ll be entering his crate on his own in no time.
3. Let Him Sleep in the Same Room As You
There's a debate on this matter as some people believe that if your puppy gets used to sleeping in your room, he may develop separation anxiety.
To prevent this, we recommend letting your puppy sleep in the same room as you for the first few days only. Then, gradually, you have to encourage him to sleep alone.
You can do this by taking his crate outside your room after he falls asleep and putting it wherever you want him to sleep.
You may also consider taking one of your shirts and put it next to the crate so that he smells you around him to give him extra comfort.
Paul has been creating content for the dog niche for many years. The information he shares comes his first hand experience growing up in dog lovers household and then owning multiple dog breeds of his own as an adult. Paul enjoys doing the hard research to collect, analyze and present our dogtemperament.com readers with the best answers to their questions.