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Originally Posted by Dakota_Gurrl First of all, 7 weeks is not too young to bring a pup home, 6-8 wks is ideal, depending on the individual pup and person. Secondly, through the night crate training isn't the best idea, especially if you just brought her into a new environment. Try crating her for 15 minutes every several hours, tell her it's "bedtime" (or whatever you want to call it) when you put her in. She's gonna bark, let her, and when she can stop barking for 5 minutes, take her out, give her lots of praise and play with her. She'll associate the crate with "good things" like treats & play, and when she comes out she's gonna have fun. Eventually she'll mellow out and love it, that's weeks away though. Trust me, I have 3 Rotti's, and not one of them would do a "through the night" crating till about 10-11 wks. You'll get alot more sleep if you just let her either lay with you, or lay on the floor beside you. Look at it this way, she just lost her mom and her siblings, and has been taken to some strange place...realistically, how would you respond? You'd cry and fight to get away. Rotti's are alot more sensitive than people think, and at her age, she needs a new mom to latch on to. Once you have her full trust though, she'll let you do anything to/with her. Hope this helps, it's just my opinion, but it worked on my 3.  |
Anything earlier than 7 weeks is too early for a puppy to leave the litter, but 7 weeks is fine. Here's more info (it's a sticky at the top of this forum):
http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/pup...velopment.html
The rest of your post I agree with. It's a huge transformation for a puppy to be taken from the only environment they've ever known and find themselves in a strange place without the security of their littermates. I allowed my dog to sleep with me from the time I brought her home, and she slept through the night (until about 4am) from day one. As long as leadership is established, ongoing, and consistent....allowing a puppy to sleep with me has never been a problem.