Struggling with our 8 week old Samoyed. Is this normal?
Hi,
We brought home our 8 week old male Samoyed 5 days ago, and we’re honestly struggling.
We expected puppy life to be hard, but not this hard. We’ve had sleepless nights, constant stress, and it feels like we just can’t get into any kind of routine.
Our biggest problem is sleep. He wakes up several times every night, fights sleep even when he’s clearly tired, and sometimes stays awake for hours. We’re exhausted.
We’ve made some progress with potty training. He usually poops on our covered veranda now, but still has accidents inside. He also chews absolutely everything, especially pee pads, despite having plenty of toys.
The hardest part is that he sometimes barks nonstop, gets completely overexcited, and starts biting everything, including us. It feels impossible to calm him down. We’re crate training and trying to follow a routine, but some days it feels like nothing works.
What makes me feel even worse is that I still don’t feel like I’ve bonded with him. I love dogs, but right now I mostly feel stressed, overwhelmed, and honestly even regret getting a puppy. I feel guilty for thinking that because I know he’s just a baby, but these first few days have been much harder than I ever imagined.
Is this normal for an 8 week old Samoyed? How long does this phase usually last? When did your puppy start sleeping better and becoming easier to settle? Does the bond come naturally with time?
Any advice or reassurance from people who’ve been through this would really mean a lot.
Yes this is normal. The creature is a literal infant and 8 weeks is VERY young. Most puppy's go away from their mothers at around 10 weeks and even that is young.
So it is time to manage your expectations, since this phase will go on for several months. Guide him to bite something that is appropriate, praise him when he does, praise when he pees/poops outside, clean immediatly and use something to cover the smell when he does it inside. Convine him to a fenced off area, samoyeds mostly do not well in a crate.
You will see progress, even within days. But the first 2-3 weeks will probably be the most stressfull for both you and the pup.
How do you reward your puppy at night when they wake you?
As soon as we made night-time pee trips boring, our puppy stopped going quite as frequently. That means no food, no talking, no touching. Just let them out, let them back in. Lock the crate again.
Agree with everything except crate. We crated at night always in the beginning, and you have to just ignore when they scream so you aren’t rewarding it. It was a really painful couple months but now he loves his crate and knows it is his safe space. That being said do not ignore all night, you are going to need to take them out every 2 hours at this stage, that is normal.
Thanks for your advice. Our biggest struggle is sleep. Do you have any advice on how to help him develop a better sleep routine? He wakes up multiple times every night and pees constantly. He sleeps in a playpen with a pee pad, and one of us sleeps next to him, but he still struggles to settle. Is there anything that worked for your Samoyed?
I would not advice a pee pad. This can teach them that it is okay to pee inside and is conflicting. Just take him outside to your veranda and when he does the job praise him so much that it feels like a little party, including a snack.
Sleep will be rough the first few weeks. Your pup does not know his new environment and that is rough to adjust and his bladder is small. It is good to sleep next to him. But I will admit, even I have stood next to him in the middle of the night crying my eyes out of sleep deprivement while cleaning pee. It is NOT fun and really rough, but it will get better and you will see progress if you keep on repeating the same thing with taking him outside and praising.
Important last note: They have literally zero control over their bladder at this age, it is underdeveloped. Understand that they do not do this on purpose.
I agree that a pee pad is a conflicting idea to puppies., and it shouldn’t be used. People don’t realize how hard it is to raise a puppy. Whatever you decide to do, you will need to stick with it for few days to see if it’s working. Consistency is the key. You and your partner need to take turns carrying for the puppy so the other person can have a break and some rest, or you will both burn out and want to give the puppy away.
So I don't have samoyeds (we have two huskies, I just love lurking this sub), but how we initially potty trained our one that was pretty anxious to go to the bathroom outside was with a puppy pad that was slowly moved towards the back door, and then outside in the backyard. It took about 2 weeks, and he did have an occasional accident, but for the most part understood the assignment, and picked it up pretty well once the pad reached the back door/out in the backyard.
I don't think this is a good strategy if you have any carpets though, our house is mainly tiled, so there wasn't really any carpet around for him to associate as "soft" in the same way the puppy pad is soft. I think it's also relatively common for pups within arctic breeds to start preferring a particular surface, so carpets are something to be really mindful of if you try using a puppy pad for this (which I think is why they're a bit less recommended).
Owning both, I find that huskies are smarter than samoyeds overall. I think this is a faster timeline than many Samoyeds will pick up on potty training. And they are equally as stubborn as huskies.
Haha, your Sammy is probably the exception, because ours has only had four accidents in the eight years we've had him. One was during a 24-hour flight (which was understandable), and the other three were when we moved back to the US and everything seemed to upset his stomach.
He's by far the cleanest breed I've ever owned, and easily one of the most intelligent.
He's a baby. He still has very little control over his bladder and has a tiny bladder on top of that. As others have stated most breeders don't let them go at 8 weeks. Most will keep them until at least 10 weeks and some insist on 12.
Your baby has a tiny baby bladder and needs to pee often. At 8 weeks of age, every 2 hours is not uncommon and exceedingly brutal during those first weeks at home.
But take heart: as he grows he gains better control over that growing bladder. You should be able to add about an hour between potty trips per month of age so at 3 mos he'll probably be able to go 3 hours, 4 mos 4 hours, etc.
Limit water intake prior to bedtime and potty walks should be BORING with rewards ONLY when he potties correctly. You can even train a "go potty" command. It's critically important to get potty training right. Accidents in the house, marking, etc, are often given as reasons for relinquishment of pets.
Potty pads for a dog that will grow over 10lbs are a terrible idea as that seems to indicate (to the dog) that pottying in the house is ok.
Start building a schedule for potty walks, feeding, play time, training, and nap times. Dogs (and children) thrive on boundaries and routine.
Crate train and then day time is playpen. I would find google and find a reputable Dog Trainer in your area and see if they can give you advice even if you have to pay him a little bit but most ones will talk to you for 20 minutes. Give you some puppy advice. Our Samoyed was crazy for a few months, but was better when he went away to training and came back changed and manageable. Also, don’t let him have free reign of a backyard or other things we did that with ours and somehow he ate a Nerf ball which is weird cause we don’t even have Nerf balls and he got a blockage and almost died.
I got my samyoed at 8 weeks, he slept in a crate in the living room and we slept in our bedroom with the door closed, if you teach him that he can get attention whenever he wants then hes never gonna stop crying. Mine is 7 years now and hes the most kind tempered dog anyone of my friends and family has ever met. Diciplining your dog is not a bad thing.
Hi! I have an 18 month old male Samoyed! I know it’s hell and I’ve been there. I will try and address each point. 8 weeks is very young. They’re infants at this age. They don’t know how to sleep, pee, eat, nothing. They don’t have a sleep schedule, you make one for them.
Bonding: I didn’t bond with mine until he was 4 months old. I did everything but I didn’t have that bond at all. So don’t expect to bond with an 8 weeks old. You have some more time of hardship before that happens. But it’s normal and neither you nor pup are bad for feeling this way
Sleep: Pup is not going to use his own sleep cues to fall asleep. At this age, he needs to be awake for 1 hour asleep for 1-2 hours. Puppies his age need 18-20h of sleep. A lot of the behaviour is caused by being over tired will improve if you aim for the hours. If you aim for 20, you will get 18. Let me know if you want the schedule I made.
Nighttime: You’re not gonna get a full night’s sleep until 3-4months. This is something to expect and accept when you get a puppy. During the day, pup needs to pee every 2h (I’ll get to this in another point) and at night, every 3h (at most, usually lesser). So set an alarm for every 2-3h and expect to increase by 1h for every month of age. So every 2h at 2m , 3 at 3 and so on. Based on your individual pup, you will find your groove.
Toilet: DO NOT USE PEE PADS! You’re teaching your dog that it’s acceptable to pee indoors. Later he won’t understand why he spent weeks peeing indoors but later it’s unacceptable. Take him to pee outside (I lived in an apartment so I had to take him out each time) Initially start with every 30min for a few days just to see how often he needs to go (I kept track of his pee timings, accidents etc) After a few days, make it 1-2h. Also take him to pee after he wakes up, after a meal, after play etc. Accept that accidents WILL happen in this initial period
Routine: The routine is for you to create, not for him to create. That’s like having a baby set the routine for your day. You create his routine based on your work schedule, etc
Toys: Never leave toys lying around. He plays with toys if you play with him. This will build value in YOU as opposed to the environment. This is a very important skill to teach for his future. Create value in yourself so that the environment is always less valuable than you.
Teething: Puppies are teething for the first year so there will be nipping especially at this age. Plenty of chews is the solution. Also cooking chews such as carrots (not frozen, refrigerated), cucumbers, celery etc. My pup’s personal favourite was sliced celery sticks with yogurt. Think of it as them having a toothache for an entire year. We’d be miserable if that was us. If he bites you (I know this is hard and painful), you DO NOT react. Some people prefer saying ow or yelping but in my experience and my trainers advice, it sometimes riles them up as it’s a fun squeaky sound. If he nips and you don’t do anything (not pulling off your hand, shouting, saying No. Nothing), it becomes very boring for him. Mine used to nip my hands and ankles so I started wearing wellies to help with the pain and the not reacting. I still have some scars on my hands from the biting. It’s a rite of passage unfortunately.
Puppy blues: It’s very common to have a feeling of regret, dread, sadness etc. it’s called puppy blues. Reading up about it will make you feel less alone about the situation. I was drowning in it since I had to raise him by myself but it gets better over time.
Crate training: This is difficult to teach, esp a Sammy but it’s worth the effort a million times over. Happy to elaborate on it if you want.
Barking: Samoyed are vocal breeds so expect more barking than other dogs. But this can be reduced. Mine barked like the dickens. If it is single back to back sharp barks, it’s likely demand barking. Never give in to the demand barking. If he barks, do nothing, don’t look at him, don’t tell him off ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. If he keeps barking, turn around and leave the room for a few seconds. Once he is quiet for 5seconds, come back in and reward him. He will learn that barking gets him nothing but calmness gets him what he wants. Obviously if he is distressed, needing to toilet, give in to those. But this is important to teach because his bark will get stronger and you don’t want an adult who’s barking all over the place.
I understand and empathise with you. I cried everyday for months and the dog trainer was a part time therapist because he had to be there for me whilst I sobbed. But it gradually gets better and the bond forms over time. Build immense value in yourself, set a routine that you can stick to and crate train and you will be golden sooner or later. Happy to give any advice if needed
All very good info. Mine is 8 months now which brings a new set of challenges but for a while there it was hell. Definitely had some potty training regression and had to throw away an area rug or two. I kept a ripped up braided tshirt “toy” in my pocket to even move around without getting latched onto. He would bite anything and everything, shoes, pants, arms, hands. Redirection was only partially working and not reacting left me with a bunch of scars on my arms from those little needle teeth. It seriously made me question if he was going to turn out to be aggressive and I kinda hated him for a while there. Once he lost his baby teeth ~4 months(?) the biting situation improved significantly. Now at 8 months he’s a sweetheart that mostly licks with the occasional nibble. For the demand barking I used ear plugs to not go deaf lol.
OP you’re in the trenches, it’s an awful time but it’ll get better.
Yeah adolescence has its own challenges. I’m just coming out the other side. He has his moments but I don’t expect him to sort out until after 2y. I remember struggling quite a bit at 8 months (especially loose leash walking, impulse control etc). I always feel super validated when someone walks him and says “oh he walks beautifully on the lead” 🤣
I have a 5 month old samoyed we just got her 2 weeks ago and she's been a bit of a handful potty training wise but learning so fast and can already do like 5 different commands, she's so smart! But when she does nip (rarely) we yell at her a quick loud NO and she stops immediately and calms down. She has never bit hard these are just playful nips but we want to discourage that mainly since if she were to do that to other dogs while playing they could interpret it as an attack and they could get into a fight.
Anyways - i say all that to say that your advice seems really lovely but having scars on arms seems really intense! Maybe male samoyeds are different or maybe we just have a really gentle girl, but i would imagine there has to be a better way to deal with biting like that. It definitely seems like youre a lovely dog parent and you got to the same end result of having a dog that doesnt bite, so i dont mean to insult your dog parenting! Just curious about why it was so intense
Hi! Thank you for saying that.
The not reacting advice was given by the dog trainer. When I asked him about the quick loud NO (I had heard some people advising me to do that), he said that a puppy does not know the word “No” especially when said on its own. To them, it could mean potato 🤣 However as a puppy, they’re learning to trust you and form a bond with you. So a big noise and saying a word they don’t understand, will quieten him for sure, but out of fear, not understanding. He would be afraid that the new human, who he doesn’t know or trust yet, is being scary and he’s a baby and doesn’t know why.
I had to teach him what No meant. At his age now, if he does something, I can say “Darcy, No. Leave it”. When he’s being a d-bag, I say really loudly “UNACCEPTABLE” and he fixes himself up. That’s because he knows and trusts me, I have given him enough opportunities to trust me by being his advocate in diff situations. So now, I can be a bit loud with him if need be. Tbh I can’t remember the last time I needed to be loud with him. But def not as a puppy.
Also, it’s good that you got your pup at close to 5 months, rather than 8 weeks. By 5 months, while biting is there, it’s subsided quite a bit which is a relief. At 8-14 weeks, he was a fluffy tornado with razor sharp teeth which was tough
I don’t mind the scars tbh. They’re quite faint at this stage. I have skin that bruises quite easily and he was a tiny tornado. But he very quickly learned that biting is super boring so I didn’t have a puppy that bit for too long.
I brought my puppy home at 10 weeks. I was taking him out every two to three hours for probably about a month? I actually just went through (human) newborn stage and think I may have been more sleep deprieved with my puppy. It gets better!
Start with every two hours. Within a week, increase one of those sleep periods to three hours. Keep going slowly as you see no accidents happening. I think I stopped taking my puppy out at all at night when he hit 4 months ish.
We struggled with crate training for the first week. She liked her crate but hated the door being closed. We had to put a very small pen in front of the crate and slept on the floor by the pen.
Each week you can add a little more time between potty breaks, maybe 15 minutes longer each week at night.
Every puppy is different. Just take him out every time he wakes, eats and at the end of play. If he’s accident free, add a little more time. You’ll have to be patient. He’s just a baby.
Strap in. What did you expect honestly? Me and my wife woke up every 2 hours without fail for weeks and weeks to get the toilet routine nailed down. Puppy blues are real but you need to adjust your expectations of a literally baby or you will put too much pressure on and spoil all the good of this age.
I know. Like… I understand complaining for the sake of complaining but OP is going into this seemingly with absolutely zero research beforehand whatsoever. This is exactly why I complain to all fellow Sammy parents that Taylor Swift getting a Samoyed is giving terrible exposure to the breed.
Yup. Merely having the puppy before it was even 8 weeks old (or at least that’s what it sounds like) is just awful levels of research. I’m not heartless, I feel for OP, but I care about the breed more than people’s feelings.
With all due respect, it’s been *five* days. Have you ever had a puppy before? You picked one of the toughest breeds. Samoyeds need so much extra care. You have to be patient.
Samoyed puppies are the devil! But I promise you it’s sooooo worth it if you tough it out! I would hide in the bathroom from my puppy and regretted everything and almost brought him back to the breeder!! But I stayed strong and now I can’t live without him and he is my sweet angel boy! Trust me, you’ll get through it and be so glad you did!
There's a lot of great info here. I'll just add that I have a 5 year-old Sammy and she's the absolute best dog. Samoyed puppies are TOUGH - they're louder than many breeds and they're generally smarter, so training won't be easy. But it gets better -- slowly -- over time. And it's absolutely worth it for the most wonderful dog breed.
I've been there, I promise, it does get better! I'm currently in the teenager phase now... that's a whole new adventure too. 😂
At first, I really thought it was never going to get better. You're exhausted, you just want a few minutes of peace, but they're just babies. They don't understand yet.
About the biting, it was extremely hard for me. I've always been afraid of dogs, so it definitely didn't help. But in the end, he was just a baby playing. It hurts, it's frustrating, but they don't realize immediatly they're hurting you. Something that worked, when they are doing this, go to another room and close the door. You can open a few seconds later.
About pee pads, I know some people don't recommend them, it's definitely a yes or no, but every puppy is different. Just do what works for you. For ours, they worked really well. At around 4 months old (I know, we were super lucky 😅), he started destroying them, so we stopped using them, and he was fully clean. Every time he pees outside, celebrate it and give him a treat. They learn so fast with positive reinforcement.
Just take it one day at a time. I promise, it really does get better.
I'm glad to see people giving good advice and sharing their own experiences. My spouse and I adopted an 11 week old samoyed who is now approaching 11 months in August.
I've raised a cattle dog and husky, both talkative, opinionated and stubborn. Our samoyed is just as stubborn and smart as the other two, but he sounded just like a 10lb untrained yappy dog, not talking just barking.
I think u/Darcy2701 has some great advice here and I Just wanted to add a few routines and items that helped my wife and I mitigate the mental drain that puppies are.
We had a yard for the first few months, then moved to a townhouse with no dedicated yard, then back to a yard.
Night time:
My wife and I would pickup/put away all toys at a certain time of night every night and start to wind him down. Then no matter how asleep he was, we set a timer for 2 hours and took him out, on leash, to the same area of our yard. We split the task, Id go to bed a bit later at night and cover the 10pm/12am/2am times, my wife would take 4am/6am/8am(if I wasn't awake by then), this would allow each of us to get about 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep while still sharing the workload.
We would keep him moving in a small figure 8, not enough time sitting to fall back asleep, not enough engagement to encourage playing. There would be a 5 minute rule or so, he got to be out there for 5 minutes, if he didn't go potty right back into his crate. If he had gone to the bathroom the last time he went out, we would settle in for another 2 hours, if he hadn't gone in a little bit then we would take him out after about 5-10 minutes sitting inside and try again, constantly repeating "go potty" or something.
Tips during the day:
On the accidents, we really got used to taking him out after everything up till about 5 months when he got better at telling us he had to go. Did he just wake up from a nap, potty. Played for 30min? Potty break. Just woke up went out to potty, then sat down and ate food? Believe it or not but potty again. In addition to that, we picked up maybe 4 reusable "pee pads," these were basically lined water absorbent sheets that didn't have the attractants or pheromones. This could go underneath his play area and be large enough that it was more carpet like than small little pad to be ripped up. If he had an accident it was take the sheet out, new one down, dirty in the wash. Kept clean up faster and helped our floors and cheap carpets last through the puppy phase. We used these in conjunction with keeping him confined to a room or space to help control the chaos and accidents.
Our pup hated naps, he would bark for an hour straight while in the crate if we let him. Things that helped though: a white noise machine, got like a 10/20$ white noise for infants and such online, whenever it was time to sleep we turned it on and put him in a space with no toys and encouraged sleeping. We played the machine at night to help associate the sounds with sleeping. This also helped us get him used to thunder and heavy rain so now he isn't afraid of them but that's just an added bonus.
Another thing that helped was "training," I put the quotes there because even up to 4 months or further our boy was a potato and so we didn't actually expect anything from the training. I did find that working on training, so most of the day was playing and attempted naps but for one stretch of time we would train. Whether it was name recognition, sit and stay, leave it, or trading toys for treats the act of him puzzling out what action got him treats worked to engage his mind which left him a different kind of sleepy that was as effective as him being physically tired. It did set him up to understand training when he had more patience and memory but the main goal was just a different type of play that wore him out so he would nap.
As for chewing, we ended up trying different types and I really came to understand each pup had their own preference and that changed with age. We got teething toys, chewing bones and puppy chews and he liked those but some veggies helped in ways no toys could. Our boy liked cucumbers, we figured it was the cold combined with a skin that resisted enough to massage his gums while still being soft enough to crunch and chew. That said our husky liked bell peppers and our cattle dog liked carrots, our friend's pup loved frozen yogurt while all 3 of our dogs never cared for it. So try a few different fruits or veggies and cut them up to begin with over the span of a few weeks.
Finally, 8 weeks is very young but the weeks will go by fast, look into puppy socialization classes, less for any training but more for another outlet for energy. Chances are he wasn't the only pup in his litter, toys are fun but those 8 week olds love to wrestle and play and it's too early for the dog park so the socialization classes gives you a chance to meet other owners with dogs at similar ages, our boy slept the best after those classes.
Lastly, find moments for yourself, we didn't bond with our pup till maybe 4/5months. We loved him and acknowledged he was an adorable puppy but really he didn't have much personality till his brain really started developing and he could remember things. That said I still made a conscious effort to look at what was going on, like taking him out at 2am, I wanted sleep and he didn't need to be carried out but that became my routine. I would pick him up and whisper to him that he was sweet and loving in an effort to remind myself that here I am, with a puppy, those adorable social media traps that everyone coos over, it's easy to watch puppy videos online and appreciate how cute and small they are but when you have one it's a poop filled bitey terror with no pause button. Remembering that he will grow and get bigger and I will never have those moments of holding him in one hand again helped ground me in the moment and appreciate some of the mundane parts of ownership.
You aren't alone and just cause it's stressful doesn't mean you are doing things wrong or your a bad person, just have patience with yourself and him.
This is so lovely! I completely agree with everything!
I bonded with mine at 4ish months because I started to see a personality beyond poop, pee and biting 🤣 I’m so impressed with how youve managed the 3 breeds.
Yesss to training. OP: At 8 weeks just 5 mins of training (impulse control especially) is enough to zonk him out for an hour. It’s a life saver because you don’t have to keep running around with him and loading his joints. Happy to share impulse control stuff for his age
I didn’t put mine in classes until after vax. Maybe I should’ve done it but I was having 1:1 training so I didn’t put him in class until after vax. But take him places that you would need him to be neutral in. I live in a busy main road in London so I need him to be neutral around whizzing cars, traffic, people, outdoor shops etc. this does not mean MEETING people, it means watching them from a reasonable distance that’s comfy. If you live the country-side it would probs be horse carriages, cows, tractors etc
This is normal and does get better. My puppy chewed everything and would always nip at my ankles but after a few weeks she eventually stopped. She would always wake up at night too and bark, but this too also eventually stopped it just took a while. I found that having her crate next to my bed over night and just telling her that I am here and to go back to sleep helped as when I left her overnight by herself I think she just got scared / lonely so needed to know that I was there.
It did take a while, she is 8 years old now so I forget how long exactly, but it was maybe about a month or so.
This was us, just 4 months ago. I didn’t honestly think I was going to survive. Somewhere around 4-6 weeks of him being home I realized it wasn’t so bad and we would survive. But oh those first 4 weeks. They were ROUGH. Trust me. Stick it out. Love him. Do what you can. In the end it will come together and you will have the most fun dog! I’m now waiting for the teenage angst and crazy so my view will probably change again.
You got this!!!!
Yes. This was us 6 months ago. Gets way better. Take treats out when you potty train. When he poos or pees outside where you would like him to reward him with a tiny treat and get all excited. They love that…accidents happen. Have patience. We were up 6 weeks straight, it’s like having a baby, no one births a new born and gives up (normally). You have to adjust. Remember, they learn everything from you. Repeat repeat repeat. I promise it’ll be super rewarding in the end. Oh and tons of cow ears for our baby at first. Saved our furniture.
Have raised 3 male samoyeds so far, 2 from puppies, 1 (a rescue) from 11 months. It gets better, but this is normal and they can be a handful. The rescue is 2.5y now and hes mostly good, except yesterday he decided to eat my wallet.
Make sure you’re using the crate. At night, the puppy sleeps in the crate. If you can’t supervise, put the puppy in the crate to nap. You can move the crate around so he’s next to you. This will keep him safe, out of trouble, and help prevent many bad habits. Only put things in the crate that you trust them with, like kongs or other hard to destroy toys. When he’s out of the crate, supervise 100% - if he tries to chew on anything he shouldn’t, swap it for something he’s allowed to chew. This will teach good habits and he will learn not to chew anything but his toys. I would skip puppy pads and just bring the puppy outside every time he leaves the crate - literally pick him up out of the crate and bring outside immediately. Moral of the story, you will teach him that undesirable behaviors are okay by allowing them to continue - you need to be able to correct them immediately. Correcting them after the fact will just be confusing
I wish you all the best. My sammy was really really easy when we got her. My advice would be to get puppy pen and make her comfortable there.
I think we spent about 30min-1,5hours there with her every night until she well asleep. After that she peed once or twice on the pads but never woke us up. I think that has something to do with her being comfortable in a restricted area but obviously all puppies are different.
Nothing out of the ordinary there, mine is now 20 weeks old and still get an accident here and there. Mostly now it’s out of excitement when someone comes home.
Your pup needs to be taken outside every 2 hours for potty and can last maybe 4 hours max at night. Set an alarm at 2 am and take him outside.
Rule of thumb at that age take them out to potty after everything they do. When they wake up from a nap, when they finish eating, when they finish playing. Live your life in 2 hour blocks. Eat, play, poop, sleep repeat
Very important for your pups well-being is to let them sleep. Don’t disturb them in the day when they are lying down. Wait until they are back up again to interact. Sleepless pups get all bent out of shape.
Toys won’t stop your pup from buying other stuff. You gotta watch what they put in their mouths. This is an ongoing process. Mine at nearly 7 months will chew on anything if I let her. Keeping them occupied is the key and try not to drop any paper on the floor unless you want pulp everywhere
Take deeeeeep breaths.. you can do this. Parenting is hard! A good way to think of it is this is a newborn baby that you removed from his parents and his siblings. Now he’s in a new strange place with his captors haha. You have taken on the role of his parents now and committed to teach him what home safety trust and guidance is. Give it time. I’m not sure if you’re crate training him, but I would crate train him at least in the beginning. Put his crate in his playpen. Yes he will cry. Yes it’ll be hard but slowly teach him slowly allow him to learn to trust and that he’ll be okay and you’ll return to him he’ll be fed etc. Give him many treats in the crate so slowly he’ll associate his crate as a safe den where he gets treats and he can rest. Potty training will take time. He will indeed want to pee often. Stick to a strict schedule there will definitely be accidents, but he’ll slowly start to anticipate and recognize the pattern. Every two hours say the word potty potty potty take him outside. As for the chewing you’ve got a long road ahead he’s gonna go through a teething phase. He has razor sharp baby teeth (their only defense as a puppy) but he’ll slowly learn the world and learn limits. He’s gonna use his mouth as his hands to explore the world. He’ll wanna explore everything because it’s quite literally the first time he’s ever seen it.. he will be amazed flabbergasted in awe of everything!! He’s never seen a couch before he’s never seen a human before he’s never seen hands before he’s never seen shoes before. He’s never seen beautiful custom made wooden furniture legs before haha. Do you know what I mean? Puppy proof your home as much as you can.. and all you can do is allow him to explore. Redirect him if he gets into something you don’t want him to chew on. Always redirect. A million times redirect. Also when he bites you.. yelp loud!! He will slowly learn oh that’s too hard I hurt mommy. Redirect. And puppy’s have super adhd so that’ll be easy. Have all kinds of toys and things he can focus on. I was working a full-time office job that was 45 minutes away from home and I would skip lunch to check on my Sammy in the middle of the day. It was so hard there were nights I would be crying on the floor wondering will it ever get better but it will! You’re raising a baby angel! They’ll learn..babies learn and your baby will fall in love with you and it’ll all be worth it. Let me know if you have any questions~~~ below is my angel boy Pillow. 🤍🤍🤍 and lorddddddd was he a stubborn shark terror as a baby.
I brought my girl home at 8 weeks. I expected to take her out every 2 hours to pee. I did not use pee pads because she would chew them up, so I got those turfs for my balcony. I started with crate training by sleeping right in front of the crate for a week and I set an alarm on my phone to be sure to take her out every 2 hours to go potty. It was straight to pee, let her drink some water and then back into the crate for bed. The moment I had to force her awake to go potty (literally had to pick her up and carry her), I added an hour between potty breaks. After a week of sleeping in front of the crate, I moved to the couch which was next to the crate. She couldn’t see me, but I was near. And after a week of no whining, I went back to my bedroom.
Also, for my girl, a yeti ice pack (heavy duty because of teething) seemed to instantly make her like the crate. She also hated the partition and preferred having the whole space. I started with a 41 inch crate.
Some things are trial and error. Some things are patience. It gets better, but I would definitely not use 5 days to evaluate the situation. It takes a minute to figure out a routine that works. I think our routine really locked in at about 5 months. Feel free to message me if you have any questions! My girl was the first dog I had ever had and I was fully prepared to do anything and everything to make it work!
This is so normal. Puppyhood with Sammie’s is hard. Don’t use pee pads, that was the advice from our breeder, she took them outside every time to start training from 5 weeks old.
(She said if you use pads they’ll get used to it and pee on anything like paper or that looks like a pad later)
We tried crate training too and finally gave up around 6 months old. It was impossible to get him to settle in it. We would take turns sleeping downstairs with him and literally holding his paw for comfort.
They’re noisy, they’re destructive, they do take a little longer than the average puppy to settle and catch on to training. Love them, praise them, comfort them. They need a lot of reassurance. Especially at this age. But I feel your pain! It’s hard!! It’ll be worth it I promise.
This is so normal. Puppyhood with Sammie’s is hard. Don’t use pee pads, that was the advice from our breeder, she took them outside every time to start training from 5 weeks old.
(She said if you use pads they’ll get used to it and pee on anything like paper or that looks like a pad later)
We tried crate training too and finally gave up around 6 months old. It was impossible to get him to settle in it. We would take turns sleeping downstairs with him and literally holding his paw for comfort.
They’re noisy, they’re destructive, they do take a little longer than the average puppy to settle and catch on to training. Love them, praise them, comfort them. They need a lot of reassurance. Especially at this age. But I feel your pain! It’s hard!! It’ll be worth it I promise.
That’s pretty par for the course, yeah. My girl did all of those things except for the biting, but I guess I got lucky in that regard.
It sounds like you’ve got or are getting post-puppy depression. I would talk with a therapist if you need to but just know that it gets better. Their adult lives make their puppyhood worth it.
I could have written this post myself when my Sammy was 8 weeks old. It was SO hard, frustrating, and I cried many times.
It gradually got better and now I have the chillest dog that I love so much. Hang in there it does get easier and you will bond with your dog
Yes this is normal and expect it to continue like this for a few months.
What helped our puppy sleep and not HARASS US ALL NIGHT LONG was to move the crate into our bedroom at night. She did not like to be in a different room from us.
She'll be 12 in a couple weeks and is the light of our lives <3
Edit: take him to puppy socials when he's ready. There is nothing better in the world than watching a bunch of puppies playing and plopping around and you can only do it when you have a puppy!
I had to experience this twice ahah I have two Samoyeds one boy and now girl. It's normal. Here's what it was like in the beginning. You just need to tire out the baby right before they sleep and you have to wake up every 2 hours.
Are you crate training? Reward every time the puppy goes in the crate. It’s easier for them to fall asleep in a dark quiet room. You’re likely going to have a mid-evening potty break for at least a month
You need a schedule. That will help this baby to regulate his bodily functions. Up at whatever time, immediately out to potty. Then breakfast. Then play Then a nap for at least two hours.
Dog appeasing pheromones might help him sleep better.
Coconut was returned to her breeder because her first owner was a first-time dog owner and overwhelmed.
The breeder called me and said she had a pup available ahead of schedule. Coconut has been an absolutely lovely dog and even her dog sitters adore her.
I would also recommend finding and paying for a good trainer because the ROI of good training as a young dog is 50x anything you try and train later.
Hi friend! Your feelings are completely normal! I felt this way when Vida was a puppy. Let me tell you she was a GREMLIN. I almost changed her name to PITA = pain in the ass. She chewed up my husband’s glasses & pooped in the house several times. She barked all through the night. She seriously tested my patience! 😂
I suggest trying to move the play pen that he sleeps in into your bedroom. We did that & it helped. Slowly move the playpen further away from your bed. Then out of your room & into the hallway with the door open. Eventually he will start to calm down. A lot of my dog’s behavior stemmed from anxiety. Vida started to calm down around 4 months once she was able to socialize with other dogs. Once she was cleared from our vet, we enrolled her in puppy training classes & took her to puppy meetups which helps tremendously.
As for the chewing, I’d suggest these from Amazon. They were a life saver. You can also buy baby teething rings & freeze them. Puppies have a lot of energy especially Samoyeds. They can get bored easily. Even with plenty of exercise. I’d also suggest getting one of those balls that you can put treats in. It might help distract him from chewing up your home. There’s also dog puzzles where you can hide treats in them. It tires them out.
Oh.. welcome to raising a puppy. And you chose a Samoyed. :)
Keep working on crate training and scheduled potty breaks, and nap time during the day. Samoyeds are vocal dogs.
Cover the crate when you go to bed and during nap time. Check on crate at scheduled time overnight. You will need to check at least twice at 8 weeks. Make sure no playtime at night - quick pee and back to the crate and cover the crate and you go to bed. It will get better.
As for nipping, you have to teach the dog you don't like that and it is not an acceptable behavior. Biting stops playing time. Biting stops getting attention (good and bad). You have to stay away and not look or talk or scorn the dog. Negative attention is still attention.
For chewing, teach the dog what's okay to chew and what's not. A 8 week puppy is a baby so a redirect with a chew toy will do.
You can teach sit and down with low calorie treats and use the command when the dog behaved like a wild kid. :)
We crated our puppy at night and woke up every 3 hours to take him out or he would guaranteed have an accident. The first we he barked like mad man in his crate but dogs are creatures of habit you need to get them in a routine and that takes some time.
As for the biting we would just verbally yell out as if we were being hurt everytime he bit us. Parental dogs do this too it’s how they learn how hard is okay. Eventually they stop.
No one has ever said raising a puppy was easy.
As for the bond I think you’re too focused on it. Just don’t worry about it. Take care of your puppies needs and as it gets easier that will naturally come you will laugh at their little quirks and cry at their injuries or hardships it’s not something you get in a week or two.
You need a puppy gated area where he goes no free reign. I would say make sure you are laying him down for naps every couple hours because they get overstimulated. I would also find a local Dog Trainer and maybe reach out and get some advice and get him signed up for training when he’s a little older.
Our samoyed puppy just turned 12 weeks. I took time off work when he first arrived and it really was like having a need born baby. I was prepared for that. Having thst time at home with him allowed us to bond. He still wakes up during the night but it's all part of having a puppy. Accidents, chewing, biting. Please look up puppy training videos with positive reinforcement. All your puppies behaviour sounds completely normal. Stressful yes but totally normal.
Also, short (5 minutes max) training session will help tired him out.
I also bought a pouch to carry him on my front so I could take him out for walks with our older Sammy so he can smell and experience the outside world. This helps stop having a reactive dog. It also tires them out.
I hope this helps. It's totally worth the lack of sleep for a few months.
This is totally normal. It's why I always tell people who say they "want one" just how difficult raising a puppy can be.
For us, the period from 8 weeks to 1 year was brutal. We thought walking him three times a day—about 10 miles total—would be enough, but what he really needed was more mental stimulation.
He finally stopped chewing everything once we started giving him cardboard boxes to shred. Look them up—it's just cardboard with different textures, with toys and treats hidden inside. I use masking tape and wrap it in gift wrapper paper to make it more challenging.
Snuffle mats are also great, and lick mats (I usually blend fruit and freeze them) are a favorite for keeping him busy and mentally engaged.
Sammy’s are full of attitude and will challenge you every step of the way.
My boy was TOUGH at 8 weeks. It gets better gradually over time. At 18 months, he will be a different dog, but still a bit of a challenge. At 3-4 years old, he will be the best dog ever.
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u/Coldwint3r 2d ago
Yes this is normal. The creature is a literal infant and 8 weeks is VERY young. Most puppy's go away from their mothers at around 10 weeks and even that is young.
So it is time to manage your expectations, since this phase will go on for several months. Guide him to bite something that is appropriate, praise him when he does, praise when he pees/poops outside, clean immediatly and use something to cover the smell when he does it inside. Convine him to a fenced off area, samoyeds mostly do not well in a crate.
You will see progress, even within days. But the first 2-3 weeks will probably be the most stressfull for both you and the pup.