puppy advice/help...

[Lisa L from MI]

I had every intention of using the crate when we got Mabel....BUT.....I couldn't do it. I spent the first 3 weeks sleeping on a small love seat in the sunroom...trying to comfort her in the crate and eventually letting her sleep with me on the loveseat. After the 3 weeks I just took her up to bed with me so I could get a decent night sleep....the rest is history!! I don't mind her with me in bed though.

Also, it was every 3 hours I would wake up to take her outside to go potty. Never laid papers in the house and she only once had an accident.

Good luck...puppies are so much fun!!

 

[paigevz]

Our Boston just loves his crate. We brought him home in it, and had him in it every night, and anytime during the day that we couldn't follow him around. They will chew anything, just like babies, and you have to watch them just like toddlers.

Crates are not confining to puppies. Puppies' mothers keep them in a small space just like that. They only let them out to tumble about when they are watching them. Your puppy will feel more secure in a crate.

As for potty training, I have only two things to say. One, be sure you take the puppy to the BACK of your property. If you teach puppy to go as soon as he gets outside, he will continue to go there, and you will not like walking out your door! Two, it may not take some dogs long to learn, but let me tell you............my dog is 7 years old, and is FINALLY accident free. His main problem is that he's scared of EVERYTHING, and doesn't like to go outside much at all. But, he doesn't like being in trouble either, and finally got the picture.

Lastly, be careful having your dog be an outside only dog. Many times outside only dogs don't learn the manners they need to be invited in, and unless you're really backyard people, they end up left alone. They are pack animals, and desperately need to be with their pack, which is you. Besides it being just plain sad, out of desperation, they get a lot of behavior problems being outside..................barking, digging, climbing, jumping up when you go out, trying to squeeze in the door.............and then they aren't potty trained, don't know to stay off the couch, etc., so they get kicked right back out again pretty soon. I've had outside only dogs, and indoor dogs.........the happiest dogs and the ones I've been happiest with, were the indoor dogs.

Just edited to say, like Mabel's parents, we also ended up getting up in the night to let our little Boston pup go potty. They are just like toddlers!

 

[luvwinnie]

Everyone who is recommending a crate: OP said puppy is alone ALL day. A crate wouldn't be advised if he/she is in it for many hours at a time.

 

[paigevz]

Good point. Guessed I missed that part. I thought we were talking about what to do with puppy at night and potty training.

That's a whole other ball game.............I don't really have a good suggestion for that.

 

[MinnieMe2]

Very good point, luvwinnie.

My advice to you is to return your puppy to the breeder and let them place her in a home where she will have people who understand babies and have the time to properly train her. Puppies are a lot of work, and they don't go away when you're not able to care for them. Their needs have to be met 24/7, and no puppy's bladder can not be emptied for 8 to ten hours. Heck, I'm an adult, and I can't hold it that long!

If you really think you should have a dog in your lives (and 'practicing' for parenthood might not be the best reason), check your local shelters or rescues and bring home an older dog that is housebroken and socialized. You will probably still have some issues for awhile as the dog acclimates to a new home with different expectations.

Then again, a rescue may not place a dog in a home where it will be left unattended all day long......

 

[Trish Bessette]

I'm confused Certainly everyone who gets a puppy does not have the opportunity to stay home from work and be able to walk the puppy for a bathroom break every two hours.

My neighbor has a 5 month old black lab and from the day she got it (at 7 weeks) the lab has been crated during the day while they are at work.

We when got our first Golden Retriever puppy we did the same thing as both DH and I worked. Never did the dog have an accident.

We lost our Golden last year but were bringing another Golden puppy home this Friday I am going to do the same thing as we work and the kids are at school. The puppy as it is has been home alone while the breeder is at work so it really isn't much of a difference. I don't feel that by doing this it means we are not good people to have a puppy. I am beside myself in excitement to get our new addition on Friday. Had a great time shopping at PetSmart yesterday on much lunch hour, spent $250 in fun stuff for the puppy!

 

[cactus]

Pica is actually a mental disorder in animals where they have to chew on everything. It most often occurs in puppys. Look in a dog magazine for an indoor doggy potty, it looks like a mat with grass and a fake fire hydrant.

 

[vivilasvegas]

Very good point, luvwinnie.

My advice to you is to return your puppy to the breeder and let them place her in a home where she will have people who understand babies and have the time to properly train her. Puppies are a lot of work, and they don't go away when you're not able to care for them. Their needs have to be met 24/7, and no puppy's bladder can not be emptied for 8 to ten hours. Heck, I'm an adult, and I can't hold it that long!

If you really think you should have a dog in your lives (and 'practicing' for parenthood might not be the best reason), check your local shelters or rescues and bring home an older dog that is housebroken and socialized. You will probably still have some issues for awhile as the dog acclimates to a new home with different expectations.

Then again, a rescue may not place a dog in a home where it will be left unattended all day long......

Geez....we have two dogs (one 9 and one 6). Both we've had since puppies and both of us worked during the day. We left them in a smaller room during the day, and were still able to successfully potty-train them in the mornings, evenings, night-time and weekends.

Imagine that.. working full-time and still being able to own two happy dogs!!

 

[luvwinnie]

We are missing another very important issue: At this age, puppies need to eat THREE times a day. DH would go home to feed and walk Winnie at lunch time. Can you hire someone to do this for you if you work far away? She also spent a couple days a week at Grandma's. If this wasn't possible, we would not have gotten a pup.

From the Humane Society:

A young puppy should have no problem accepting the crate as his place. Crying at first is caused, not by the crate, but by adjusting to an unfamiliar household. Do not reward barking or whining with attention! If you are sure he doesn't need to eliminate, ignore him until he is quiet, then praise him or take him out of the crate. Do not leave meals in the crate or feed your puppy immediately prior to confining him. Most puppies will spill water left in the crate. Do leave a safe chew toy in the crate for your pet. Close your pet in the crate whenever he must be left alone or can't be closely supervised by a responsible person.

Never crate your pet longer than you know he can wait to eliminate, and definitely less than 4 hour intervals during the day. If you occasionally must be gone longer than this, place the crate with the door open in an enclosed area such as a bathroom or laundry room. Place newspapers on the floor of the room to facilitate clean-up. Your puppy should soon stop eliminating overnight and then may be crated in his regular place.

 

[cryssi]

I thank everyone for their advice and concerns. We are trying to set a feeding/eliminating schedule, and know it will take some time. We are now training her to go outside (all the usual suggestions are not working so I'll take some advice on that - of course it's only been 1 day).

I do have a question, though, about where to put her crate. We have it in our bathroom adjacent to our bedroom so she can hear our voices at night. I know that when she howls at night we are supposed to let her, but that first night she howled/barked/yelped for 3+ hrs pretty much continuously. She's a little better now that she's closer to us. On that note, I don't want her in our bedroom area forever...if she's comfortable in her crate, will she be ok in a different location as she gets older?

btw, we didn't purchase this puppy from a breeder, she was rescued...

 

[gris gris]

I'm really shocked too that people have little puppies and are leaving them home alone all day without a pet sitter?? We got our pup at 8 weeks and had a pet sitter for almost 1 year, until DH's job hours changed and he was home all day. We always understood it that a puppy could hold their bowels/bladder for as many hours as they were months old. A 4 month old puppy could hold it for 4 hours. Our pet sitter came around noon and spent about 45 min with him - feeding him, bringing him outside, walking, playing, etc.....$12 a day. I couldn't imagine leaving him in the crate all day without a break.

To the OP stay strong about keeping your puppy in the crate/not in your bed. Ours made it 1 night in the crate and DH couldn't stand leaving him there - so he brought him in our bed. Well he was a 9 pound puppy - who is now a 90 pound big dog! And he still sleeps in our bed. We're so used to it now and it really doesn't bother us, but in retrospect since he's an alpha dog he really shouldn't have been brought to our bed in the first place, but we didn't realize his tempermant at 8 weeks.

 

[Pooh's Pixie]

I posted earlier about our puppy, the Gordon setter we got Friday. Well, last night was much better. The crate is in the laundry room. We put on a radio playing talk radio softly and I put the dryer on before I went to bed (I actually had clothes in there to dry!) I think the "white noise" of the dryer drowned out our getting ready for bed and by the time the dryer turned off (40 minutes) he was probably asleep. He only cried for about 3 minutes when we put him in the crate & left him. He woke up at 3:30 and barked but we ignored him and he went right back to sleep.

So I would recommend the radio!!

Now if I could get him to stop mouthing everything and jumping up..!

 

[Snowysmom]

I have used the crate with both my westies and it worked great. They actually thought of it as their "room" to go to when they wanted to sleep or just get some quiet time. We kept it open when we were home and shut when we we gone. Also, I know you mentioned wanting to make her an outside dog but I really hope you won't leave her outside alone when no one is home. Accidents can happen. Also, in my town, which is not a rural area, we have coyotes that go after pets. Just my 2 cents worth! Good luck with her.

 

[cryssi]

Just wanted to share an update...Shenzi has started doing her business outside! Last night after dinner, I had to run some errands. When I got back home, DH told me that she had gone outside twice! It's as you all have said, be diligent about taking her out every 30-45 min or so. She didn't quite go in the area we wanted, but she went in the same area each time. Hopefully we can get her to move a bit further down the yard at some point. She also went this morning when I took her out!

I know it will take time...DH and I are much more understanding/patient with her now then when she first came! Last night she didn't whine at all, but I think that's b/c we moved her crate out of the bathroom and into the corner of the bedroom (ack) where she could see us. As she is still a puppy, we had a puppy pad in her crate and this morning she had certainly used it during the night, but her toys and bed were clean and dry (yippee!). As a result, we were able to spend time/play with her this morning before work instead of frantically cleaning up the mess... We shall see the state of things this afternoon when we get home. DH will be working 10 min from home starting next week, so he will be able to go home during lunch and take her outside to potty and play with her...perhaps that will aid in her training.

Anyway, thanks for listening!

c

 

[Chicago526]

I have to say that growing up we had several dogs as puppies (at differant times, we've never had two dogs at once) who were alone all day while we were at school/work. They were just fine! Crated as puppies, then once house broken they were blocked into the kitchen. Once a bit older and past the chewing/getting into things stage, they had free run of the whole house. At night, they slept in the crate as puppies, then "graduated" laundry room in the doggie bed, then once older they slept in my parents room on the floor (or sometimes still chose to sleep in the doggie bed, I guess it depended on how the dog felt that night!). The only time they slept in bed with someone was durring a thunderstorm, poor things were always scared!

Our dogs were happy and healthy. So I don't buy the fact that only families where someone is always home are the only ones that can have a puppy. It does take more planing, adjusting, and patience, but can be done in a way that is good for everyone.