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Last night was the first night with our new Cocker spaniel puppy, Barney.
We've gone down the crate route and spent the day introducing him to it and putting toys and treats in there and he was willingly in and out all day and took a couple of naps in there.
Come 9.30pm I took Barney out for a toilet break and then enticed him into his crate around 10ish. As soon as the door was closed he spend the next few hours howling and crying. I understand why he is doing this and it's heartbreaking.
My wife and I had different ideas on how to deal with it. I was of the opinion to check in on him a couple of times, but stay in the next room on the sofa and let him work through it. My wife wanted him out and roaming the house.
Eventually as a compromise I set up a floor bed next to the crate and we both got some sleep. He woke at 3 and had a toilet break outside and then went down again with me next to the crate.
My wife will have to crate him for the 30 min school run later on, not sure how that will go. But I'd say that the first night could have gone worse. So far it's a bit of an eye opener, my kids are at the age they need less constant attention and I feel like we are right back in the baby stage again.
One thing that is bugging me tho is that he is hardly touching any food. He'll take treats for good behaviour (toilet outside and exploring his crate) but won't touch his food the breeder gave us. I made it damp and mixed some ham through but he just picks out the ham. Any tips?
Yep dogs are worse than babies 😂
We gave up on a crate after one night, our dog just didn’t like it.
Ham isn’t the best food for dogs
One thing that is bugging me tho is that he is hardly touching any food
He won't let himself starve. He'll eat it when hungry enough.
I feel like we are right back in the baby stage again.
You've basically invited a toddler into your house for the next 12-15 years!
Oh, and site rules are that any posts about dogs are accompanied by at least one cute photo. Expect a sharply worded reprimand from the mods.
Dont worry About the food, yet.
Our first puppy, a lab, hardly touched her foood the first couple of days, its quite normal give him some time to settle in.
Don't panic OP,there's still time to trade it in for two cats 😆 😂 🤣
Heartbreaking as the first few nights are stick with it, if he's happy in his crate or bed or wherever and will go there when he wants space then it'll pay dividends and we found they learn fast, ours only took a few nights (certainly <10) before that stage mainly passed. It is tough, he's never had a night on his own before, of course it's not normal....the fact he slept in the crate shows that's not the issue, it's being lonely.
Just like kids you and your wife need to be same page - if he gets either of you to give up then that'll be it and doesn't bode well for other training where you have to actively do stuff. This is just actively not doing anything.
Some say some white noise might help (old mw/fm radio detuned, or maybe you get ocean sounds on you smart speaker nowadays....)
As for food. He will, in time. If he doesn't - try another type.
Our cocker was absolutely fine on the first night. No howling, crying, barking etc. but she then spent the next 18 months with all manner of annoying weird behaviours we couldn’t squash. Definitely no need for you to worry yet…
Our pup is just coming up for her 1st birthday, and we still use the Sleeping Forecast to help her settle down - just played quietly through a speaker.
we slept on the floor I beside her for the first few weeks, as it’s easier to manage toileting during the night. It also helps them settle into the crate. I wouldn’t let a pup roam free - it’ll be unsettling for them, and potentially chaos when they hit the chewy stage.
We started with the crate in the bedroom (collie/sprocker cross), then slowly moved it towards the kitchen over the next week or two. Alarm set for every few hours for a toilet break and he was grand. Slowly increased time for the toilet til he slept through. First night was a bit upset but got easier. Worked for ours.
Puppy post and no photos?
Have a word with yourself.
Yeah, standards are slipping here. You know the rules!
I made it damp and mixed some ham through but he just picks out the ham. Any tips
Yeah, don't put ham in it!
Our dog never like the crate, would put her outside for a last pee at night and she would go in her kennel and refuse to come out so she slept outside for the first few years!
I think you did the right thing sleeping next to them, took only a few nights of this when we first got ours to get that bit sorted, she managed about a month in the crate before deciding the back yard and her kennel were better!
we slept on the floor I beside her for the first few weeks, as it’s easier to manage toileting during the night. It also helps them settle into the crate
this was us too. He is now coming up 3, and trots into his crate around 11 when we go to bed and stays there, without a peep, until we unzip the cover, anytime between 7 am weekday and 9 am weekend. We take the crate on holidays (UK) etc as well and he settles fine.
We're an hour in and no pictures!
Youth of today, tsk.
Can we report this thread for breaking the rules please? It's a minor infraction so a one week ban should be sufficient.
I did the sleeping on the floor next to the crate on our Cocker's first night, definitely helped her settle...after that I moved back upstairs and popping down regularly during the first week or two. Knackering but worth it, I remember racing a local Wednesday night series and being sat on the start line yawning and wondering how I was going to get through the race.
Looking back you realise it's actually a very short period.
She eventually settled and after sticking with the crate training she loves it now, gets excited about going back in after her breakfast and morning cuddles. Takes herself in and lies there happily whilst we sit at the table for dinner.
Tough love. Crate and ignore the crying. After a few nights it will quite down. Ear plugs for sleep. If he's fed, toileted etc there isn't anything wrong with him asides from wanting attention.
Stick one of your old t shirts in with him to sleep with. Sometimes having a radio playing calm music helped.
Also tire him out with play. Tired dog is a happy dog.
Let him onto your bed just this one time. But explain very clearly that this is *ABSOLUTELY* a one-off and must *NEVER* be repeated.
So long as you explain it clearly he will completely respect your boundaries on this and will definitely not just sleep on your bed, taking up all the space, forever more.
Forgooten how much she's grown...
Ah those first few nights with a puppy. Not sure I'd go through it again, but it will absolutely get easier/better. Ours is now just over 2 and takes himself to bed most nights, no questions asked, straight into his crate. All about routine. Rinse and repeat.
We did 2 toilet breaks in the night, one around 1am then a second around 4am. Then down to 1 toilet break. Now he goes into the garden for a slash before bed.
Good luck!
I would be wary about sleeping with the puppy – it's tough but you should leave him otherwise he'll think that the crying is rewarded with attention and companionship. You should start as you mean to go on.
Re. the eating - after 30 years of WCS ownership i can safely say that, on the whole, they really don't give a shit about food and will eat when they're hungry.
This is a bad thing if you have a labrador in the house also I guess!
Yep dogs are worse than babies 😂 We gave up on a crate after one night, our dog just didn’t like it.
So did we, for over night sleeping, but we kept the crate as his safe space, and he used it like for that for the first couple of years. TBF to him, he was stray, who been living his greatest life with my Aunt's pack in spain for 4 weeks before being transported over. We found covering the crate helps, as crates are great tools if used correctly, make it a den/safe space for him to go to, where no one disturbs him/her
The first couple of days after having ours home he wouldn’t eat without lots of encouragement and we were getting slightly worried like yourself, but he soon got over it. We put it down to the fact he’d just had his world torn apart and no longer got to hang out with his mum and brothers & sisters.
after 30 years of WCS ownership i can safely say that, on the whole, they really don’t give a shit about food and will eat when they’re hungry.
Now we have to use a slow feeder bowl otherwise he inhales his food like we have forgotten to feed him for the last month. And near enough chokes himself 🙄
We spent three weeks taking it in turns sleeping downstairs with our Labradoodle back in January. We then said "this is rediculous".., and took the crate up stairs. She started sleeping through and we though this was great. We then had to take her to the MIL's as we were away for the night and she let her sleep on her bed!
Sandy now sleeps at the bottom of our bed on a bed on the floor*, and we have 2 crates we need to sell....
*When she's not trying to spoon me that is....
We found Snuffle mats to be a good for slowing them down. Both of our are ex-strays, so food has to be eaten at million miles an hour.
Have just done this with our second guide dog puppy who is now 13 weeks old. Classic FM helped him settle but that had been played to him at the breeding centre. He whined and grizzled for 5-10 mins then settled until his bladder woke him up 3-4am. Keep interaction at this time to an absolute minimum and pop him straight back in the crate with the music on and try to go back to sleep. It was a really tough first 2 weeks but his bladder capacity has grown and we can get to at least 6 am most mornings now.
It can help to put a few bits of kibble in his crate at bedtime and also feeding him in there will help him associate it with good things.
I wouldn't let him have free roam personally, you'll probably find accidents anywhere and everywhere.
Okay I'm here, other than bikes the one other thing I believe I have some knowledge on.
The theory used to be that you let the pups 'cry it out' and just ignore their complaints but that has been massively dispelled now and in fact all you're doing is traumatising them. They don't 'get over it' they just learn that you're not coming to their assistance, they always say with traumatised kids the ones to watch out for are the quiet ones because they've learnt nobody is coming and they're completely alone. You won't make a rod for your own back, you'll just give them the natural opportunity to gain confidence. I'm particularly concerned that your wife is going to leave the pup alone for half an hour today on only day two of living with you? Trouble is he's going to learn that crates are BAD places which completely goes against what you're trying to teach him, that they're good places to be. Hopefully you have an AMAZING kong ready and filled to at least give him in the hope it distracts him for as much time as possible.
Everybodies strategy is different, you could do the crate in the room so they can see you, smell you and hear your reassurance and as they become happier you move the crate slowly but surely down to where you want it to be or where you want him to sleep. My strategy was to start it off exactly where I wanted it and I spent roughly the first 2/3 weeks sleeping on the sofa/floor so I could calmly repeat 'bedtime' and 'shhhhhh' to settle him and every clear distress disturbance got him carried outside for a wee and a fuss to say well done and then carried back and placed back in the crate with the repeated 'bedtime' and cue me fake yawning a lot (they know that means you're tired and sleepy and they're inclined to copy you and also feel tired'. After the three weeks I then had a baby camera setup in the room and I'm a light sleeper so if he got properly distressed again I would go down, out to the toilet, and then calmly taken back and I would return to bed. He now takes himself into his crate right after his 8:30/9pm frozen kong and the support and reasurrance I've given him has raised him into a 14 month old confident Vizsla who can happily be left to roam the house for 1/5 hour ride so far.
In terms of feeding, he's been ripped away from everything he knows and loves and put into this scary house with scary strangers and is being asked tot ake on all the new surroundings, I bet when you're stressed you eat less too. He'll soon calm down and start eating normally, just put it down for an alloted time (20 mins maybe) and when it goes untouched pick it up and either throw it or save it for his next meal. Dogs aren't made fussy eaters, we make them that way (been there done that) so put it down and pick it back up again.
If you've not already I highly recommend 'the happy puppy' handkbook as some really great reading.
Lola woke me up last night at 1230. Got me out of bed and she flipped onto her back, took a belly rub then ****ed off back to bed.
Arsehole.
Also No one say any more until photos are present.
Golfchick +1
IANADogTrainer, but have worked on dog training TV shows.
Training via punishment's, traumatization, dominance, etc have all been disproved or shown to have massive issues.
Fundamentally you want to make the crate their prefred place to be by default. So start by feeding them in there, throwing their toys in there, giving them praise whenever they go in etc. NEVER force them in, or force them to stay in it longer than they're happy. Teach it like any other command, whenever they go in the cage say 'Bed' and give them a treat and they'll learn it.
Begin by closing the door for just a few seconds without leaving, and build up from there until you're out the room for a few minutes without an issue and build up from there. The aim is to teach them that the door opens eventually (on your terms) and they're not going to be stuck in there. If they whine, wait for a few seconds of silence before opening the door.
Read some modern up-to-date books on dog training, it'll make your life so much easier. Almost every person on those "It's me or the dog behaving badly academy" type shows is at the absolute peak of the Dunning-Kruger curve.
you could do the crate in the room so they can see you, smell you and hear your reassurance and as they become happier you move the crate slowly but surely down to where you want it to be or where you want him to sleep.
We did that. Dog was 11 months when we got her and used to a very different environment with other dogs, but the move the crate gradually method worked over a couple of weeks.