help me! I am doing it wrong!

[JaxTellersOldLady]

The new puppy is fab, 7wks, almost 8 is almost house trained ie she will go to back door or squeak to let me know she needs out - plus I watch for the signs of her needing to go.

In the car she is calm, doesnt fuss, actually she sleeps and just doesnt bother.

She eats in her crate which has a blanket over the top, she plays with toys in her crate but come bed time she is driving me insane.

The routine is out for loo, back in put in crate, door closed and she sleeps for a little while. Then starts screaming and howling usually around midnight. We have tried ignoring it, tried letting her out for toilet and last night I came down around 2, snoozed on sofa and kept putting her back in her crate with door open.

What am I doing wrong? Or am I expecting too much too soon? I dont do well on little sleep, do love her to bits, but I need advice because this morning I cant see the wood for the trees. Put her in her crate, shut the door and took the kids to school, she was quiet... until I came home and she started crying, it is like she doesnt like being alone.

As I type this she is lying on the floor at my feet fast asleep. I know my advice to others would be to try to ignore it, but I cant have her waking the DC up.

had forgotten this stage...

"it is like she doesn't like being alone."

Erm - she doesn't! She's a baby, don't ignore her, please! Put her crate in your room next to your bed so that when she wakes up and is unsettled you can put a hand in to reassure her for a moment or two and then you'll both get some sleep. As she gets more settled, you can gradually move the crate further away and eventually out of the room. She's young to have already left her mum and siblings - 8 weeks is more usual.

Consider her as you would a baby taken from everything snug and familiar, act accordingly and she will feel a whole lot more secure in no time.

Try putting in a fleece covered hot water bottle, filled with warm water, under her vet bed at night and this will feel a bit like the warmth from her siblings and mum. Do you have a piece of her mums blanket, if so also give her this. Over the next couple of weeks give her a t-shirt that you have worn and substitute her mum's blanket with your shirt. I wore mine in bed over a few nights and she loved it. She has now dispensed of that too at 15 weeks. She does sound very good, so persevere. When she is being quiet, just say 'quiet good girl' and reiterate it every now and then. I found this also worked with separation. I put Belle in her crate, closed the door, and went where she could not see me for about 10 seconds, saying quiet etc., if she was quiet, then return saying it again. Then do it for a few seconds more and return, and do this again and again. It is time consuming but it works! A bit like controlled crying, but you don't let her cry, really praise when being quiet. If she isn't being quiet, clap or make a noise to startle her a little, not frighten, she will automatically be quiet for a second, as soon as she is say 'quiet good girl' and keep doing this for as long as needed. As I say it does take time. Belle is okay when I leave her in her crate, but she still likes to be with me especially in the evening. I hope this helps. It really is about the reinforcing and praise of good behaviour. Gosh I wish I could apply it to all the sticky situations I am having i.e. lead pulling etc.

thanks, should also say we have another dog, who lies near her crate, but when she starts screaming he vanishes pretty quick.

I am treating her like a new baby, she has warmth a t shirt of mine with the smell of DH and I on.

Decided to do some pro active crate work today while I can. She is presently in her crate at the moment, door shut - was noisy for about 10 mins, is now asleep.

Have been saying quiet, good girl and repeating for the past few mins.

There is no way I am putting the crate upstairs in our bedroom. It is in the lounge with a huge blanket over it, lovely snuggly vet bed, noise/quiet as appropriate and everybody congregates there.

assumpta what sort of dog do you have?

If only we all kept our 'sensible' head on whenever the going gets tough!

I have a lovely cockapoo, who I thought at one point last week was going to savage the lot of us, but apparently she has a problem with her anal glands. Nice, I know! I am in the process of slowly changing her food from James well beloved to hills, in the hope that she will start to make bigger and firmer poos in order to empty the anal glands each time.

She is a good girl, if only she would settle a bit better in the evening when we want to sit and relax, but not at the moment. I have just bought her a plastic bed with a lovely cuddly cushion, so maybe that will help. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I have my poorly boy on Royal Canin SC24, as it is suspected he is allergic to something in other dog food. Noticed that his poos are much much better, smaller, compact even for a large GSD.

Puppy has had lunch and is fast asleep in her crate with door shut!

she only protested a little bit and I have been saying Good girl, quiet every now and then.

So tonight, I am going to sleep on the sofa (V large and comfy) next to her crate and fingers crossed it will go well.

I wasnt aware that females had much problem with anal glands, thought it was mostly males. Learn something new each day. Sorry that I dont know much about it. I am sure Bella or Minimu will have good advice though.

Do the sofa if that works for you. I've never had pups in my bedroom either - I put them in the kitchen with my other dogs and try to determine what is noise and what is a toilet request [hgrin]. My dc sleep like logs though - you have to do what works for your family. Hang in there, hon. You're at the stage that persuaded me I do not want any more pups [hwink]

Anal glands - fibre and exercise are key. Most 'light' varieties of Hills etc are higher in fibre. Add a grated carrot.

Orijen is hideously expensive but gives smallest poos, IME. Bet you're glad I shared that [hsmile]

Jax I would harden my heart and let the puppy get used to it. I also do not allow my dogs upstairs for many reasons and have always left dogs downstairs. Some have whimpered and some never do but all are great dogs and not traumatised by being shown how to sleep.

I agree of course you need your sleep and so does the puppy - carry on with the good crate work and get some ear plugs and settle yourself to a few nights of whining - if you do not give in I bet it will not last more than three nights. If you once do give in it will go on for ages and ages.

Can we please once and for all get over the idea that 7 weeks is to young to leave a litter anyone who has studied dog behaviour and development will know that 7 weeks is the best time for a puppy to leave a litter. It is a stage when the pupies are concentrating on bonding with humans and before the fear stage of 8 weeks.

Jax good luck - this too will pass honest!

Jax mine did this for a few days. Which in turn made big dog bark, which in turn made puppy howl louder, which in turn made big dog bark louder, which in turn...well you get the idea

I was given a few ideas by my trainer. Which included put the crate in your room and move it inch by inch closer to where you want the dog to sleep as it's confidence grows, seperate the dogs (is it possible the pup is trying to get the older dogs attention because he is so close by?) or just wat it out and hope it stops.

I went for moving the older dog and all has been quiet since.

Hear, hear re 7 weeks, Minimu [hwink]

Bella thanks for that. Will the grated carrot not make her poo really soft, or will it harden it up. Saying that I dont want her constipated either. We have had 5 already today. I would much prefer 3 substantial ones! OMG it's like kids all over again.

Lol @ kids all over again, assumpta [hwink]

Grated raw carrot should pass through undigested, giving bulk to the stools. It's the bulkiness that allows the anal glands to be squeezed as the dogs poo, so the glands empty naturally.

Off for tea now [hgrin]

thanks. I am happy to sleep in the lounge for a little while if that helps her settle better.

Today I have been in the lounge mostly and crating her for a little while at a time and ignoring any noise, praising quiet and she is a lot better.

It was a perfect time for her to leave her mother, they were ready for it and the Mum was too.

Honestly, if it was just the odd squeak I would ignore it, but she is ear piercingly loud and howls like err a wolf [hgrin]

I have told DS that he is NOT to get out his room to her; his bedroom is downstairs, DD is upstairs and the other side of the house from where Lola sleeps so she will be fine.

Hope last night was better, Jax

Morning bella, have you had a dog with gland problems? If so how long did it take to rectify itself, or is it an ongoing problem that will need constant attention?

WOW! Amazing what a good nights sleep does.

My DH is working from home today, said I looked shattered and packed me off to bed around 10ish.

I gave him instructions on what I had done etc and he fully covered her crate and the little bugger slept from 11-3, went out for the loo and then slept until just before 7am.

So yes Bella, last night was much much better.

[hgrin]

I obviously have to take credit for all the things I have done over the past couple of days/nights.

Hi assumpta - no, I haven't actually. None of mine have ever had much trouble with anal glands, but I did used to be a vet nurse and some dogs do have an ongoing problem. What does your vet say?

x post Jax.

FANTASTIC [hgrin]

jax that's better. Let's hope it continues due to your hard work!

bella the vet suggested two things, for the gas that my bell a has, she suggested outing her food in a toy so she would not gobble it too fast, which we are doing. The other thing is that she suggested changing her food bit by bit from James well beloved. She suggested a few and I chose hills, as that is what was in the shop I went to. We have also been doing this and we are now up to about 18g of new food and topping it up to about 48g of other food, we feed 3 times a day, and yesterday we had 6 poos. She does need to put on weight as she is quite 'leggy', but when I upped her food, her poos became soft. Any suggestions?

At 15 weeks you'd expect her to be leggy, assumpta. As long as she isn't underweight then I would go easy on the food because you will give her soft poos if you overfeed.

It's not the consistency of the poos that will help with her anal glands, it's how wide her poos are when they come out - the anal glands are located either side of the anus and rely on a nice big bulky poo to exert enough pressure on them to empty.

Lovely [hgrin]

Lovely topic!!! Interesting though.

I like the idea of adding grated carrot to food. Nice and healthy!

I have 2 girl labs and have read bits about anal glands - glad it affects boy dogs more!

jax - pup will get used to being in crate at night. Our youngest pup is 16 weeks and from about 13/14 weeks started to go through the night. Mostly. She does occasionally whine in the night and depending on the time I let her out and then put her straight back in. To her great disappointment as she wants to play.

Bella - she appears to be lab crossed with kangaroo! And does not understand 'down' or 'no'. Is going to be much harder than first one I think. How do I get her to stop jumping up? Any suggestions? I have tried 'no', 'down', pushing her down, turning my back on her at which point she jumps up at my bum!

thnak god I have scoffed my breakfast!

I did a bit of reading up on anal glands yesterday and it seems they are located at the 4 and 8 o'clock position, if that helps assumpta.

Took Lola to school again this morning, she was swamped with children and adults and didnt bat an eyelid. Slept in the car on the way home. My arms ache! She is a lump.

jax sorry.

Bella I will try the carrot from tomorrow, as I can't get to the shops today. Would you say what I am giving her is too much 48g x 3 times a day? 7am, 1pm and 7 pm? Is 6 poos normal on 3 feeds a day? Sorry this has become all about poo! [hblush]

its OK assumpta, hijack away, its all in the name of dogness. [hgrin]

I would say that the feeding guide on the packs of food is only a guide, you have to know what is right for your dog.

It will be leggy at 6 months, christ my 18month old is a skinny, leggy boy - but that is due to health problems not under feeding. His eyes are shiny, his coat is glossy and he eats for England! He does 2 or 3 poos a day on his Royal Canin and after years of Arden Grange I am sticking with it! Which is a huge deal for me as I always loved Arden Grange and fed all my other dogs on it.

Still can't get over the fact you were mad devoted enough to get another, sweetie [hgrin] Re jumping up -choose one tactic and stick with it doggedly [hwink] I favour turning away. Make sure everyone in the house does the same. It will get worse before it gets better - it's called an extinction burst. Imagine you put a coin in a vending machine and nothing came out. Would you just walk away? Course not - you'd press the button, press it again, then press it repeatedly before giving up. Exactly the same. The dog is trying to get a desired reaction but as long as you don't give that reaction, they will learn there's no point jumping up. HTH [hwink]