New puppy, advise needed.

[showjump]

Picked new Vizsla bitch up on sat afternoon. She is 10 weeks old.
She is abit car sick, but im sure that will pass once she gets used too being in there.

Although its being left alone at night i need advice on.
The first night (Sat) we locked her in her cage in the kitchen and went to bed. She howled and barked for an hour or so and then was quiet till the morning.
Last night (second night) we did the same, she barked for well over 2 hours. (12.30pm by this time) and i went down in the end before the neighbours went ape sh*t.

She was shaking like a leaf.
I know going down wasnt the best thing, but we are semi detatched, with thin walls.

I tried to leave her in the cage and sit next too her, but she still barked for nearly and hour.
So i gave in in the end and we both went to sleep on the sofa. She never moved all night untill the OH got up at 6.30am.

What do i do? We have a lovely safe and fairly warm summer house up the garden, do we put cage in there and leave her to bark too her hearts content??

Sorry its long, she off the vets later for her 1st jab so will ask them too.

 

[girla]

Try putting an old jumper in with her so it has your sent on it, sometimes this works as a comfort blanket for them and helps to re assure them. If you have the summer house i would put her there in the evenings untill she gets to know that she will not get attention through barking. It does pay at times to be cruel to be kind.

 

[showjump]

She has got a jumper of mine.
I know what your saying, it just seems so cruel. I just dont want too put her cage upstairs at night, and find she stays there forever!

 

[CAYLA]

The cage is a new experience for her, and at the moment she sees it as a lonley place away from you and her siblings, I would hazard at a guess that she spent all day in your company, then placed in cage for bed.
Crate training is a routine that has to be patiently introduced, she needs to spend time in the cage when u are in the house aswell as out of sight, start feeding all of her meals in the cage, give her treats in the cage, and place a teddy bear in, of equal or bigger size (minus eye and nose) this will mimic a litter mate, and she will snuggle in to what she thinks is another puppy, she will help settle her.
Everytime she is tired and starts to nap, place her in the cage, so she wakes up in there, this way, even play with her in order to tire her, so that u can place her in there, she has all the above mentioned to assosiate the crate to be a nice place, the trouble is alot of people get a new baby and spend alot of time with it, hardley placing it in the crate through ou the day, until they leave it to go out or go to bed, this way the puppy sees it as a place to be when everyone dissapears, which can be very scarey for a little puppy.

Get on with the house work and leave her safe puppy chew to chew on and get her a kong, to keep her occupied, and if she does cry, this is the best time to ignore it, as the neighbours are going to be more lenient in day time hours, and u can get the majority of her introduction done during the days.

Try leaving the radio on when you go to bed, very low and placing a cover over her crate, this can also help them settle and block out any disturbing noises that would wake her.
crating her upstairs at first is fine to be honest, aslong as u get a seperate cage for this, so u can still use the downstairs cage for through the day, and it the upsatirs one is partially covered, she wont even be aware of the transition when u start leaving her in the down stairs cage

as her cage stays the same, this is why we ask alot of our adopters to crate the dogs initially, as we have already crate trained, and it helps them settle, the environment may change, but the secure sleeping area/crate stays the same

Try and put the above aids in place to help her first, it would be alot less stressful than letting her screach herself to sleep in the summerhouse, esp when she is so little.
Stick with it, this is nothing compared to a dog that was never crate trained, and at 6 months began to chew and display seperation anxiety, u will be pulling your hair out then

 

[Cyberchick]

What she said. lol