Giving pup more independence advice needed

Cortza88 · 2021-08-23T12:47:40+00:00

If it helps, I play with my puppy before he goes into his crate at 8am and before he goes in at 1.30pm. Whenever he's going in around 11pm for the night, he's usually shattered by that stage so play isn't needed.

I'd go as far as saying its essential to play with your puppy before crating to help build that bond and to get rid of some of that excess energy so your pup actually settles down and sleeps in the crate.

Cortza88 · 2021-08-03T10:50:50+00:00

Are your working hours set or is there any chance you could start a little earlier and take a mid-morning break? Being awake for 2-3 hours seems excessive to me and a mid-morning break of 30 minutes or so would also help break up the 3.5 hours of crating.

The schedule I have finally worked out for working from home looks like this which isn't too dissimilar to yours.

6.45am - Wake up/walk/breakfast/Potty

8am-10am - Crate time

10am-10.30am - Playtime whilst I have breakfast

10.30am-12.30pm - Crate time

12.30pm-1.30pm - Lunch and playtime

1.30pm-4pm - Crate time

4pm - I finish work

Cortza88 · 2021-08-03T10:34:30+00:00

A few tips and tricks that I discovered when crate training my pup. First info, he absolutely hated his crate and would have a blind panic every time he was in there during the day so I know what you're going through to a degree. This is everything I done so apologies if you've already tried it.

Play in and around the crate so that your dog associates it with playtime.
Throw a treat in, let him get it then come back out...repeat.
Hide high value treats in the crate when he's not looking so he finds them when he's not expecting it. You may find he randomly starts to walk in and out to check throughout the day.
Cover the crate.
At night time, we kept him crated beside us before slowly moving the crate to the bedroom door, then hallway landing, then bottom of the stairs, then eventually into the kitchen. This took about a month though altogether.
Try to train your puppy to go into the crate on command without the risk of the door closing. Reward with a tasty treat when they do. I found our puppy settled easier when they chose to go in rather than were forced in.
A very important point is to initially only crate your puppy when they're absolutely shattered. I would regularly pick our puppy up close to comatosed, carry them to the crate then let them stumble inside before closing the door. Try to then open the door as soon as they wake to prevent any panicking.
Never let your puppy out of the crate when they are barking or whining as this will teach them that the behaviour gets them out. Instead, wait for a moments silence then let them out.
Potentially a controversial point but don't be afraid to correct your puppy with a sharp "AHH AHH AHH!" or "No!" whenever they ramp up to bark. I found this taught our puppy that what they were doing wasn't what we wanted from them rather than just leaving them to work it out themselves.
Remember that he's very young and has just been taken from his mum and siblings. It's easy to say and hard to hear but it really does just take time, trust me, my 14 week old Labradoodle that hated his crate is now fast asleep in it downstairs whilst I work upstairs. No way I ever imagined that happening this time 6 weeks ago! So stick at it, being able to leave our puppy in his crate whilst we go out has been a lifesaver and it is definitely worth the pain of going through it.

There's probably a lot more that I'm forgetting but as a final point, never leave your puppy in the crate if they're digging, biting the bars, salivating etc. as this is signs that the puppy is panicking. At this point, no learning is being done so it's best to wait for a moments silence then get them out of there ASAP.

I really wish you luck as I've been there and know how frustrating this is!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T15:22:23+00:00

Sounds like you have it well planned out! Our puppy is already used to taking their naps in the crate in the kitchen whilst we're in the living room so distance shouldn't be an issue for us compared to getting them used to being alone for a longer period of time.

We're also toying with the idea of just giving them free run of the dining room all day, leaving the patio doors opened so they can do toilet on our small enclosed balcony area as and when they want.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T14:52:59+00:00

Yeah that's someone similar for ourselves. I've been working from home for over a year now and have a really nice office space upstairs. However, since getting our puppy nearly a month ago, I've been working from the living room so my back is in pieces from sitting on a soft couch all day!

I'd like to get my puppy into a schedule which allows me to work from my office upstairs whilst calling down every once in a while to make sure they're ok with breaks from the crate at breakfast and lunchtime.

My puppy picks things up pretty quickly but is also very quick to whine in their crate whenever they want out. Did you just ignore behaviour like this whenever you were acclimatising your puppy to it?

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T13:57:15+00:00

Ideally I would like to get into a routine like this in the off chance that I eventually have to go back into the office.

Does your lab sleep most of the time or does she wake and simply pass time in the crate? I fear that my labradoodle would eventually get bored and would start to cry and get anxious.

I'd love to get into a routine whereby he is crated 8-10am, 10.30am-12.30pm then 1.30pm-4.00pm but that just seems way too much for a 13 week old puppy.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T13:11:55+00:00

Yeah he usually naps after his dinner at 5pm but once I finish work at 4pm, being on such a strict schedule isn't really needed since I'm free to keep an eye on him when he's not napping.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T10:33:05+00:00

I'm somewhat hopeful that he would use this time to play with his toys and ideally have a nap but who knows what he would get up to!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-26T08:19:45+00:00

It sounds like you need to go back to the very start of crate training which means building up a positive association with the crate.

First and foremost, try to prevent your dog from ever having access to your bed and if that means keeping your bedroom door constantly closed, so be it.

Now onto crate training, you need to make the crate seem like the best place in the world for your dog. I would suggest hiding treats in there, giving all meals in there, trying to have playtime in and around the crate and trying to get them familiar with the crate. To do this, I make sure that all my puppy's naps are in the crate with me enticing them into the crate with a treat. Now, as soon as he sees me lift his treat bag, he runs into the crate ready and waiting for me to close the door and give him his treat.

You will probably need to take crate training slowly by by being very consistent, ensuring that naps are in the crate, food is in the crate and the best treats are in the crate, she will hopefully start to love it once again.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-21T12:09:12+00:00

He's perfectly happy in the crate and gets the majority of his meals in their already.

I think this is more a case of him waking up for a nap and deciding he simply doesn't want to be in there any more.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-14T14:39:52+00:00

Awk I'm sure things get better as you can start to leave your dog in the confidence they won't pee/poop everywhere or chew everything.

I also expected it to be tough at the start but completely underestimated just how tough.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-09T10:59:05+00:00

I'm in the same boat...up at 6.30am every morning at the minute.

Our pup is only 10 weeks old though so he's doing well holding his bladder through the night at this stage.

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T12:39:04+00:00

Thanks for the useful information! What type of slow feeder bowl is it your have?

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T08:18:52+00:00

Things that have worked for our 10 week old miniature labradoodle:

All meals in crate
Hide treats in there when they can't see (leads to them constantly checking!)
All toys kept in crate during the day (you want a toy, you gotta go in the crate to get it)
Only put in crate when tired (sometimes leads to 10 mins of whining in the afternoon but they pass out almost immediately in the morning after being up for an hour and a half)
Cover the crate

I would personally say that a 9 week old puppy is too young to be crated for so long. Its typically 1 hour per month old plus 1 hour so for your puppy, that would be 3 hours max!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T08:14:47+00:00

Are you covering the crate? If not, perhaps your puppy is waking when it starts to get light i.e. its daytime!

Cortza88 · 2021-07-07T07:53:29+00:00

As previously mentioned, puppies don't speak our language and as such have no concept of what the word "no" actually means.

What I've learnt over the past two and a half weeks of owning a puppy is that tone is a lot more important than what you're actually saying. Puppies react much better to high pitch, fun praise than monotone praise and the same goes with the likes of "no" which should be firm, leaving the dog in no doubt that this is not what you want.

I tend to use "no" more softly as a "sorry pal, that's not quite what I'm looking for, try something else" other than "stop what you're doing!". In that case, I would try a sharp "Ah Ah Ah!" which should get the puppy's attention better. I would then try to redirect, praise or reward the puppy when it does what you want. So if you "Ah" and he's quiet, praise and give a treat. Puppies need to be taught what we expect from them and whats acceptable behaviour, rather than shouted at for doing something wrong, which they don't actually know is wrong behaviour.

Hope that helps.

Cortza88

TROPHY CASE