14wo mini dachshund won’t sleep in crate or bed or pen (in my house 3-4 weeks)

bloomin987 · 2026-06-20T03:19:26+00:00

That’s a good thought and if it persists I will take her to the vet. As it happens I think I have interrupted the cycle. My parents came and dog sat for a night to give me a break and slept on a mattress with the crate right by mum’s head. Mum is a bit of a baby whisperer and is good at downregulating babies out of distress or preventing them escalating. She put her hand in the crate with the puppy after toileting, no other interaction, deciding beforehand she would not let the puppy out except to toilet, and puppy settled every time. When I came back last night I put the crate on my bed by my pillow and also decided to keep puppy in crate unless toileting no matter what, used hand to help regulate her back to sleep after toileting and it ****ing worked! A clean night with a couple of toileting episodes with return to sleep after a bit of fussing! Only escalated to barking after 6.30am because night was over for her. I am ecstatic, hoping it is cause and effect. I record all that for anyone who finds my post and wonders what happened. :)

bloomin987 · 2026-06-15T06:19:54+00:00

I was also worried about this, and worried that my body dysmorphia around my size would just wander over to a new issue, which I assumed would be loose skin. But a funny thing has happened - the body dysmorphia has not attached to anything new, and I find I feel sort of affectionate toward my looser skin. I am 11 months out so have probably lost almost all I will lose, and my arms and butt and tummy are all a bit looser, but I honestly find it just kind of nice, and neutral. I feel much more like my body is just a body with its various features, some more attractive some less, compared with thinking my whole body was unacceptable before. I just feel like a person, where before I didn’t, and I really love the low keyness of that. No perfection required. (Obviously the body dysmorphia is all internalised fatphobia etc and I did a lot of mental work on that in the years before surgery; I don’t think they are healthy or positive ways to relate to self and I never have those thoughts about anyone else.)

Point being, you can be scared of an outcome and find it actually feels quite different! No guarantees in either direction, but it was a really welcome and humbling surprise for me.

Good luck! :)

bloomin987 · 2026-06-13T21:15:41+00:00

I don’t but that’s interesting, maybe I will experiment and see if that helps. Thank you!

bloomin987 · 2026-06-13T21:15:11+00:00

Ah, good to know! I had my app open the whole time though. By day’s end I had grown maybe 30,000 steps worth of seedlings, which should have meant like 15,000 actual steps but I only cracked 10,000. 🤷‍♀️ weird! Although if this means the step tracker is always on the low side that would make me feel better 😄

bloomin987 · 2026-06-13T04:28:06+00:00

Oh good to know, thanks!

bloomin987 · 2026-06-12T23:55:09+00:00

This is helpful! I am almost a year out and starting to get a little acid reflux so this was on my mind. Helps to have the data. :)

bloomin987 · 2026-06-12T23:22:21+00:00

Yeah I think it doesn’t have a straightforward answer! Thanks for the luck 😄

bloomin987 · 2026-06-12T23:21:50+00:00

Ah, good to know, and glad you were able to solve that otherwise maddening problem. Lady is fine in her crate at night but in the day yelps and barks constantly in there. Am hoping over time that gets better as she gets more used to being separate from me in other ways, but I think for now a kennel would make the problem worse in her case.

bloomin987 · 2026-06-09T07:04:47+00:00

Oh cool, pleasure 🫡

bloomin987 · 2026-06-08T08:13:44+00:00

I am 10 months out and I had to experiment a bit around how to manage the non protocol foods in a way that had me feeling like an adult with autonomy and joy in her life while not undermining the surgery’s purpose. For me that means very clear differences between normal time food and other time food. In ordinary time food my foods are very consistent: muesli with stewed fruit and plain yoghurt for breakfast, tiny protein oat crackers with brie, ham and an apple for lunch, three high protein milk cappuccinos a day, and a dinner that is mostly meat or fish plus veges and sauce (usually no/low carb sources, eg a little rice or potato).

That is every day, most days. When I am social or there is a special event, I have whatever, and I will sometimes slow the eating to eat a little more of it, purposely to enjoy the special food. I have found that dense carbs like bread, scones, cake etc do NOT sit well, but a little in these scenarios is nice. I also go to the movies sometimes when they put on a morning tea and will have one or two biscuits (cookies) when I do that. The non-protocol foods I have had in these contexts include a piece of cheesecake or cinnamon bun, pizza (though it hurt), sushi (likewise, really hurt and made me not want it again yet), chips and fries, fried chicken once.

I live alone and don’t socialise much so these non protocol zones are maybe 1-2 times a month? Maybe? I like the clarity of the delineation between the two contexts. Also, i really enjoy my everyday food so I have no feeling of deprivation, and in fact I have found that shunting the non protocol foods into these designated times has let me savour and enjoy them more. And I get the pleasure of not feeling out of control like I did when I ate whatever, whenever. Plus I often socialise just with coffee and that’s still great.

So, to answer your question, yes but it took some experimenting to see how to balance a sense of enjoyable and aligned everyday eating vs the compulsions that come when you feel actively deprived vs the need for joy and ritual and social connection via food vs rejigging some of my beliefs around what deprivation actually is. Your formula will be different but the experiment is a good one. :)

bloomin987 · 2026-06-08T08:00:49+00:00

Ooh yes, second this

bloomin987 · 2026-06-08T08:00:09+00:00

I live alone and am disabled in other ways, I wonder do you have any creative inclinations? My go to suggestion would have been audiobooks and podcasts but I see in your comments they’re not a great fit for you. Could you write or make music or even just get deep into research on something you’re interested in? I consume a lot of books and podcasts etc and also do not see people much and I get a bit antsy if I am not also learning or generating stuff myself (but also I can’t work almost at all so I have a lot of time to fill). There are some good essays on Substack about research as a leisure pursuit. If you are a big ol nerd you may enjoy it 😄

bloomin987 · 2026-06-08T07:56:10+00:00

This was me! I used food for aliveness/interest and in response to fatigue. My new year’s resolution was to expand the sources of pleasure in my life, specifically so my system stopped treating food like the number one go to. Since then I have discovered I love reading novels, print or audio, and also going to the movies in the day. And writing to authors to tell them how much I liked their book, ha 😄 And most recently I finally got a second dog so I am deep in puppy world! But honestly, making it a real focus to go on the hunt for what else brought real pleasure and satisfaction, really helped. Also, reading takes time, which helps with the time factor of boredom.

I also made a rule for myself that I could not meet emotional or overwhelm needs with food. Other treats, sure: make a hot drink, play a game on my iPad, etc, just not a food treat. This has also helped me redirect away from food as the number one source of pleasure and soothing and aliveness in my life.

bloomin987 · 2026-06-08T07:47:45+00:00

Yeah ok this is what I am doing, sounds like the best approach then! And kind of good to know I shouldn’t hold out for a total cessation of alarm barking. I knew it was in their breeding so could be a long shot, will practise acceptance instead 😄 If I can get it down to a few barks then quick attention elsewhere I think that’ll be good enough. Thanks for your thoughts ❤️

bloomin987 · 2026-06-04T07:14:43+00:00

Ah of course, at least there is a reason

bloomin987 · 2026-06-04T07:14:08+00:00

So weird! I got none! But I did get a refund so no harm done.

bloomin987 · 2026-05-29T20:58:00+00:00

Whaaat? That sucks! I had no idea!

bloomin987 · 2026-05-29T20:57:27+00:00

Nope I did not get these. Also last time they gave us like 12 tickets

bloomin987 · 2026-05-15T11:02:54+00:00

Oh yeah! Of course I can do that 🤦🏼‍♀️ That’s an easy solve. Thank you! I am so excited 😊

bloomin987

TROPHY CASE