Our First Weekend With A Puppy
A few first puppy thoughts….
- Doodle MPB is adorable! She’s a little brown fuzzball.
- What was I thinking when I said an infant almost seems manageable? A puppy who hates her crate is definitely a tiny reminder of just how hard infants are. Mr. MPB and I already miss sleep, and we really aren’t very good at giving up sleep. The only one who seems to sleep through her nighttime crying is Little MPB, so we’ll take that as a win.
- Puppy potty training may actually help Little MPB with potty training. So far, this weekend, when we’ve taken Doodle MPB outside for potty breaks, Little MPB has asked to sit on the toilet twice. He didn’t do anything other then sit there, but we’ll take VOLUNTEERING to sit on the toilet as a major success!
- Doddle MPB loves people. To the point where if we are 1 feet away she cries and cries and cries. I have no idea what to do about this because it’s just not realistic for us to be within 1 foot of her at all times. (Any suggests to help a cryings/screaming/howling puppy learn not to cry and scream would be much appreciated).
- Little MPB lost the right to name Doodle MPB. You see, when we brought her home he started calling her Dog MPB. Now, if you remember, he only started saying Dog MPB’s name when we got home from putting her down. While absolutely devastated by his choice of name, I truly find it fascinating that he remembers her name from 7 months ago and associated a new dog in the house as being her. So we chose a name that also happens to be a character that Little MPB adores.
- Little MPB wakes up in the morning asking for Doodle MPB. He loves petting her and giving her hugs. When she leaves his side, he shouts Come back Doodle MPB! and chases her. 80% of the time he’s great with her. But, that other 20% of the time, he steals her toys and taunts her. And he shoves his little fingers in her little puppy mouth and says Eat! which is not a behavior we want to encourage. Clearly we are not just training Doodle MPB, Little MPB needs to learn how to better interact with a puppy. We have our work cut out for us.
- Doodle MPB is so stinking cute with Little MPB. 80% of the time she follows him everywhere. She let’s Little MPB snuggle and give her hugs. She loves his pets. But that other 20% of the time she’s jumping on him and chewing at his clothing.
- The cute moment are the moments that make this new level of crazy worth it.
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It all just sounds so adorable!!!
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No question, it is pretty darn adorable! 🙂
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So, whilst I would NEVER do this with a human baby, I would suggest ignoring a crying puppy at night. This is what our breeder advised when we got our furbaby. I was so against it the first night but my husband insisted and in the end we only had one bad night…he was a fast learner. I did put a t shirt that I had been wearing, as well as a warm wheat bag to help him feel more secure. In terms of crying when she’s a foot away from you…why can’t she get to you? Crate training is a very gradual process and she shouldn’t be distressed by it… Not sure what you’ve been advised?
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I should explain the crying when she’s a foot away from us – As an example, if we are in the kitchen cooking dinner and she has freedom to roam around she chooses to sit on my feet. So, if I walk away to get something out the fridge she whines and cries. She can totally still get to me, she is just mad that I moved away from her. She wants to be right on our feet so she doesn’t like if we move more then a foot away from her. Does that make more sense?
As for crate training, I’m actually willing to do the ignoring, but she has absolutely no bladder control yet and seems to need to be let out every 2.5 hours at max. So we aren’t sure how to do hard core ignoring when we know she cannot hold her bladder yet. Suggestions?
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Oh shame, poor noonoo. What a sweetie pie. Ok, so we didn’t pop him in the crate at night. He had a biggish room where he could pee in certain corners (where we put newspapers down), and have a clean place to sleep… A kitchen maybe? We resigned ourselves to cleaning up a mess in the morning…I’d say maybe three weeks?
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So we implemented your suggestion. It has helped slightly with the night time crying.
Except, she has surprised us. She has decided to sleep outside of her crate and use her crate to go pee in.
We tried paper and even those puppy pads and all she does is shred them and most definitely doesn’t use them to go to the bathroom the few times we’ve missed taking her out quickly enough. So I have no idea what to do now!
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Oh lol! What a funny pup. Ok, well I’m no animal behaviourist but I would want to stop the association of crate equals toilet… So I’d be inclined to close the crate at night and make her a bed of a blanket somewhere else. And I’d do crate training slowly and gradually during the day. I also tried all sorts to encourage our pup to pee in one place and eventually he just established bladder control and didn’t need to use anything…until then it was pretty random and a bit of a mess but as I said… I value sleep, so I’d rather clean up a mess in the morning than be interrupted at night!
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Ya we are hoping the dog trainer coming tomorrow will help solve this problem! We’ve decided to leave everything as is until tomorrow and see what she says. Here’s to hoping she knows what she’s doing!!
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Beautiful puppy !!!
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I love her! But yeah, kids and pets are hard. C was so good with the cats for a while, but now that she’s testing her limits with everything, it’s been rough. Her favorite thing to do is grab their tails with both hands and hold on for dear life, even when they try to run and drag her down. We’ve tried everything to stop this behavior, but she thinks it’s a hilarious game. I’m afraid it’s going to take her getting bit or scratched for her to learn. Hopefully your toddler training goes better lol!
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Kids and animals are so much work! And I didn’t realize how much work a puppy would be (even though lots of people had warned me). And toddler training is probably going to be harder then actual puppy training!
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I had to do this with all of my pups, and it works like a charm! She’s probably never been away from her siblings/mother so getting used to a new place + no snuggle buddies is tough on a puppy – just like separation anxiety for an infant/toddler!
Take a water bottle (depending on her side, probably a 16oz coke or water bottle (maybe need a 2 liter if she’s a bigger pup) and fill it with hot water leave a bit empty in the top, enough for the water to be able to slosh around in it a tiny bit. Put the lid on TIGHTLY. This next step is kinda gross, but it works! You need a dirty sock, one you or Mr. MPB has been wearing – preferably a tube sock. Put the bottle into the tube sock (while the water is still hot) and put it in her kennel – lay it in the corner or the side where she won’t roll it around.
Put her in the kennel with the magic bottle and cover with a blanket – if you don’t already cover with a blanket I suggest starting – it will help calm her down.
This works for three reasons:
1. Smells like you – the people she likes.
2. It’s warm – puppies love warm
3. When she moves it, it will slosh around a bit – it will sound like her mother’s belly or a sibling and it will help her settle down.
All of my pups have used this method and it’s worked beautifully. Good luck!!
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Also, you might need a puppy apartment-type kennel – one with a designated sleep area and a designated potty area….but the divider can be taken out once she’s old enough to hold her bladder a bit better at night 🙂
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Thank you so much for your suggestions!!! 🙂
We now have her set up in a crate with a baby gate around it so she can have a place to sleep and a place to go potty outside of her crate if needed. She is sleeping a bit better. BUT, she seems to be choosing to sleep on the floor and using her crate to go pee. Not at all what we thought she’d do! She really does hate her crate!
Puppy trainer is coming tomorrow so I’m really hoping they have some good ideas because I am pretty darn close to giving up on the crate.
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I am a pushover for a crying puppy. After Twix cried for an hour on night 1, I brought her into our bed. She slept on my pillow at my head until she was too big and then she moved under the covers between my legs. She’s been there ever since. #notasuccessstory
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This is where I’m at. As in, if the trainer coming tomorrow doesn’t give us a some real suggestions and solutions, I’m done with the damn crate and I’ll join you as #notasuccessstory.
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For the record, I have absolutely no regrets. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I love having my cuddle bug there with me—I even have trouble sleeping without her now!
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Ithink my husband would kick the dog out. Actually I know he would. Otherwise she’d already be upstairs with me!
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Our dog liked small cozy spaces, so for his bigger open crate we put a towel or blanket over it at night and he seemed to like that more.
As far as the daytime crying…. I have no idea!! But good luck!
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Thank you so much for the idea for nighttime. We’ll try just about anything at this point!
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Good luck!!
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I think for the daytime crying because you moved away from her, she will eventually figure out that she can follow you or that it’s ok for you to move around and she will comfort herself knowing she can still see you. It’s a tough transition for a puppy to go from being around their siblings at all times to now being completely alone, so they attach on to their new mom and dad. So it’s likely upsetting to her that she can’t feel you, just as she would with playing with her siblings and then during quiet time, laying with her siblings. When she starts to get upset that you moved, either call her over so she can learn to follow you and also learn that you aren’t just going to stand there for hours while she rests on your feet, or else simply talk to her in a calming voice letting her know that you’re there. Even if she doesn’t understand you, she will hear the tone of your voice. If she keeps getting super upset and barky, it’s likely separation anxiety, even if you’re still close by. You can keep little treats or pieces of her kibble in a bowl in the kitchen and whenever you are stepping away from where she is resting, you can give her a piece of kibble and a pat. This way she learns that something positive comes from her new mom moving away from her. It won’t be something permanent that you will need to do, but just gives her a little treat to look forward to when the situation changes.
Have you read up on the crate training? Some dogs master it and some don’t, even if you do all the right things. Just keep at it and use the tips given and that you can find online. Our dog, who turns 2 next month, knows she goes in the crate when we aren’t home, but she still barks for awhile if we don’t go out the door right away or if she can hear us outside. It’s awful but thankfully she only barks for a few minutes then stops. For her barking/whining while in the crate, even if she needs to go out every 2.5 hours (which is standard for a puppy and shouldn’t be ignored), ignore her while she barks, but the moment she quiets down, even if it’s for a few seconds, that’s when you should let her out. This teaches her that she doesn’t get let out because she’s made a ton of noise, but she gets let out when she’s quiet. It can be tough as sometimes they can bark for quite awhile. But the breaks in barking will come. It’s a slow process, but you will get there!
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I needed to read this yesterday. Thank you!!
I’m not convinced our dog is going to master crate training. I honestly think she’d be happier if we just removed the crate from her life and left her in the baby play-pen area without it.
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The baby play pen area might work for a little while! But once she gets a bit bigger and recognizes how big/strong she is, the pen might not stand a chance. Try to stick with the crate training for a little bit longer, as hard as it is, and there may be an ah-ha moment that she hits and she will be ok going forward!
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We also have an x-pen for a dog but we have it put in a hard spot to get to. So the baby pen area works for now but probably not much longer. Hopefully she figures out the crate sooner rather then later!
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Awe! She is adorable! I do most certainly understand the fun times of puppyhood. I found at night time the best I could do was take Anna’s water away a couple hours before I wanted her to go to bed, then take her out right before. Now she would certainly still wake up every couple of hours because her bladder was so little. I was told to take her out and not talk to her or anything and put her back in her crate when she was done. It worked for me she would go right back to sleep for a couple hours then we would do it all over again. The only other thing I would do during that time was give her a nylabone to chew on if she didn’t go back to sleep right away and within 10 min it would tire her back out. I just always removed the bone from her crate when she fell asleep because I worry too much about things like that.
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Thank you for this, I really need the encouragement! I’m like you, she can have toys when we are awake and around, but otherwise no toys because I am way to paranoid at this point. Heck, I’m even taking her collar off her at night or if we aren’t home just to make sure she cannot get caught up on something.
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I do the same thing still and I think it’s a smart thing to do. Why take a unnecessary chance of it getting caught. Best of luck to you, it will get easier as she gets older little by little
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I just got a puppy today let me know what you think. keep the updates going!
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