Give us hope!will it improve!

[caninecrazy88]

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We collected our Swedish Vallhund puppy over a week ago at 8 and a half weeks. The puppy has had someone with him each day and will do for another 8 weeks. We want to gradually increase the time he spends by himself so he prepared for a couple of hours alone when we go back to work. At the moment he still cries, barks and howls through a lot of the night especially when we are about to get up at 6. I come down to a pee and poo filled kitchen floor. He does sleep in the kitchen while we sleep upstairs. From the first day we have put him to bed and woke him up at a consistent time and not entered the room until the morning when he is quiet. There hasn't been a massive improvement over the week. We have been leaving him a couple of times a day in a room by himself (for about 5 minutes) but this also results in persistent crying, howling and barking. We only go to him when it has stopped. With his toilet training he is encouraged to go outside and has followed commands to do so outside. However, even though he is taken at regular intervals he is still taking opportunities to pee and poo in the house and not on the training pads which we put some of his wee on.

I myself have never had a puppy or a dog. My partner has had dogs but not so much experience with puppies. How much of this is normal after a week with us? If we continue what we are practising will we see an improvements by the end of 8 weeks? We put a lot of thought into our decision about getting a puppy and hope it was the right decision but worried that he will never settle! How long can it take?

 

[JoanneF]

I would suggest several things. First, his little bladder and bowel aren't large enough or strong enough to hold on overnight. So coming down in the morning to find he has toileted isn't surprising. Set your alarm for a couple of times in the night to let him out. When he goes out (day or night) and toilets, give him big praise and a high value reward like chicken. Don't make him come to you for the treat, you want him to know it is for toileting and not coming to you. Night time toileting should be lower key though, so he gets it that might time is for sleeping.

Daytime you need to take him out more often. Every 45 minutes / hour and after waking, after eating, aftr playing etc. Also watch for signals he is about to toilet, such as scratching the floor or circling. If he does have an accident, don't react. Just clean it up. If he senses you are annoyed he may avoid you when he needs to toilet. That's the opposite of what you want. also I don't like puppy pads, they give mixed messages about whether it's ok to toilet indoors.

Next, remember he has been separated from his littermates and mother. Being separated from you too is scary and distressing. I would have him in your room at night to begin with. As well as being able to comfort him with a word or a stroke, you will also be more aware of him stirring and needing to toilet. Please don't ignore him, you wouldn't ignore a crying child and leave him in an empty room. Comforting him when he is distressed is fine and will strengthen your bond. Unfortunately many people make the mistake of allowing a puppy to cry in the hope that they grow out of it, when actually all they have done is cement in the puppies mind that being left is indeed a terrible thing, and for many dogs this fear becomes a learned habit.

Gradually you can start moving the bed away to outside the bedroom door, near the room you want him to sleep in, and eventually into that room. With puppies learning, everything is done in little steps, and if anything starts to fail, you go back a step and stay there longer.

You do need him to become independent so gradually build up time he is alone. Don't just leave him crying, work out what his tolerance time is before he cries and go back to him just before that. You need him to realise you do come back. It may be you can only leave him for 30 seconds at first, build up very very slowly. And (thanks Gypsysmum) give him attention when he is being independent, not when he is being clingy.

Sorry for the essay. One final word - what you are experiencing is normal puppy behaviour. I'm afraid they don't come ready trained!

 

[JoanneF]

Another thought; please use positive, reward based training. www.positively.com is very good.

 

[gypsysmum2]

Yes, it will get better! You are doing all the right things (except the puppy pads ). You just need to persevere and wait for his bladder and bowels to grow! The more success he has in toileting outside the quicker he will get trained. It is your job to organise his life so that he is successful and then reward it

I do wish breeders would help their puppies settle in to new homes by separating each puppy for a short while each day while they are still in their known environment. I asked my breeder to do this and it helped enormously. I also used a whelping heat pad in my puppy's crate as I think heat is a major factor in making puppies feel abandoned.

 

[Peegee]

Another suggestion for nighttime. Rather than have our dog, Evie in our room for first week or so, we took it in turns to a make up bed in lounge and sleep in same room as her. We did this for 6 nights and then left her on her own and she settled really well. She is in crate with door open to small pen with puppy pads. She cries and yaps about two or three times during the night either because she has used the pads and wants them cleared up (she doesn't like dirty pads) or more recently to be taken outside to toilet. She is now 13 weeks. She usually settles straight away unless it's getting near dawn when she wants to stay up. during the day when we leave her we put her in open crate with attached pen (+puppy pads) + chewy toys and filled kongs. We have built the time we leave her from a few minutes up to about 1.5 hours now. We always try to leave her when she is tired and leave her with two or three kongs filled with her lunch kibble. She has never really become reliant on pads and doesn't seem to see them as somewhere to toilet. During the day we have taken her outside at least every 30 minutes to toilet. If she doesn't go then she was bought back indoors and then taken out every 5 minutes until she went. Huge praise and treats when she went. It is now getting much easier during the day and she will sit by door if she needs to go out (mostly)!