I Gave My Puppy Too Much Freedom

Hi,

I’m looking for some advise to course correct my mistake of giving my puppy too much freedom (I think).

So me and Roni (Pepperoni) have been together for a week now. She’s a 9 week old miniature Dachshund. I made the naive mistake of letting her roam freely around the two downstairs rooms. I also made the mistake of letting her do this when I was working. I’m beating myself up because it was such an obvious bad decision.

For the first few days it seemed okay. She was playful, would chase me during play time and we seemed to be getting on really well. The bad stuff is she seemed to start biting cushions, furniture feet and blankets. I originally started to course correct during play time by trying to entice her to play with another toy when she was going it - but it’s pretty constant. After a few day’s I could tell she was getting pretty frustrated. I think she almost didn’t want to play but was getting wound up because she wasn’t getting her angst out during play.

So, I’ve now set up a segregated area for her with her crate, one or two toys (I’ve held a few back for play time), her bed and water bowl. I’ve started feeding her in there too. I’m also trying to take her out during play time into one room. And take her to go to the toilet in the other room.

Problem I think is that she got use to her kingdom and so she does whine and try to get out of her new area. I try and give her treats when the whining stops. When she goes back in after play I leave a few treats lying around. Her crate is also part of the ‘barrier wall’ - I let her out of her area, show her me putting treats inside her crate inside her area and then she wants to get in. After a few moments I then put her back in her area and she goes into her crate for the food.

So I guess my question is am I doing the right thing? I’m sure it would have been easier if I had done this from the get go. Is the reinforcement of not whining right? Basically just pleading for some advise on how to fix my mistake

Thanks everyone! Hope you are all keeping safe.
David

 

Hi,

Thanks for your comments. I understand that going outside would be the best option. We’re using pads temporarily. At the minute toilet training isn’t really an issue. There’s the odd accident but in general she’s going well. I’m using pads for 2 reasons. Firstly I’ve just moved into a new build house and the lawn is only being laid next week. Secondly, she hasn’t had her second vaccination yet and the breeder advised not to let her out just yet. Also, her second worming tablet was only given yesterday.

The pad is at the back door to try and make the future transition a little easier.

 

Thanks for the reply! That was useful. I think the main issue was whether I was doing the right thing in ignoring the whining to get out of her area. There’s so many conflicting opinions as to whether you answer their whines, like you said, so she’s not distressed and communicates that successfully. Or whether you ignore it because it reinforces that whining gets her attention. I was stuck what to do and was hoping for other people’s experience.

I may try and answer the whines and get in there to comfort her / play. Thanks for taking the time to respond!