Help with bringing up Mollie

[Stuartrc]

Well, as a newbie when it comes to both cockers and puppies i am probably going to have a few questions to ask of all the more experienced members hence the thread title.

So first set of questions ....

Mollie is ten weeks old and has been with us a week now.

She is quite clingy and this manifests itself most strongly when it comes to settling to sleep.  At the moment she will only settle with some form of physical contact with her humans. Anything from sitting by yourside, laying over a forearm to settling for a cuddle. Once she has settled you can transplant her to a bed or convienient cushion.

Is this normal? Have we set a bad precedent by cuddling her and allowing her on the sofa?

Do you think the clingyness will grow out or is it something to actively train out. 

Any general tips on getting her to settle on her own.

P.s. this is not exactly making crate training easier

[ejp]

If you think about it, Mollie has left her own 'family' and joined a new one, so it is only natural that she is a bit clingy, in my opinion.  You could maybe put a jumper or something of that nature, that you have worn, and aren't worried about, intp the crate, so she has your smell.  Cockers are very people orientated, or at least ours have been.  It's early days.

[Stuartrc]

Was kind of my thinking as well. My view was to prioritise her happiness and build comfort and a bond, but sel doubt crept in so a second opinion always helps.

[bizzylizzy]

Agree with ejp, - bonding is so important, especially in the early stages while she‘s still settling in.
We all have different methods of crate training, I was a complete newbie so followed my instincts (until I found this great forum). The first few nights I slept on the couch with the crate next to me and literally held Humphrey‘s paw until he nodded off and then each night I moved the crate a little further away until finally the crate ended up in the kitchen and I was able to sleep in my own bed!
THE most important thing with a crate is to make sure they feel happy in there so keeping things as peaceful and quiet and stressfree is the key in my view -Humphrey had an old fleece of mine in there for months, I also left music playing softly in the room aswell just to break the deafening silence.
They are often referred to as velcro dogs and mine is no exception, he‘s nearly 4 now and I still can‘t go to the loo without company!  He knows when he can‘t be with me though and is quite content sleeping on his own downstairs and I can also leave him during the day if necessary, he‘s quite happy.
I think the key is to be kind but firm, obviously a dog left to howl in a crate for ages isn‘t sensible but you have to expect a bit of crying at first. Try not to give in to howling or barking, - wait for a break when she‘s quiet  and then praise, reward or allow her to come out again when necessary. You have to play it by ear a bit (literally! ) but the point is to (try) to ignore the behaviour you don‘t want and reward the behaviour you do want.
And last but not least - always stay focused on EVERY achievement and bit of progress rather than worrying about what she hasn‘t learned yet, that way you enjoy puppyhood instead of viewing it as a chore. Best of luck, keep us posted!!

[Acciesboy]

Alfie's crate training went pretty well...he was our shadow when awake but as all puppies do, he liked a snooze. What he learned pretty quickly was that the crate was a safe place for him to go and lie down to sleep or snooze. We had it in our living room with us, so he could go in and out to his hearts content. He also got into the routine of us going to bed, him going into his crate and getting a treat. It made him look forward to bed time! He quickly learned that when the TV makes it's shutting down noise, he is going to bed...we could switch it off and he would get up off the couch and trot into the crate, tail wagging.

I think the routine helped. There was a little bit of crying the first few nights, but once he realised he was safe, would get a treat when he went in, and fed when we get up in the morning, he was quite happy to be separated from us overnight.

My key advice would be...use the crate...use treats/rewards...and build a routine. New things can be exciting, but they can be scary too, so a routine for bed makes it safer.

We also had a very dog friendly/escape proof garden, so we would let him out on his own while we were out from quite a young age. We live in Australia, where houses can get very hot in the summer, and he was in an area with sheltered/insulated roof, our garden furniture, his kennel and bed with a nice grass area to go patrol and sniff. He liked the independence too, so he wasn't worried when we went out and left him, he knew we would always come back and he was safe. We still got a fantastic welcome so it didn't mean he didn't need us any more.

To be fair he did chew the outdoor furniture a bit. It stopped when he was maybe 18 months old...or about the time we got his little brother, Hamish. He either grew out of it or was too tired trying to escape from the annoying puppy!

[Barry H]

She's just a baby.  Got to make allowances, so you do what you gotta do.  However, crate training is a personal choice I reckon and I never bothered with one.  I used the kitchen instead as that's where he would have his bed.  For the first few weeks I dossed down on the floor in a sleeping bag just outside the kitchen with Jack on his bed therein and a baby gate.  Up and down like a bride's nightie, hardly any sleep and frequent outside toilet training in the middle of the night is not much fun but paid off (for me).  He learned to settle quickly and was house trained in three weeks.  The bonding will happen naturally so start as you mean to go on - and always firm but fair.

[bizzylizzy]

Forgot to mention - Humphrey had a Kong with a bit of liver sausage inside at bedtime. By the time he‘d licked it all out, he was fast asleep in no time. They‘re perfectly safe so you don‘t have to worry about choking. (You can also fill them with yoghurt and pop them in the freezer, - great when they‘re teething!)

[Stuartrc]

Appreciate all the replies they are really quite comforting.

Loving barry’s Sleeping on the floor to look after the puppy

Liver sausage in a Kong will be tried, we do have a Kong bone which we stuffed with treats but she has steadfastly ignored it.

 

[rubyduby]

I have had Cockers for 40 years and just got anther puppy who is now 14 weeks, she wont sleep alone, and shares the bed with us, a bad habit probably, but we aren't worried, she's happy and so are we....I think there is awful lot of focus on training and this and that, our dogs have always just evolved with us, the only thing we struggled with initially was her boisterousness around our older Cocker, but that has resolved itself and its great now...we are retired so she has all the company she needs, we have always had 2 dogs together and found that hard work, but beneficial for the puppy

[Pearly]

You’ve had some good advice already    a tip is to use a command word as your pup is settling down to sleep (settle, calm, snooze or whatever you prefer) they soon associate being calm and sleeping with the word.  It’s a really useful command when you need your dog to go to its bed, calm down when you have visitors and most importantly, settle in a pub 

[Barry H]

...
Loving barry’s Sleeping on the floor to look after the puppy
...

You wouldn't if you tried it!  I'm lucky in that I took early retirement a few years ago so had plenty of time to devote to an 8 week old pup.  The biggest PITA for me was getting him toilet trained PDQ which meant being with him 24/7 and outside every half hour or every hour or so through the night (it was February too!).  Still accidents, but that's to be expected and you can only do what you can do...  You walk around like a zombie all day but as I said, it was worth the effort to me.  The first time he went to the door was awesome!  Had no more accidents after a few weeks in toilet-training boot camp and of course he could go longer as he got older.  You really appreciate being able to go back to bed - and even then you have one ear open...

[Digger]

Mollie sounds like a lovely little pup.

Everyone has different preferences. Personally I don't like crates but that's not a criticism of those who do.

Our dog has a mini room in the corner of the kitchen with a bed, water bowl and toys with a gate on it.
When we first brought her home, we settled her into bed in this area (gate shut) and I slept on the sofa in the kitchen. When she started worrying I would just make some noise so she knew she wasn't alone but I didn't go to her-just made comforting noises.  We would get up at 5am for toilet and then cuddles on the sofa til get up time. (She would have toileted In her room while I was asleep but I just cleared it up without mention)
I did this for 4 nights and on the 5th night I went back to my bed, just getting up early to start with and gradually stretching it out to normal get up time. She did still toilet overnight for a while but I just cleared it up in the morning and didn't worry about it. After a few weeks she could go through the night.
We have never had a single night of whining or barking and she never makes a fuss when going to bed.
I have found cockers to be very routiney, so I think if you set up the routine you want they should get used to it.
Best of luck with her.