Pup can not be left

[nathanleebarwick]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, i have a an 11 week old cocker spaniel  called "Bonnie". Potty training and basic commands are going fairly well with her and she is full of life as you can imagine! The big worry i am having with her is i can not leave her at home for any short periods of time. We have been crate training her to build her up to leaving her on her own for a bit and it was going well, she also sleeps at night fine in her crate appart from waking up every 2 hours crying to go outside to the toilet. If my partner and i go to the shop for 10 minutes, we put her in her crate, we settle her and make sure she goes to the toilet before we leave, and put her Kong plus other toys in there with her, when we come back after literally 10 minutes she's howling plus wee'd  and poed everywhere in her cage and dragged it into her bed and all over the cage. Has anyone any advice on how i can settle her to be on her own?
Many thanks

[MIN]

Hi there and welcome to you and the little rascal Bonnie.
Your little problem is the norm for such a tiny mite.  Bless her. Its been a long time since I had the luxury of puppy world but hang on it there you will soon be inundated with people who are going through it,or just got over it and survived 

Lorna and Gemma WCS

ps to really understand your problem we need a photo, just so we can decide  or little 

[Pearly]

It's distressing isn't it? But be careful.....little Bonnie will have you trained in no time 

Have you covered the crate to make it dark? I find with Coral that she settles best in the dark.....otherwise everything you are doing sounds right by building her up, in duration, slowly.  I also use a "settle" command which only took a few days for her to pick up and proves most useful in the pub 

[nathanleebarwick]

  Thank you all for your kind words.
It is very distressing,  i do cover her crate at night time, i have never thought to cover it during the day, i will definitely be giving that a try
The "settle" comand also sounds an excellent idea, especially pub training the dog haha. Thank you for your feedback and advice 

[Mudmagnets]

When I settled Branston down in his crate for a sleep or rest, I used to leave him with a teething toy and that used to tire him out a bit too, before he nodded off 

[Murphys Law]

Another thing that might be worth trying is a DAP diffuser. Some people say they work miracles, others that they don't really make much of a difference.

[Markr64]

I agree with the others and you need to remember that Bonnie is still very young and will need more time to get used to her new routine, she was not long ago with her mother and siblings and now everyday she is being challenged to new things and being alone is one of them. It does get better as we found with Dexter who is now six months old, I am sure sometimes he wishes we would all go out so he can sleep. We also leave a small radio playing for him which does settle him too as he knows then he will be alone for a while.

[lescef]

It is upsetting when you know they are getting distressed. Just wondering - do you put her in her crate when you are in the house, so she gets used to being away from you even though you are there? We had to do that with Maddie. There seemed little point putting her in the crate when we were in all the time but it does help them realise you haven't gone for good. We started literally with a couple of minutes, then released her when she was quiet. It's also a good idea to have them in the crate then just walk past occasionally without speaking to them. It sounds like she's doing well really -she's only little.

[nathanleebarwick]

Thank you all again for your feed back.
Yes we do put her in her crate for a few minutes each day for her to get used to it, we coax her in it with a treat, so shes not forced to go in, we leave some toys in there and we even leave her in the crate on her own for a few minutes but she knows we are in another room so shes fairly good. As soon as she knows we have left the house, she will turn her crate into a cess pool
It is early days and i have a long way to go, hopefully she will get there

[bizzylizzy]

I agree with all the others, it WILL get better!! We always let Humphrey out for his last wee at around 11pm, then his Kong (with a bit of liver sausage inside)!was put into his crate, door shut, lights out and after a week or so, he was letting us sleep until around 6.30. I always tried to let him out in the mornings before he had opportunity to bark. Once we were confident he was "dry", we eventually took the door off the crate and he now sleeps either in or infront of his crate. he still gets his bedtime kong, - if I need to leave him in the day, I keep a different coloured Kong, which has a different filling. Don't know if that has any significance or if he even notices, but I always felt a bedtime ritual helped the children settle, so reckon the same strategy can't do any harm!! Best of luck! It DOES get better, - promise!!

[bizzylizzy]

O'h and I forgot - Humphrey still has an old T shirt of mine in the box, (which I occasionally wash and rewear, so its still smells of me  !!! - a radio on quietly also helps in the early stages.

[hoover]

I would agree with others that this is the sort of thing that can improve with time. I was sooo worried about Ollie around these early weeks, I thought we would never be able to leave him alone and it sounded like someone was torturing him inside his crate.  It's so hard to leave them in when they're howling, but we just to wait for those seconds when he gave it a break to let him out so that he knew that howling wouldn't work to let him out.  He's much, much happier now (19 weeks) and can spend 2-3 silent hours in there during the day if he's tired anyway (not personally a huge fan of having him in there when wide awake and unexercised) It almost seemed that it was something that happened by itself..just one day he was suddenly a lot happier in there.  I think very young pups know they are vulnerable and cry to be with their pack for protection..when they get a wee bit older they grow out of it.

[rubybella]

I would put the radio on, I still leave the radio on for mine and they are 4 and 7! That way she has no idea whether you are still in the house or have left!

[KeresleyKate]

Hi  We used this little book to get Arvy use to crate training. it worked like magic. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quick-Easy-Crate-Training-Publications-ebook/dp/B005H3FGHM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448916428&sr=1-1&keywords=crate+training Its American and they seem to think you can crate a dog for a lot longer than I thinks acceptable but its a very cheap book and it works.

Kate