puppy in her crate

[maddy74]

As most of you know from my other thread I have been struggling to crate train Willow due to me struggling to cope with her crying and scratching. Yesterday I had to leave her for 50 mins, first time in a week and she cried when I left and when i returned the place was quiet.
The last two afternoons OH has put her in for her afternoon snooze, she has gone in fine for him and not cried. She is probably sensing my anxieties. Today I have put her in the crate after about an hour and a half up and brekky and toilet etc as I have been doing every morn as this will be her routine when I return to work and she is tired at this time. She cried like mad, previous to yest when she did this I would ignore her but sit in the room on the lap top she would them calm down and go off, Im probably rambling and have covered most of this before, but what I wanted to ask was how long is it okay to leave her crying for before she has bad associations with the crate. Today she has gone in and cried like mad, half an hour that lasted and it seemed like a lifetime, she then dropped off. I know I had a lot of advice on a previous thread, shall I continue in this way putting her in for an AM nap and letting her cry until she sleeps no matter how long this is for in the hope that the time reduces and then get OH to continue with the PM sleep in there. At night time she is fine and then last two evening she has actually taken herself off to the crate for her bed at about 8-8.30, so the crate must be a nice place for her otherwise she wouldnt go in would she? in between these two naps would it be worth still popping her in there and going in and out of the room to confirm i am always coming back or have I passed that stage now and this might confuse her? Thanks in advance.

[Eve]

Is it really quiet when she is in her crate.  Do you leave a radio on low so she thinks there are people still in the house or do you think this would make her much worse?

[maddy74]

Yep I have been putting the radio on for her. 

[mooching]

Maddy, I think you're doing just fine. You need her to be in this routine for when you go back to work, so my advice would be to just keep on doing what you're doing and she will adapt.

Could I just ask how you reacted when she cried for the half hour?

[laurapru]

It's sounds as tho you are doing great...........I presume dogs are like us all and like a routine to make them feel happy and secure! I left Ollie today home on his own for an hour, I think he may have cried the whole time I was out as when I returned he crashed out for an hour!
I do feel as tho Ollie will never like his crate he get so upset when I put him in it, I am trying so hard to not give in! Should I move the crate upstairs with us at night but I would prefer not to have Ollie upstairs in the long run? Sorry to crash your thread Hun!! X

[maddy74]

Dont mind you "crashing" my thread. lol  Willow seems to have settled well in our room but then again I havnt tried her anywhere else, she does like to be able to see us. I dont know what the answer is really as I am struggling with her in general with one thing and another.  Laura are you finding caring for a puppy harder than you thought, I know I am, so glad OH at home now for the weekend. 

[maddy74]

Mooching, how did i react, well i didnt go into her this time although it was tempting. I was stressing inside but I was stronger than I had been the previous days

[Happygal]

I think these things will all pass and Willow will do fine if you are consistent with what you are doing. You can't do anything else other than what you are doing, slowly and bit by bit she will get there. It's only been a week and she is going to try and find your weaknesses so you have to be  a strong pack leader for her. Be strong now otherwise later on it will be harder on you, decide what you would like her to be doing, within reason for her age, and stick to your guns. She will whine and cry and look cute and you will be tempted to treat her like a baby (I know as I am just as guilty of this with Wispa) you still need time to yourself to make your lunch etc and she has to learn this too. Be stong Maddy, we are thinking of you as you know. You can do it

[maddy74]

After the worst day ever with Willow in terms of her poops, constant peeing and mischievious behaviour our little sweetie slept from 11pm-6am. I was fearing the worst and thought after all the peeing we would wake up to a wet end of the crate, but no, what a little star  the day time crate time remains an issue but we will get there.....

[maddy74]

one step forward and two steps back. Willow always has a nap in her crate after brekky, loo, and then I brush her, returned her to her crate and she howled for half an hour, worse than yest, i then went in the room for something and sat on the bed she appeared to settle and fall asleep, I left the room and she has started again, its been an hour now....GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR  As she is settles at night now, I may need to get a job working nights....

[mooching]

It may be because she slept so well last night that she doesn't feel she needs her nap so early. Hang on in there. Just wait till she is quiet and then go to her and tell her she is a good girl.

It will get easier once she can go out on little walks - that will help to set the routine in place a bit more, and also tire her out a bit.

[Henshallboys]

 I don't mean to sound harsh but everything you are experiencing is normal for a 9 week old puppy maybe you didn't realise what it entailed ......have you had dogs before or is this a new experience for you?   It will get better but you have to be prepared for months of what you are experiencing now , Willow will not totally settle into a routine for a while yet and training is key now.   She is still very young, our little girl Holly is 9 months now and we still have accidents at night time now and then.

Sorry to not sound very cheerful but this is the most stressful period of having a sweet cute little pup......cuddles and kisses from little Willow will be worth it in the end 

[Sheepscheeks]

Don't fret, or try not to. I found Freddie's early puppy hood REALLY hard for lots of reasons and it made me really upset at the time that others on COL would have all these lovely pics and videos of their puppies and be saying how much they adored them. I just didn't feel like that. It was a bit like post natal depression but with a puppy, not a baby! Anyway, a year on (Freddie is 16 months now) how different things are.

We started leaving Freddie when he had been with us a week. He had the kitchen with his crate left open, a kong stuffed with kibble and primula plus the radio left on. The first time we went out it was to the sales on Boxing Day so we were gone about an hour - he was quiet when we got back but I have no idea what he did in between. When I went back to work after the Christmas hols, I used exactly the same routine each time and never made a big fuss of going. I have never known exactly what he does when we go out but in over a year, he has only been barking when I get back two or three times and that has probably been due to our cat teasing him from behind the kitchen gate!

I have never shut him in his crate when I go out as he is shut in there all night and I just don't feel it is right to shut him in during the day too but I know lots of others routinely crate their dogs when they go out and they are fine. Hang in there and you will make it. 

[Jeanette]

I don't mean to sound harsh but everything you are experiencing is normal for a 9 week old puppy maybe you didn't realise what it entailed ......have you had dogs before or is this a new experience for you?   It will get better but you have to be prepared for months of what you are experiencing now , Willow will not totally settle into a routine for a while yet and training is key now.   She is still very young, our little girl Holly is 9 months now and we still have accidents at night time now and then.

Sorry to not sound very cheerful but this is the most stressful period of having a sweet cute little pup......cuddles and kisses from little Willow will be worth it in the end 

Not harsh sounding at all but Quinn is 8 months old and still needs loads of training, housetraining was a lot slower than it was with our girl but I think she is a lot cleverer  .    Even now, he isn't what I call a calm adult.   The puppy stage goes on and on and doesn't last a couple of a weeks.   

I work mornings so had to leave him in his crate with a kong and seemed to settle- no crying etc , however if I was ever in the house he wouldn't and won't settle in his crate as knew I was about.    They soon get into a routine though. 

If she'd only just got up and had breakfast etc, she probably wasn't ready to go back into her crate.    Things might get easier when you can take her for a morning walk when she wakes up so she is tired before going back into her crate for even more sleep.