New Puppy - Help!

[Ledg]

Hey everyone,

We have a lovely new baby girl, her name is Portia and she is an 11 week old golden lab.

Pics can be seen here: http://www.ledg.net

We have made an effort to make sure we are home as often as possible, however there are times where she is home by herself for a few hours. Our neighbours (who are very nice) have left a letter telling us that when we are out she barks and cries the whole time! We do not tie her up, she has full run of the yard and our back deck (covered), has plenty of water, her own bed, toys and food.

I realise she is lonely, probably misses mum, dad and her brothers and sisters. Also, at night her bed is just outside our bedroom door, on the back deck. We can not close the door as she just cries, and when we open the door she sleeps next to the bed and wakes us up periodicly to say hello and have a winge.

We need to get this sorted quick, our neighbours are nice, but they are shift works and I dont want to get on their bad side!!

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Leslie & Portia

[skwo2]

I know there is a lot of this kind of issue in this forum, do a search on separation anxiety.

Basically, you can train the pup to be on her own, say like you close the front door and be out for 5 mins, before you go out, leave a toy for her to play. After 5 mins, come back. You train her by increasing the timeframe each time.

[Nekhbet]

A bit of tough love is all you can do. You pander to her whining and its getting her inside. Leave her there all night whining, scratching and only get attention when she's quiet.

Sorry there is no other way. The neighbours will have to be patient, get them some ear plugs and a couple of slabs Probably a good idea to keep her in the laundry/crate her while you are away I would never leave an 11 week old outside alone, plus it would muffle the sounds. She needs to be safe and secure, not outside alone.

[Ledg]

Thanks for the replies.

I am definately doing to have to speak to the neighbours, a bit of bribary can't hurt!

She usually stays on the back deck all day, I know every time we come home thats where she is, its raised and secure. However we could keep her under the house... I was reluctant to do this because its, well... sounds lame but really boring and not very pretty (the back deck is much nicer). It is large though as it spans our whole house and has a concrete floor. I could also put a radio under the house, I read somewhere on this forum that it might to have noise/music etc?

Would it be a good idea to put her under the house at night to then? Idealy I would like her to sleep on the deck... but I dont want her scratching at the doors as they are french doors and are very nice, I'm not keen on having them destroyed either!!

[t-time]

If you move her further away from you (under the house), it is likely that the behaviour will get WORSE The deck sounds good especially if you spend a large amount of your time out there - I know we live on our little deck so the dogs are never very far away!

You seem to have a grip on the fact that she is a BABY (believe me, it's hard to get some people to realise this ;)) so just keep in mind those baby behaviours and the fact that she will want to spend time with you and your family MORE and less time by herself at this stage As she gets older, this will change and she will become more independent.

Is she permitted into the house? At 11 weeks, I think you should consider it - she is a baby still....a CRATE would be another option - it would allow her to be in the house with you and then she knows she can only come inside if she is going to go in her crate. (Very good for toilet training and many other things :D) Remember to take her out to the toilet after eating, drinking and playing.

You can also move her crate onto the deck at night which will prevent her from scratching the doors (you may have to think about sanding and re-painting in a year's time anyway ).

Bribing the neighbours is a good idea in the meantime ;)

(Just to note: Labradors come in 3 colours - Black, Chocolate & YELLOW ;))

Good luck with your new baby girlie :D

[flycow]

I second the crate. As for the french doors, she WILL scratch the door, it's a matter of time. If you treasure the doors, get some wood boards from bunnings and some velcro, just stick them on temporarily while you train her not to do so for the coming months. That should prevent some heartaches

And yeah, labradors come in all shades of yellow.

Edited September 22, 2006 by flycow

[Ledg]

Shes my golden girl, so she can be gold if she wants... gold is yellow!

French doors... hrm, yes well they already have some puppy love marks on them, but she has gotten much better! I am amazed at how quickly she has learnt.

I did what was suggested on this forum, when I was at home I closed the house up and stayed inside with her outside, she cried but I just ignored her... when she stopped crying for a bit I went out and praised her and played with her for a bit and then repeated throughout the night. Now she doesn't seem so worried about staying outside. She is even taking herself outside to do her business after only two days!!! A very pleasant surprise, we only cleaned up three messes and thats it!

While she has lots to learn I am glad she is getting used to us and the house... oh and the neighbours! (who do love her when she isnt crying)

Second lot of needles this week then its off to pre-school!

Edit: Yes, she is allowed in the house, just not on beds etc... she is good, but she has destroyed a rug already, she found a loose thread and took off with it, the damn thing half unraveled before our eyes!

Edited September 25, 2006 by Ledg

[Flying Penguin]

Would the ignorance technique work in this case:

10 week old beagle, when doing dishes etc in the kitchen is continually jumping up on the cupboards, crying and barking etc?

[flycow]

try don't look when he's jumping. Any moment he stops, wait a few seconds, look and praise. Jumps, turn your back.

I did the angle turning thing. When pup is on my left, I turned a little to the right such that my back was facing her rather than my side, and continued with dishes. It's funny when I kept turning, left right left right. I only looked when pup Diva was sitting still for a while, otherwise I ignored. Yeah I'm stingy with attention when it comes to attention seeking behaviour. LOL! It has worked for me so far, Diva seldom bothers me now when I do dishes, she either sit or drop next to me or do her own thing. Not sure if that'll work for your pup though~ no harm trying.

ETA: By the way, no feeding straight from the sink/bench area, otherwise they'll stick around FOREVER! I'm having this problem now, trying to break it.

Edited September 25, 2006 by flycow

[caspian]

ermm... we had a lab called Brandi who was, well, Gold! No other way to describe his colour. OK, may one other way - Brandy coloured! Many people, including labby breeders commented on how unique his colour was! So there!

Definitely do NOT give in to whining. Dog crates are a magical thing! We got one after a few weeks, but should have from day one! Keeps them calm (its a cave!), toilet trains, keeps them close (without losing any more rugs!), helps them sleep in foreign places (its a piece of home on holidays, and prevented ours from eating our B&B hosts pet ducks!).

We had neighbours who gave in to their pup, and for the entire year they lived next door, their dog would howl and whine when left alone! Enough to drive us insane! Well, they moved before we went postal! As much as we adored their little guy, sometimes we wanted peace!

Good advice from flycow on attention seeking behaviour. We have a rotty, and they are experts at demanding attention! Just need to be strong and do not look at them! Earlier tonight he shoved his ball in my lap, I let it drop and didnt look at him at all. He got the message, grabbed the ball and played by himself until I was ready to play catch with him. Now if only I could stop him chewing his bedding...