# Leaving puppy alone/night



## tashaA (May 24, 2011)

Hiya! Hubby and I recently got a jack russel cross. 3/4 jack russel and 1/4 yorkshire terrier. She is 8 weeks old. We brought her home on sunday. She has been A LOT of work. She would cry all the time and I would sometimes cry with her. I told hubby that I didn't feel like we were suitable for her. If I can go back, I would and I would get an older dog.

but I decided to give her a chance and do what is best for her.

We put her in our room the first couple of nights in her crate. That proved to be a disaster. lol. she cried and cried. We recently put her in our spare bedroom. we have a travelling kennel for her instead of a traditional crate. Plenty of room. We blocked off some room space and left her door open and some puppy pads.

That night was a complete NIGHTMARE. she cried and cried and barked and screamed. We then made the even worse mistake by letting her out and had her sleep in our bed. :frown2: we only did it since we live in a flat and didn't want angry neighbors.

she slept like a baby and so did we but we don't want this to become a habit. SO we then decided to let her have the kitchen. It's quite a bright room but i'm not sure if that's the best thing for her, but we let her crate open and a fan there for noise. Our vet reccommended this and told us that we have to ignore her. so ignore her we did.

we had to put our headphones in a few times but we succeeded. :thumbup1:

she peed in her pads which is fine. but pooed everywhere else. I don't really know why she doesn't just poo in her pads but i'm hoping she will eventually.

*Is this arrangement ok for her?* I thought it was ok but like today I needed some me space and put her in her pen and closed it. she cried for about 5 minutes and went to sleep. it's been well over an hour and she is sound asleep. so now I am wondering if maybe closing the door at night will be better then letting her roam the kitchen.

my only issue with this is us having to wake up and let her out to do her business and then her getting excited over it and make a fuss when we put her back in. ANY ADVICE ON THIS ISSUE WILL BE AWESOME.

Now my next problem. I work. Hubby works. We can't afford to NOT work. I work part time. 20 hours a week. Hubby is full time. The most we work in a shift is 8 hours. I would come home during my lunch and play with her etcetc. Do you think this is wrong? I feel bad for doing it. She would only be on her own for like 4 hours at a time at the most.

I def let her have the kitchen and crate door open.

I don't know any advice would be great. She is our first puppy and is working us hard!


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## Mistyweather (Jan 11, 2009)

Keep smiling!!! We had problems when we first brought our Jackchi home at 8 weeks, but we are lucky in that our house is a semi and so she was left in her cage at night, with a rooms width between her and the neighbours. After about 3 nights, my husband was wanting me to let her into the bedroom but I stuck with it for another night and by the 5th night she was happy to stay in her crate all night. Could you speak to the neighbours and tell them what is happening and that you don't expect the noise to go for very long. I always feel it is better to speak to people first before they get a chance to have their say first. Have you tried putting her food or toys in the cage in the day time or a warm hot water bottle in the cage at night? Worked for us in the end


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## Polimba (Nov 23, 2009)

It sounds like you are doing great. I would have quite happily given our puppy back in the first couple of weeks, it was so hard and lots of crying. It does get much easier though, hang in there.

We always shut Zimba in his crate at night and he was fine. he used to cry at about 3am for a wee, we didn't interact with him, so speaking or fuss, just used to open the door let him into the garden and straight back into his crate. Sometimes it took him 10 minutes for so to settle after that, but we just ignored him.

With regards to working lots of us do. We were back at work 5 days after Zimba arrived and he's always been fine, he'd do a maximum of three hours for the first few weeks, but then was fine with just a lunchtime visit. He's a lazy Ridgeback and sleeps most of the time, if we're there or not


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## ChatterPuss (Sep 4, 2010)

When I had my new pup I bought a puppy heartbeat pillow which when they lie on it, it beats like sleeping with their litter mates. It was brilliant and he carried it everywhere with I'm when he was Little and slept with it every night. I am about to get a new one for my new pup. it is made by petstages! If your local pet store doesn't have them you can get them off eBay!:thumbup1:


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

tashaA said:


> Hiya! Hubby and I recently got a jack russel cross. 3/4 jack russel and 1/4 yorkshire terrier. She is 8 weeks old. We brought her home on sunday. She has been A LOT of work. She would cry all the time and I would sometimes cry with her. I told hubby that I didn't feel like we were suitable for her. If I can go back, I would and I would get an older dog.
> 
> but I decided to give her a chance and do what is best for her.
> 
> ...


Puppies get stressed its early days yet, She has left all she knows is away from mum and littermates and on her own in a strange place, it is a stressful time for them.

If she has never seen or been in a crate, and you just put her in and shut the door she is likely to panic, they often do if they are not crate trained and introduced to it properly.

Pups need to be toilet trained and shown where the correct place to go is.
Training pads can confuse them as it gives the message it is ok to go in the house. Personally Ive never used them for this reason. They need to be taken out every 30/45 minutes. When they start to go give it a name eventually they will associate the name with going and you can use it as a toilet cue word. When finished praise and treats to re-inforce its the right place. Look out for circling sniffing and scratching at the floor but this sometimes doesnt come until later, thats usually a sign they are looking for somewhere to go, so get her out quick then. At first though they dont always recognise the need, or realise too late. Any accidents clean it up with a special pet accident cleaner any smells can encourage them to repeat it.
Dont tell her off for accidents, that can make them nervous about going in front of you and likely to sneak off and do it. They especially need to be taken out, after eating,drinking, play and sleeping. At night if within sight and sound take her out when she wakes or stirs, or set an alarm and take her out a couple of times that way. They soon tend to go through the night within a few weeks.

You need to make the crate a pleasureable place to be. Get her used to running in and out by throwing treats in to find them, hide smelly treats in the crate and in the bedding to encourage her to go in and sniff them out.
Keep special toys and chews only for the crate, Putting in a large stuffed toy or several smaller ones can help, its something to cuddle up too, pups sleep touching and on top of each other in the litter for comfort. A radio down low on a talking station can help. A T-shirt or jumper you have worn in her bed can comfort her as it has your smell. DAP, dog appeasing pheromone plug in can help, an artificial version of the pheromone mum emits to calm and soothe pups, Vet-Medic - the same medicines as your vet at consistently low prices. is one place to get them. Start closing the door for very short periods, even a few minutes once she has settled and then open it with no fuss, building up the time as she adjusts. Crate training is only an aid to toilet training the theory being a dog will not soil its bed or surrounding area. Pups have tiny litter bladders though, and need to toilet frequently same with pooping, therefore left in there too long, she will have no alternative but to soil.

Hope this may help.


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## tashaA (May 24, 2011)

Thanks guys! helps loads and makes me feel much more positive! She still needs her second vaccine shot. That's why we haven't taken her outside to do her business. We don't have a garden. 

I'm def going to look into getting the heart pillow.


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## Cassia (May 28, 2011)

Going through the exact same thing with our 12 week old Chinese Crested Powderpuff pup. It's so damn hard and a massive drain on your energy emotionally and physically but you just have to soldier on (like your doing at the moment) and think of all the joy this littlun will bring you once this stage is over.
Seems like your doing a great job, your doing your best and that's all you can do.
We also live in a flat, but we posted a letter through to the neighbours either side letting them know that we'd got a puppy and that if they hear howling/crying it'd be the puppy etc, just to reassure them that the noise (when there is any) won't be forever.

It may be a long and hard process but my god, it'll be worth the effort in the end!

Lots of love!


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## golfchick (Mar 18, 2010)

people can only really tell you what worked for them, there is no golden rules when it comes to how quickly they understood it or how they did it!!

I think the most important thing we did is set rules and stuck to them, from evening 1 she was shut in her crate all night and trust me there were a few nights about 2 weeks worth of them when I wondered what we had done should we move the crate etc but we stuck with it and after about 3 weeks of night after night being terrible and having to use baby monitors and sleeping in living room suddenly it just clicked for her and she gets shut in at 10 and let out anytime from 5:30 - 9 depending on schedules and she never makes a single peep! 

If it were me I'd be shutting the door at night as one of the main beauties with crates is they help toilet training and bladder control and if you're going to be leaving the door open you could have a bed or anything and if you want to stop destruction when you're out she is going to have to be shut in so will need to get the hang of it now.

What worked for us night after night was if she had peed and pood there was noway she was crying to get out to loo so only after approx 4 hours would we get up and let her out, toileted then straight back in crate and sat by side of til she settled and started to sleep and then we left her side and restarted the 4 hour clock til we knew she was crying to be let out.

As I say 3 weeks it took for our pup to click and shes sorted now but theres no right and wrong answer its whatever works for you!


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## tashaA (May 24, 2011)

GOLFCHICK thanks! How long do you reckon I should wait till I let her out to do her business?

i'm just afraid she will get excited to see me and won't settle down afterwards. but I do feel like she might sleep more/better if she were in her crate at night instead of roaming the kitchen and crying in every corner.


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## tashaA (May 24, 2011)

Cassia can I also say that your dog is gorgeous! I have never heard of that breed in my life!


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## golfchick (Mar 18, 2010)

its really upto you, we would basically open the door and we had to lift her outside otherwise we'd end up dragging her out, Calmly said good girl once she had done her business and then literally put her back in and sat and just acted really calm like now wasnt the time to play or get up. If she tried to come back out we'd just put her back in again and eventually she understood it was bedtime not play time. It helped to tire her out before bed obviously by playing games etc. We tried the radio playing but it made no difference cause she knew it wasnt us!


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