leny333

Thank you, I wasn't ignoring your advice however different people have different circumstances that are limiting on their ability to do things a certain way. We were in the process of building a fence in our backyard when the puppy arrived and didn't realise that we'd need it to be finished so quickly as pretty much all the professional advice I've been given says that you should confine them to a pen, laundry or very small area of the house until they are toilet trained and a bit older. Now the people next door have sold their house and our landlord wants us to wait to finish the fence as they might pay for half of it. Not much we can do about that. I'd be happy to leave him somewhere else in the house but as you seem to think that the laundry is a dangerous enough place I feel that giving him more of the house will mean more potential dangers. Also, as stated in my previous post, he isn't only in the laundry when we leave, he's in there all the time playing with us and eating etc. We are considering trying to puppy proof the living area as much as possible because he seems to like it most in there but I fear there are just too many dangers. Thank you for those links. They were very helpful. Unfortunately he arrived in the christmas holidays so we can't do much about being with him so much now. We just need to find a safe place for him where he'll be comfortable when we're gone.

Hi Everyone, I have a twelve week old whippet puppy. He's lovely and he seems to be picking up training really quickly, almost no accidents with toilet training already and he sleeps from around 9:30 at night till 8am with no problems aside from occasionally needing to go to the toilet at about 1am. The problem is that he hates being separated from people. I am a teacher so I'm on holidays at the moment which I thought would be a good thing when getting a puppy but it seems that he's spent too much time around people over Christmas and now hates to be by himself. We have set up the laundry for him with his crate and play with him in there and feed him in there. He also has pee pads which he goes on when we can't take him outside. He's happy to be in there normally but if we leave him in there with the door closed for any period he howls and scratches at the walls and even jumps up onto the washing machine. We left him for two hours one day and he whined but was otherwise ok. Then we left him for about 4 hours and when we came home his back toenails on one foot were bleeding and he'd thrown up. I read the tutorial download from greatdanerescue.com on separation anxiety and we have been applying the NILF principles day to day and two days ago we started trying their 'reprogramming' method. I'm not sure if we're doing the right thing though. This is what we do: We hang around in the laundry ignoring him until he lies down or starts playing with a toy. Then we leave and close the laundry door, then exit through the front door and wait for 30 seconds. We then come back in and wait till he lies down or is preoccupied again and then leave again. This time we leave for a minute, we vary the time that we're gone between 30 seconds and 4 minutes and we keep going in and leaving every few minutes for an hour. We've done this for two days now and every time we go to leave he rushes for the door to try to get out before us. Sometimes he howls, sometimes he sits in his crate, and sometimes he scratches the door till he bleeds. Every time we come back in he runs straight out the laundry door. He also seems very stressed and anxious during this whole process and afterwards he paces around and does silly things he wouldn't normally do. We're both going to be going back to work in a few weeks and we'll have to leave him for 6-8 hours during the days. I don't want to go from being at home all the time to that and I don't want him to hurt himself while we're gone. Are we doing the right thing and need to just keep at it? Or is there something else we should try? Is this normal for a puppy? (We've never had a dog before.) Thanks for your help. Ellene

Thanks for your help everyone! We changed his diet and he doesn't seem to be interested in his poo anymore. He's now eating a mix of hills kibble and BARF raw food and that seems to be working for him. His poo is less sloppy so maybe he's digesting it better?

It's good to hear that someone else has had the same problem. When did you start letting your dog use a doggy door and go outside alone? I'm not sure that the diet will fix things either but I'm willing to try. I was considering changing to raw anyway eventually.

From what I've read and what the puppy school recommended I thought you weren't meant to let puppies go outside on their own until they were a bit older? Also the laundry is quite large (larger than the play pens that I've read about and have been suggested to me) so I don't think that he needs more room. He's not cramped in there. There is plenty of room for his crate, water bowl and toileting area to be quite separate from one another as well as room for him to play. When he got a bit older we were going to train him to use a doggy door and go outside by himself to do his business instead of us taking him out all the time but I'm not comfortable allowing him to do this when he's just a puppy. I don't know too much about feeding raw but I thought I would get the puppy schools advice as well as my vets advice before changing anything of course. I really don't think it has anything to do with him not having space. He just seems really interested in his own poo. Even when we're outside and there's plenty of room he tries to smell and eat it.

Hi everyone, I know there have been numerous posts on puppies eating their own poo but I have a few more questions and a slightly different problem. I have had my 11 week old Whippet for 4 days now and he has been very good so far. He is doing his business outside and when inside he knows to go on the pee pads. He is sleeping through the night which is good but my main problem is separating him from me or my fiance. We have set up the laundry with a see through gate so that we can confine him to that area when we need to do things. If we go away from him he whines and whines which is fine. I know i have to just let him do his thing and I've been gradually making the time longer and longer when I'm in other rooms and he's in the laundry. But I think he's getting over anxious or something because even if I give him yummy treats to amuse himself or a toilet roll with treats inside (which he loves) he still either howls and whimpers, or just sits and stares at the door waiting for me to come back. Yesterday I went outside the house and sat there for about 20 minutes just listening to him to see what he'd do and he whined on and off the whole time. When he stopped for a bit I went back in and he had pood on the pad, but had picked up his poo, taken it into his crate and eaten it. (euw) Then this morning he went outside for a poo in the morning which was great and I put pepper on it and let him sniff it again and he didn't seem as interested in it. But then I left him in the laundry for 5 minutes while I got my breakfast and when I went to check on him (because he was nice and quiet) he'd done a poo again and this time had put his paws in it and spread it all over the room. Literally everywhere. The puppy school has suggested that I change his diet to raw because at the moment he's on proplan puppy and they said that his poo might be smelling attractive because he's missing something or not digesting it properly. Is there anything I can do while I'm converting him though so I'm able to leave him alone? I don't want him to get more severe separation anxiety when I'm gone and I also don't want him developing a habit of playing with his poo. Help please!!!

Thank you all so much for your help. Sorry about the confusion! Yes the greencross that I take my bird to has a specialist bird vet in the building but they're technically separate to greencross. Deb monks is fantastic! I didn't realise she did dogs as well. I'll call up and ask tomorrow. I have such confidence in her and that's what I want for my puppy a well. I'll also enquire about the holistic one at green slopes.

Hi again, Thanks for your reply. My two options at this point in time seem to be the greencross at woolongabba or the stones corner vet ( not a greencross vet). Has anyone been to either of these vets before? I want my puppy to have the best care and I'd feel better if I had a recommendation from someone. Thank you!

Hi All, I'm new to this forum as I am getting a whippet puppy at the beginning of December this year. I have a pet parrot and I take her to a specialist bird vet that is within the Greencross vet building on Kessels road at Mt Gravatt. Because I have not had a dog before I don't know of any good 'general purpose' vets in the area. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the Greencross at Mt Gravatt or if you could recommend a good vet around there. (I live at Coorparoo.) Price isn't so important to me. I would like someone who takes care and explains things to me clearly so that I feel confident with the care my puppy is getting. I also know someone who goes to a little veterinary practice at Stones Corner but I'm not that confident in the persons recommendation so any information about this practice would be much appreciated. Thank you for your help. Ellene