How Long Does It Take :(

[kezza_bear]

hi

i was just wondering if anyone could tell me how long it took for their puppy to get usef to being on there own my little one screamed for over an hour straight yesterday when i went to work and whenever she woke up she would scream some more :p

Edited October 1, 2009 by kezza_bear

[Serket]

Can you leave her alone for short periods and gradually build it up to a full day?

[Nekhbet]

if it is the dog in your avatar then you should know shepherds can be very very vocal

with all of my pups I have never had a screamer. I give them food, water and only put them to bed when they are really tuckered out.

when you leave THEN feed so she is preoccupied

leave a radio or TV on for her so she doesnt feel too alone

get a few interactive toys like the ones from Prestige Pet

ignore her screaming completely

its the only way for the pup to learn. I mean ignore as in dont even look at the dog BUT as soon as she's quiet go praise quietly.

[kezza_bear]

nekhbet she is a chi x my shephered hardly ever cried when i got him thats why im asking so many questions because it is all a different experience for me with this new little one

[corvus]

It's actually not the only way for a pup to learn, Nekhbet. With both Erik and Kivi I taught them to get used to it with minimal screaming by sitting down next to the pen/crate while they chewed on something and settled down. I'd leave when they were asleep and try to be back before they woke. If I wasn't I'd go back as soon as they started barking. I think if you leave them to bark for ages they just get worked up and it all takes them longer to adjust. It took three days for Kivi to learn I would come back and Erik a day and a half. Erik was a couple of weeks older than Kivi and he had Kivi to help him adjust. Kivi just had my cranky old corgi who wanted nothing to do with him.

I have no way of knowing if Erik barks much while I'm out hoping I will turn up, but I can say he's never barking when I get home and will voluntarily get into his pen even though he knows it means I'm going out.

[kezza_bear]

ruby still hasnt adjusted to being on her own crying for an hour straight loudly quiet for 10 mins then the crying starts again so i have put my old girl in the laundry with her through the day and she doesnt make a noise it probably good for my old girl anyway because she has a dicky leg and sleeps on the grass all day anyway ( is this ok to have her with the puppy while im at work they get along great )

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[all that glitters]

Oh how I remember those days

I had a few crying sessions when I first got Shyla, thinking I had made the wrong decision. She would SCREAM MURDER when left alone when we went to work, and when my mum would come to check on her at lunch she would hear her crying (whether she stopped and started again who knows) so I was EXTREMELY worried and stressed for a few weeks, almost regretting getting a dog while working f/t.

But lo and behold... she DID get better, and now I can leave her and come home and shes always always quiet upon us getting home, and my amazing neighbors said she cries/whinges for about 5-10mins after we first leave, then she is quiet the rest of the day (10hrs). So being a shepherd (a very VOCAL dog) I think that's a pretty good result!

I have a routine when I leave her, I always ALWAYS :

~ Leave the radio on a soft calming station

~ Leave her with a super comfy bed

~ Leave her with lots of toys

~ Leave her with a few of the following: a bowl of her food, a kong filled with food, I scatter kibble over the floor (so she has to hunt them all down and eat them all one by one), a bone, a roo tail, a carrot

~ Leave her with her dog door open for indoor/outdoor access

I have found giving her her food as soon as we rush out the door (quietly) is good because she is distracted and doesn't "care" we are leaving at the time. She will watch me close the sliding door and lock it, but will keep eating happily (cant b THAT worried!) So it gives us enough time to get out of the driveway and go before she finishes and comes outside.

It also makes us leaving a positive thing cos she gets FOOD! And the kong is ALWAYS given no matter when or for how long, it's the classic sign we are leaving. As is us getting ready in the bathroom She knows routine.

I think its all about routine. They get used to your life and how they will be living, they get USED to the fact you come and go. That takes some, sometimes longer than others, my girl took a month to stop crying a LOT.

But it DOES get better, I definitely thought it never would and would get into my car and cry on the way to work :D

But it diiiid!

[Nekhbet]

corvus I aim for no screaming and it is possible without pandering to the dog. Also if the OP has to go to work then they can't sit there waiting until the pet settles. You are rewarding their noise making with returning, hit the wrong dog and your method will create a dog that barks constantly until the owner returns.

dogs are tougher then we give them credit for. Shelleandshayla has the idea - Kezza some dogs are simply more vocal then others. My malinois brother was SO vocal he screamed for almost a week straight and was nearly handed back to the breeder before he shut up every dog is different. The trick is to ignore it early or you will have a permanent screamer.

[corvus]

I was disputing that your way was the only way, Nekhbet. It's not, although your way works, too.

As a pup that barks whenever he wants something and at the top of his lungs, I think if my method were going to teach any dog to bark constantly until I returned it would be him. But the thing is there's more to it than just going to them whenever they make a noise. You don't have to lump every remotely related behaviour together with dogs and puppies. There are times when it's helpful to go to a puppy that's crying and times when it is detrimental to you. It just depends why the puppy is making a noise.

[Aramiss]

Morgan cried the first few days when I left him alone for more then a few minutes, and even then there was a lot of whimpering and groaning .

I tried crating him while I was at work, I work for 2 and a half hours per shift, two shifts per day, so it was not for very long, but he hated that and it made him more upset , and a lot more vocal (yep he is the shepherd in my avatar ), so I re checked all my puppy proofing and left him loose in the house. I fed him before I left, and made sure he had had a play and a toilet break, and he was fine. No crying, no messes, no destruction, I suspect he just sleeps while I'm away lol.

A few tips are never say goodbye, just leave as quietly as possible, never make a fuss when you get back home, just go around doing your routine for a few minutes, and greet the pup when your ready to. Never ever punish a pup or dog for any messes/broken items/chewed items or any other naughty behavior that happened while you were out, just send them outside and clean up, and greet them happily after a while. If you do they get anxious about your return because they know it means a punishment, and they tend to act out more

Kongs, radios, toys, other dogs for company, and any other distractions and enrichment's are great, and I'd recommend them as long as the dog's are not major league chewers, cause if that's the case you will need to supervise with toys and kongs to make sure they are not being eaten

Kezza_bear we are in the opposite positions, I'm used to toy breeds, and Morgan is my first large breed, and he is the vocal one, my little ones have always been very quite, so its a big change for me, keeping up all the talking Morgan does

Edited October 4, 2009 by Fitz Kettle and Me

[Danois]

It's actually not the only way for a pup to learn, Nekhbet. With both Erik and Kivi I taught them to get used to it with minimal screaming by sitting down next to the pen/crate while they chewed on something and settled down. I'd leave when they were asleep and try to be back before they woke. If I wasn't I'd go back as soon as they started barking. I think if you leave them to bark for ages they just get worked up and it all takes them longer to adjust. It took three days for Kivi to learn I would come back and Erik a day and a half. Erik was a couple of weeks older than Kivi and he had Kivi to help him adjust. Kivi just had my cranky old corgi who wanted nothing to do with him.

I have no way of knowing if Erik barks much while I'm out hoping I will turn up, but I can say he's never barking when I get home and will voluntarily get into his pen even though he knows it means I'm going out.

So basically you are teaching your dog that if it barks you will come running...

You'll find the more acceptable approach is ignore the barking puppy and return only when it is quiet.

[all that glitters]

Yep if I had returned when Shyla was screaming and carrying on, with a breed that smart she would have DEFINATELY thought that was the way to demand attention, and I would have created an instant problem on my hands.

Dogs repeat what gets results - so if you come back into the room when they are making a fuss, of course they will make a fuss next time ~ and for even LONGER if they have to!

I dunno I go by that theory as it's tried and tested

[corvus]

So basically you are teaching your dog that if it barks you will come running...

Again, it doesn't have to be that black and white. Listen to your pup. There are different barks. I can tell when Erik is barking because he wants to be let out of his pen to pee and when he's barking because he wants to be with me and wants me to come and let him out so he can. I don't respond the same way to every kind of noise he makes. All it takes is a bit of common sense. I see it as a two stage operation. First stage is to get them comfortable with the restraint. Second stage is to teach them what behaviour works and what doesn't. The second stage is when you start ignoring the noise. It's easier on them because you've already taught them that there's no need to be very upset because you always come back before they get too scared. IME, if you do it this way the noise only lasts a few minutes.

Other people desensitise instead, and their pup might not cry at all if they have the luxury and patience to do it thoroughly.

That's three ways. The desensitisation method is, in fact, considered by the authors of many books I have read as the accepted approach, as it happens. I haven't had the luxury of being able to do it yet, so I compromise with my method. It has worked a treat for me on two puppies so far, one a very clever and vocal one. The other I started with Nekhbet's method and abandoned it after trying to ignore a howling puppy for 30 minutes straight and finding it impossible. I switched to my method and he was right in two days. It works.