The Barking The Barking........

[nicolatu]

Hi guys I just got my puppy home the day before and he was barking all night. But on the second day my gf managed to let him know that making noises won't let him out. She did this by staying at the crate and accompanying the puppy. When he makes any noise, my gf just ignores him but once there is no sound coming from him, my gf open the gate a little and pat him. If he makes any noise, she straight away withdraw her pat and close the gate. With consistency, he puppy now know that crying won't get him anything. But he still bark a little. We managed to teach him to sit in 1 day(smart border collies!) so everytime he barks, we close the gate and ask him to sit(to distract him). He won't bark when he sits. Then immediately we open he gate and pat him. He seems to learn no sound=pat + gate open.

I don't know if I am making sense and this is just my opinion. I am still learning as this is my 1st pup. So maybe the more experienced dog owner might know what to do.

Nic

[GoldenGirl85]

Nic all puppies go through that for the first few nights, they have been taken away from their mother, their siblings and the environment they knew, best thing I found was that if they arent thirsty, or need to to toilet, then just to let them go for it, like I said its only for the first few nights, they usually settle after that

The only problem I see with what you mentioned is that your pup is learning that mum will stay right there all night, you dont want that, you want him to know that when he goes in his crate he will get let out, he just has to be patient. How much time has he spent in his crate? is he just locked in at night time or does he have free access to it all day as well?

When I was training my pup to use her crate (first time using a crate but Ive had dogs my whole life) I made a game out of it, she got all of her meals in her crate and after a little while I was locking her in while she ate, but within minutes of her finishing Id let her out, Id throw her teddy in the crate and she would go in and fetch it out. Just remember to keep it a positive place, if he needs time out lock him outside or in a bathroom, his crate should only be used for positive experiences...and Im yet to find a time out that is positive lol