Leaving My Puppy Downstairs On Her Own

[Azreal]

Hi everybody,

My little 9 week old newfoundland puppy hates being left on her own & I hate leaving her.

Even though i am a stay at home mum, I can't be with her at all times as I need to be upstairs feeding & putting my 4 month old baby to bed as generally spending time with her in between sleeps etc. I started doing those things downstairs with her & the pup but the puppy is actually quite big & i don't want to risk her jumping up on the baby etc as she hasn't learned to stop jumping & biting yet.

Problem I am having is the constant crying & yelling hen i go upstairs & it continues for such a long time that i often have to come back down which i know you are not supposed to do when they are whining but it sounds so desperate I hate to leave her down there.

Can anyone offer some advice re is it ok to let her cry a bit & apart from not making a big deal when you leave & come back are there any other tactics that people have found works when leaving their pup for an hour here & there.

My biggest concern is that I don't want her to be a nervous dog when she grows up so I want to do this the right way & I thought maybe some of you could share how you have achieved this with your own puppy.

Thanks in advance.

Azreal

Edited September 20, 2010 by Azreal

[aussielover]

Are you leaving her with toys or food etc?

Perhaps you could leave her with her meal in a treat ball or kong. Also make sure she has plenty of toys and fresh water available.

I also find crating and/or tying up is useful to practice even when you are in the same room.

They get used to sort of separated from you this way.

You can wait for 5- 10 seconds of silence before you go to her.

There is no problem (apart from the neighbors!) with leaving her barking/crying if she has been fed, has water and has been toileted and should be otherwise comfortable.

Our puppy school teacher said that some puppies may bark or cry for upto 3 hrs at a time.

[jessie86]

Hi everybody,

My little 9 week old newfoundland puppy hates being left on her own & I hate leaving her.

Even though i am a stay at home mum, I can't be with her at all times as I need to be upstairs feeding & putting my 4 month old baby to bed as generally spending time with her in between sleeps etc. I started doing those things downstairs with her & the pup but the puppy is actually quite big & i don't want to risk her jumping up on the baby etc as she hasn't learned to stop jumping & biting yet.

Problem I am having is the constant crying & yelling hen i go upstairs & it continues for such a long time that i often have to come back down which i know you are not supposed to do when they are whining but it sounds so desperate I hate to leave her down there.

Can anyone offer some advice re is it ok to let her cry a bit & apart from not making a big deal when you leave & come back are there any other tactics that people have found works when leaving their pup for an hour here & there.

My biggest concern is that I don't want her to be a nervous dog when she grows up so I want to do this the right way & I thought maybe some of you could share how you have achieved this with your own puppy.

Thanks in advance.

Azreal

I found with my 14 week old pup, the best thing to do is distract her, and let her know and think that time outside is heaps of fun!

Get a kong, and stuff it with kibbels, or treats (my pup loves the kong biscuites with peanut butter) you can google it and put heaps of recipes in the kongs. she need a safe place outside, does she havea little dog house or a bed? Make her sit, and give her the kong when she is in to it, leave and leave her on her own.

She will probably cry and howl, my pup used to put on a huge show, so much so that I was nearly in tears hearing him cry and he even slammed himself into the glass, which worried me so much. But the minute I made outside fun, it helped a lot!

Even leave an old box outside for her to chew, or a pigs ear, or a favourite treat or toy that she loves.

Good luck! Our pup cried and cried, and I made it worse, by waiting and then comind downstairs when he was really crying and this made it worse, if you don't go downstairs, she will eventually get tired and give up, it's just hard listening to it!

GOOD LUCK!

[koalathebear]

Hi Azreal

I sympathise - I have to leave our puppy at home when I go to work and I feel so bad about it even though he's now 7 months. He gives me very reproachful looks when I come home.

Some things that have worked for us:

1. We divide Elbie's kibble meal up and scatter some of it in the grass - he spends a while snuffling around looking for it. The rest of it we pop into a tucker ball and that keeps him occupied for a time as well

2. We give him empty plastic orange juice / milk bottles to play with (lid and plastic ring removed). He LOVES those.

3. He has some chew toys and tug toys in the backyard - nothing with a squeaker as he only plays with squeakies under supervision.

We used to leave a kong or a kong ball in the backyard but recently I have read such horrific stories on DOL about kongs and kong balls that I've stopped leaving those for Elbie. I know that heaps of people have no problems with them but I'm just a bit paranoid now given that he's alone for so long. So far the tucker ball has been super safe and he loves it. Good luck with your puppy

[lilli_star]

I agree and do what the others said for my 4 1/2 month old Labrador puppy, plus I give her a cardboard box with a few bits of lamb and kibble in it for her to snuffle/eat/destroy. Yes, it's a huge mess to come home to (today Ruby had also dragged out her bedding onto the grass)- it kind of looks as though there's been a wild party in the yard, but no big deal. Ruby also has a clamshell with sand and water to play in (not that she always chooses to dig in it... ). Something else I do is put a few bits of meat into a container and fill with half stock half water and freeze. Ruby has also only just discovered what to do with her Kong in the past couple of weeks, so I leave one out too.

To be honest, I don't know who eats more- Ruby or the family of magpies that visit, but it's all gone when I get home...

[Azreal]

Hey thanks so much everyone these tips are great & I feel soooo much better knowing i am not alone with the crying issues.

Koalathebear, what are the safety issues around the kong,I would be interested to know if you are able to tell me, stuffing the toy with food sounds like a great idea so as long as the toy is consiered safe I'll start that today.

I am definitely going to do all of these things starting today, I am so glad I found this forum - you are all making things a lot easier for me

[koalathebear]

Hey thanks so much everyone these tips are great & I feel soooo much better knowing i am not alone with the crying issues.

Koalathebear, what are the safety issues around the kong,I would be interested to know if you are able to tell me, stuffing the toy with food sounds like a great idea so as long as the toy is consiered safe I'll start that today.

I am definitely going to do all of these things starting today, I am so glad I found this forum - you are all making things a lot easier for me

Hi azareal:

There's a post here about the dangers of a the standard kong and here's a post about the hard kong ball with a hole in it. I should add that these do seem to be freakishly bad luck incidents and that heaps and heaps of people including DOLers leave their dogs alone with kongs and kong balls witih no problems - as did we for ages ... but given that Elbie's just as happy to play with a tucker ball or the plastic juice bottles, I'm not going to run the kong risk anymore. If anything happens while I'm at work, there's no one to help him and I'd never forgive myself. I suppose the reason why I'm paranoid is that when Elbie was a very little puppy, he did get a larger kong stuck on his nose for a while - it was cute but in remembering it now, I realise that there is a real risk of getting stuck.

To be honest, pretty much everything that is recommended will have people who support it and people who will say it's a risk so it's up to you to judge depending on your own circumstances and your own dog whether it's a suitable toy. For instance, a lot of people would never give their dog a rawhide bone but we frequently give Elbie a rawhide bone - under supervision and we check it every 10 minutes or so to see if it needs to be taken away. Same with squeaky toys. My husband's bringing a kong wobbler back with him when he gets back from overseas so that might be a suitable toy, too. I can't recommend the tucker ball enough though - Elbie LOVES it

[Genabee]

I think all the suggestions here have been great.

I just wanted to add, that like children, puppies do go through a stage of separation anxiety and not wanting to have their Mums out of view!!! The good news is that most pups learn that you do come back and will grow out of it. I had issues with Genevieve when she was very little- she would sit and fall asleep on my feet while doing the dishes, try and get in the shower with me, come to the toilet with me - you name it and she was under my foot!

Now that she is older, she thinks me having a shower is a great time for her to nick off with the bath mat, me doing the dishes is a great time for her to lick the crumbs off the coffee table and me going to the toilet is a chance for her to chew on something she know she shouldn't!!!! Hang in there because it does get better!

[mish13]

You really are a gluten for punishment with a Newfoundland puppy and a four month old baby.

Do you have a crate? Maybe you could spend time down stairs with the baby and put him into the crate. That way he can see you and he cant jump all over the baby. I know you cant do this all the time but its an idea.

We need progress photos please