Screaming Dog In Playpen

[Guest HarperGD]

So Harper SCREAMS when we put him in his playpen. We tried to make it a nice place, with all his toys in there, treats and food in there but apparently that's not enough because WE'RE not in there.

He sleeps beautifully in his crate by our bed at night but if we leave him alone he goes MENTAL!!

We don't smother him when we're around. A lot of the time, even if he's out of his pen, he'll play with himself while OH and I ignore him and do something else or talk together.

At our dinner time or when he's sleepy he gets put in his crate, the door shut, and he just goes to sleep - with a couple of wimpers here and there.

But the pen, for some reason, he HATES. And he doesn't seem to even want to go into his crate when we put him in there.

So at this rate, we're going to be evicted and I know that sounds awful.

I putting a lovely kong full of roast chicken in his crate, then walking out, going downstairs and putting my earphones on. But 25 minutes later he is still screaming. I waited till he was kind of quiet, came back upstairs and as soon as he saw me he screamed louder.

I completely ignored him and came to sit on the couch but he didn't stop. He kept going and going.

Finally the screams turned to a whimper. When he was quiet for about 2-3 seconds I walked over calmly. And tried to give him so chicken as a treat while saying "Harper, sit."

He wasn't interested in the chicken and tried to climb over the pen. When he was 4 feet on the ground I opened the door, walked back. He followed and I said "sit." He did and he got some chicken.

Now, he's all wet because he obviously threw himself into his water bowl and I have no idea if he learned anything.

Needless to say, I'm DREADING doing that again.

I have to go to work on Wednesday morning. He's going to be home alone for about 1 - 2 hours. Same on Thurs and Fri so I need tips, please.

I love this ball of fluff so much and I just don't want him to be traumatised everytime we leave.

Do we really just have to wait till he's quiet? And during the time he is screaming can we come into the room if we ignore him, or should we just stay away?

He's in the living room so if we have to stay out of the room he's going to have to go to another room, otherwise we pretty much can't come into our house.

Please, I don't want to sound like a bratty dog owner who didn't read anything about dogs before she got her puppy. I did read. I read EVERYTHING! But I'm sorry, Dr Dunbar, you failed to mention THIS would happen. You made it sound so straight forward.

And I know he's a baby. He's only 8 weeks old. He just left 5 brothers and sisters and his mummy. But I can't even go to the toilet at the moment without him SCREEEEEEEEECHING.

So many of you have helped me so far via private messages and I appreciate that more than words can express. I just need some more pointers on the specific scenario above and tell me what i did wrong/what I did right and what I could have done better??

Thank you so much guys.

It's so great to have such a supportive group, without the guidance of this forum I would be feeling very, very lost.

Also - have we done a bad thing putting his crate in our room at night? Should he be in another room to help him adjust to being alone?

ADD - Sorry, I know this is already a novel but another question:

Everything I read says to start with short periods of time and extend to longer times. But they also say don't go to the dog when he's screaming?? So yeah, it's all good and well to start with 5 minutes but if the dog doesn't stop them how can you only leave them for that long??

Argh, it's so confusing

Edited June 6, 2011 by HarperGD

[Red Fox]

Have a look at this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWQLfq7tpVE

and get youself a copy of this book: http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2502&ParentCat=449

Soooooo much better than the Dunbar book IMO. Less complicated, more balanced and very easy to follow (and no it's not just for competition/sporting dogs). Cleanrun has it on free shipping at the moment too.