Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and I just got my first puppy (now 13 weeks) about a week and a half ago. We got her from a shelter so shes a mix (although we think like 90% lab based on most of her features). So far things have been tough (as I would expect) but rewarding too. Shes made a lot of progress (peeing outside, learning that stairs aren't scary, etc). So during this first few weeks I stumbled upon this forum a few days ago and I have to say the information already up here is basically the best thing since sliced bread, so thank you all for that . One thing with her is that she whines a lot whenever we want in the room interacting with her, such as when she is in a crate and not sleeping. We have been trying to get her more used to her crate so that she isn't excessively stressed out when we both will need to be at work at the same time next week. She has made a lot of progress and will start to quiet down much more often then she used too. With that being said, she spends a good bit of time whining and barking. Most of its just a "hey I want to play" let me out whine and bark, but there have been some times where shes just really needed to go to the bathroom at an unusual time and we couldn't tell. For example, she has been reliably pooping at 5:30 am and about 4:30 pm. Today was different though, she still pooped at 5:30, but at around 8:30 we put her in her crate and she was whining and barking for a while. She quieted down and we checked on her at around 9:45 to find that she pooped and had berried it under a towel so that she wouldn't have to stand on it. What I'm wondering is if any of you know any good way to distinguish between "i want to play, come love me" whines, and "i need to go out right now" whines? Or is this something she will just need to grow out of as she realizes that we are going to come back every day? Thanks for the help
Hello and welcome. You will learn in time to differentiate. Each pup is different. I wouldn't guarantee she'll grow out of the whining and barking when left by herself, though, so that may be something you need to train for. My puppy has very low frustration tolerance and will whine or bark to try to get what she wants - even though it doesn't work. I have my work cut out with her working on that! So, once I know she has no needs (she's been toileted, fed and watered), I can pop her away and ignore her. The second she barks, I get up and leave the room without looking at her, and only come back once she's quiet. This can be a bit annoying when I'm woking, as I have to pick up my laptop and take it to the kitchen, but it seems to be slowly having an effect. For a puppy of her age, if she's awake, you should still be taking her out to toilet far more frequently than every hour, as she still won't be able to control herself and it can be very distressing to be forced to use the crate to toilet. How long will she be in the crate when you're at work? It might be better to set up a pen arrangement (or use a safe room like a kitchen) with puppy pads so she can get away from her bed to go to the toilet.
The longest would be about 3 hours (including travel time) when we are both working. Since we got her we've always had someone home during the day to take her out. Also we've generally been taking her out to pee every hour or so, or if shes taking a nap, we take her out right when she wakes up. She's been fairly good and hasn't had any problems holding it in that time (rarely whines about peeing and we've had very few accidents since getting her). We've been considering the pen idea (and have bought one), but we wanted to see how she did in the crate during the day first. Some of the people I talked with were not big fans of the pen idea saying that it trains puppies to go to the bathroom in the house. What are your thoughts? is that just hot air?
If she needs to go, she will have to go because she's not physically capable of holding it for long. Better she is able to do that away from her bed. If she gets into the habit of going in her crate, then you're in a situation where she will be harder to train not to go throughout the house. Not to mention the distress it will cause to have to go in her "den", and then have to sit in it No, crates are brilliant for toilet training for short times, but are completely unsuitable for if there's a chance pup might need to go. So, the idea of the crate is, as I mentioned, that dogs instinctively don't like to mess their den - that's where they sleep. A puppy needs to learn that this extends to your whole house, but you do that in stages. So, you start with that crate and you set them up that they never mess in there. Gradually you extend it by using barriers (and they naturally will themselves), to include your living room, then the hallway, then the kitchen... you get the idea. Meanwhile, your puppy is physically maturing and will be able to hold it longer. So, while she may have to go in the pen in the short term, as she gets older, she will naturally hold onto it longer so she doesn't go in there. You're not teaching the puppy it's OK to go in the house, you're giving them a place so that if she needs to go, it's not in her bed. Which would be very upsetting to her and will set a precedent that that's her only option. I hope I explained that OK. If it helps, one of our mods, @Boogie, is a puppy trainer for Guide Dogs and she uses a pen set-up as she has a new puppy every year. Her pups are always toilet trained perfectly well
I do think pens help with the noise thing. If your puppy is in a pen and absolutely needs to toilet, then s/he can move away from the bed to do so. While toiling in the pen isn't ideal, it's massively better than having a puppy toilet in a crate. Once you damage the instinct to 'keep the den clean' you are on a massive uphill battle on toilet training. Both my puppies have been in pens. Charlie was pretty normal in terms of toilet training I'd say, Betsy was very good. Apart from a persistently annoying habit of having a wee on her training mat. But we got over that.
