Everything has been in a bit of a pickle ever since Luna came home with us from the breeder at 8 weeks. She has now recovered from a broken paw which happened at 9 weeks - during which time she had to be in a carpeted pen for a while to restrict her movement which she hated as it meant being separated from us but still being able to see us. She would bark and whine frequently. Then only a few days after she had the all clear and the pen came down, she immediately ended up hospitalised for a week with a nasty bout of colitis and enteritis that flared up as a result of a Giardia infection that the vets are fairly sure she brought with her from the breeders. So, the reason for writing that is that the poor little thing has never really had a "normal" time with us since the beginning and we're keen to start afresh on a good footing and get a routine together. Now she's home (hooray) we've spent the last week just getting her settled back in, giving her LOTS of cuddles, enjoying some short walks together and doing a bit of socialising. It's been lovely but (probably a massive mistake on our part) we haven't left her side for over a week now, not even to go in the next room. We know we're well overdue (at 15 weeks) starting to getting her happy with being left alone for short periods of time (not least because we're getting cabin fever too) but we're nervous about how to start as we don't want her getting distressed and I can't bear to go back to the days of howling and crying that we used to have. She has a crate and is happy to be in it with the door open when she's tired. When she's sleepy she'll let us close the door if she can still see us. If she's awake, she paws at the door to come out and we can't seem to progress from here. Leaving a Kong in there for her tends not to work because she prefers to roll these around the floor. If we put treats at the back, she'll pop in and get them and then come back out. At night, we put a small pen around her crate, but leave the door open, so she's really not used to having it shut that much. What's the best way for us to transition to her being happy in the crate even when she's awake, and to eventually get to a place where she's happy in there when we're not in the room and then not even in the house?
Hi there, so glad to hear that Luna's paw is better. And it's quiet natural that you have had to have her with you a great deal while she was injured. I've put some notes about the transition to being alone in this thread: How To Teach A Dog To Be Alone. As it's a question that comes up quite a lot. I hope you find it helpful
