Hi, my 6th month old female black lab has decided to bark madly and then wine loudly this evening in her crate for the 1st time ever. I've checked everything, she's fine, she's already been to the toilet so I know there's nothing physically wrong with her, so I don't know what to do. I've read that leaving her to cry it out is the best thing, problem is my mother can't stand the noise and although I'm begging her to stay away she's just been in and given her attention which I know is the worst thing she can do, particularly as she is showing signs of calming a little every now and then, although I can hear her scratching at her crate. I did go away for 1 night could that be her issue? She doesn't like me being in another room, she's a real attention seeker, but is much worse today. Can anyone advise please?
Can you move her crate far away from everyone so the noise doesn't drive your mom crazy? I know it's hard. When we got our previous lab puppy she screamed at the top of her little lungs the first week we had her and crated her. She didn't just whine. She sounded like she was being tortured. It was gut-wrenching. But, after that first week, she just stopped crying and accepted it. She was never bothered by being alone or crated for the rest of her nearly 14 year life. We have a 4 month old now. She is fine when crated but only when someone is nearby. When left alone in her crate she cries. We've had her 2 months and the crying is still an issue. I think the reason is she is not left in her crate alone much now that I work at home. With our previous pup we both worked away from home so she had no choice but to be alone. She got over it in one week whereas here we are 2 months in and still battling it with this new pup. I really think it is best to "rip the bandage off quickly" so to speak. As painful as it is for us, lock them up, let them scream. They will get over it much faster if we just let them work it out on their own and stay away. I'm going to have to start doing that with this puppy. Slow but steady is not winning the race here.
I`m sorry but I don't agree with locking them up and letting them cry . Could there be a physical reason why your six month old has started to stress at night ?
Hi, thanks for your reply. As she's never had problems before I thought the same thing, thhat there must be a reason and actually it was because I had moved her crate to a different room. I've now moved it back to her previous location and she's absolutely fine again. Very happy owner and a very happy mth old.
Hi thanks for your reply. As she's been fine for 6mths in her crate I knew it had to be something I was doing if she wasn't unwell, which she wasn't. I'd moved her crate & realised that was a .big mistake so moved it back!
They can certainly be creatures of habit. I remember moving my collie-cross’s crate once - she then refused to go in it at all, so I had to be content with keeping things as they were.
Aren't they just! We have just changed our sofas, and poor Casper just stared at our new sofas with deep suspicion. We made an emergency trip to Pets at Home to buy another dog bed....
