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Cooper, the 8 week fluffball, has his parents freaking out (& not just bc he is cute)

3K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  Julie Timmons 
#1 ·
Cooper, the 8 week fluffball, has his parents freaking out (& not just bc he is cute)

Hi! We just brought our little Cooper home this past Saturday! He is so calm and sweet - we are totally in love!!

My husband and I are taking turns working from home for this first week to help Cooper get acclimated.
He has done extremely well at several things - for instance: going potty outside (so far we've only had 3 mishaps) and sleeps perfectly in his crate in our bedroom while only waking up once in the middle of the night to potty!
We are so proud...HOWEVER we are sort of freaking out right now...he is not taking to being crated in his crate in the living room...and that's where he will have to be next week while we are at work from 8:30-12:00 and 1-5:00. We will have someone come let him out to potty at 10:30 and 3:30.

The living room crate is in the middle of the room, where he can see the entire room, and is the exact same crate as the bedroom one - we have a cover over it and a towel on the floor. We have put treats in the crate, we feed him in the crate, we place a Kong w/ PB and kibble in it..and he goes in there and comes right back out w/ his toy or after he is finished eating. When he is in there and you close the door and walk away he throws the biggest FIT... when he is napping and you place him in there and close the door he throws a FIT. :frown2:

Do we put him in there and stay next to the crate at first to calm him and then leave?
Do we let him cry it out for small periods at a time and extend them?
Would that be detrimental to the entire positive crate training we have attempted?
The last thing I want is to ruin the bedtime crate training that he does SO well at.

I am also worried that perhaps being at home all week with him will (if it hasnt already) create separation anxiety..and perhaps that is why he hates his upstairs crate. He knows at night time we are in the bed next to him and he is fine.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :smile2:
 

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#3 ·
He's very cute. Congratulations. Regarding the crate training, I would do lots of praise and treats here in the beginning anytime you see him go into the crate voluntarily. If he's throwing a fit while in the crate perhaps sit next to the crate. As soon as he calms down, if even for a second, reward and praise and let him out. He will begin to associate positive things happen when he is calm. Another trick is to give him a nice distraction when he goes in there (kong filled with peanut butter or yogurt) and quietly leave. Don't make a big production when leaving. He's probably not going to like it at first, but as long as you make the crate a positive experience for him, he'll begin to view it as safe. I do not use the crate as punishment and if my guys go in there it is their SAFE space. I don't ever pull them out of there, I let them come out voluntarily.
 
#13 ·
Thank you for this! We have tried the puppy kong w/ peanutbutter and kibble, frozen and regular. He doesnt seem to care about it after 5-10 min then realizes he is alone and goes crazy. I have purchased some yogurt to see if he likes that better in his kong.
 
#4 ·
He's so adorable!
I have a 12 week old pup, he also took to his bedroom crate immediately. What we have done for the living area, and for when I am working as I work from home, is to use an excercise pen rather than a crate. We spend a lot of time putting him there when we are home and he is driving us nuts, which happens often, or I'm trying to cook and he can't be under my feet. We also put him in there with an arsenal of toys and blankets when we leave the house. He is not fully housebroken but he has never had an accident in his crate. I think due to the amount of time he has spent in the pen, he views that as a space he doesn't want to soil either as he has never had an accident inside it. Outside it he has.
He mildly objects to the pen but it's more about him not wanting us to leave him than his dislike of the pen.
Some people use a combination of a pen with a crate inside. We have all hard flooring in our house so from the moment we brought him home, we have used a series of blankets on the floor that he has taken to as his homing space. Whenever he is given a toy or a snack, he runs to his blanket now. One day I had put it in the wash and there was a hand towel on the floor. He ran with a new bone into the room and didn't see his blanket so he took it to the hand towel. So funny.
I put these same blankets inside his pen when we leave. Works out great.
There are a lot of flimsy pens out there. I bought mine on Amazon, it is 4 ft tall and can be configured into many sizes and shapes. We inpin a section when we are home and stretch it out so he is contained in the living room rather than let him roam in the big house and get into trouble. I love this thing, it's been a life saver. Attaching a pic of it so you can see what I mean.
 

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#9 ·
This is exactly what I did too. You might want to add an indoor potty in that area -- the sort with artificial grass -- especially if he's going to be alone more than two hours. A pup needs to be let out on the hour at that age. It's just really impossible for a pup to hold it in longer until about 4 months old so the best alternative is an indoor potty. As for toys, choose sturdy practically bite-proof toys (no stuffed toys!). Look up zogoflex. A puppy Kong also works.

Good luck!
 
#5 ·
I don't know if you have Amazon prime, but their used books are your friend, here are a few I suggest you consider getting:

https://www.amazon.com/Before-After...&keywords=before+and+after+getting+your+puppy

https://www.amazon.com/Housetrainin...43&sr=1-1&keywords=crate+training+for+dummies

https://www.amazon.com/How-Raise-Pu...rd_wg=p6n6C&psc=1&refRID=NN29SD5WNQN0S1KJPAZX

Cooper is super cute, I can see why you love him so much. He is a little baby who has only just left his littermates and the only home he's ever known, so of course he is developing a bond with you all and is much happier when you can be with him. It sounds like you've done a wonderful job helping him adjust to his new home, it's going to be an ongoing process but he will adjust just fine. Do not worry about him hating his crate, he just would prefer to be with you, sadly you have to do other things around the house and sometimes he will need to be safely in his crate where he can't get into trouble.

You are just fine to use his crate as a playpen or you can purchase the exercise pen which Julie kindly attached photos of above and personally I think every family can benefit from an ex pen. $50 delivered to your door in two days - thank you Amazon Prime :) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H91R8S/ref=twister_B00P1NKX9Y?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 We still use ours to limit our adult dogs' access to certain parts of the house (yesterday my collie had a delicate stomach and just to be on the safe side I put the x pen across the family room opening so he couldn't get onto the carpet just in case there was an accident while I was out, he did fine and I was happy.) Also keeps him from jumping on the kids while they play wii dance and the kids can put a sheet over it and it's an awesome living room tent :)

The job of the puppy owners is to keep the puppy safe and all your possessions safe from the puppy. As long as he has a rotating schedule of periods of play time and cuddling/interaction and potty breaks, it is absolutely ok to put him in his crate and let him fuss while you do chores etc. He simply cannot have free run of the house to follow you around and chew on furniture or socks or shoes or have accidents while you're distracted doing necessary things. The tougher you are about doing it for short periods of time and them more consistent you are about not rewarding his fits with attention or removing him, the easier it will go. Make sure he has new, special chew items in his crate that he only gets when he's in there. Stuffed kong can be good, puppy nylabone etc or a raw beef shank bone (a butcher dept has these and cut into cross sections about an inch or two thick they are wonderful to freeze for puppy teething.) Something I always do with my puppies is hide tiny treats in the crate when the puppy isn't looking, that way every time they step foot in there they will find it magically has treats. My girl would literally race to her crate in our bedroom at night time to find her treats as soon as we carried her up the stairs and set her down. They are smart and figure it out fast. My dogs still sleep in crates in my room and they still make a beeline directly to their crates at bedtime to get their treats, they know the drill.

I'm guessing you will be home at lunch to see him, it will be hard to leave but he will be ok. Consider leaving a radio on for him, easy listening music might make him feel less lonely. Don't forget that when you get home, he will have slept in his crate all night and then been home during the workday in the crate and If you add up the hours it's a good 16 hour stretch. It's absolutely fine, since you have potty breaks scheduled for him. Just remember that as he gets older he's going to be awake and need playtime and training during the evenings, he's really going to want and need your attention but you're going to have to do chores, fix dinner, switch the laundry etc. While he's a tiny baby he might nap while you all eat dinner but otherwise he'll be raring to go. As he gets older and more energetic it will be challenging to handle him in the evenings because he's getting so much crate time. He may pitch a fit while you're trying to eat dinner, but it's better than having him begging at the table. When he's older you can teach him to go to a rug in the kitchen or wherever you choose and lay there till you release him, but for now he will have to learn to accept his crate during times you can't give him your undivided attention. Be strong, you can do this and so can he. Are you all signed up for puppy classes yet? If not, it's not too soon to find a place.
 
#6 ·
Thank you for all of the advice everyone! Today during lunch we worked on going into the crate for a quick nap and coming out to yummy treats and praise.. within 10 min he went back in for a short nap again...slowly warming up to the idea - I am a little less nervous and more confident that we can accomplish day-crate training, even with this minor of an accomplishment.

We are signed up for puppy training classes, beginning April 23rd. We went to the vet yesterday for Cooper's wellness exam and she shocked me when she said that he shouldn't begin puppy classes until he has had the full rounds of parvo shots - even if all of the puppies are required to be up to date on vaccines - the vet strongly suggested to wait and that the pup "wouldn't get much out of group training this young".
We strongly disagree with this, and we are still signed up for the class, against the vet's wishes (although it does make me nervous).
In the mean time we do have another option for training - the lady coming to let Cooper our in between the times we arent at home (i.e. 10:30 am and 3:30 pm) also has the option to train the dog a little bit while she is there for an extra fee, however we will not be there when he is trained so I'm not sure how I feel about that either.
 
#10 ·
Parvo is a valid concern and I didn't enroll Duke into a class until he was 16 weeks old and had all of his shots. That being said, he still got socialized at daycare (where he was kept upfront; away from the other dogs). I knew all dogs going there were vaccinated though.

If you trust the place you're doing the class, you're probably ok. If it's a park district type program I would wait. I'm curious what others think though who've done puppy classes.
 
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#11 ·
I understand that certain areas are much worse for Parvo risk than others. Your vet has seen some pretty awful cases and is giving her input on risk vs. reward. If it were me, I would be asking the place you are planning to take the class about how they handle the elevated risk for Parvo in your city. Hopefully they have a very strict cleaning/sanitizing policy in place. You might think about options to minimize risk with your puppy such as not letting him walk around the grounds of the facility, carrying him from the car to the ring etc. I will say that everyone has to decide for themselves what their threshold is for risk. Having a private trainer come to your home to give YOU lessons until he's had his second round of shots could be a good compromise. (if you've never trained a puppy before, it's very helpful to have a few private lessons if you can work them into your budget.) Taking him out in public and carrying him or having him ride in a shopping cart on a blanket at places like Home Depot or Lowes can still be good socializing. Invite friends with younger children to your house to play with him can be a good thing. Have a puppy party, buy pizza and beer and invite friends from work to drop by on Thursday nights as a regular socializing thing for him could be a fun thing to do - Open House 6:00-8:00 drop by and get puppy kisses.

I'm a big believer in getting puppies out in the world but I have learned that spending two thousand dollars to save the life of a puppy you just spent two thousand dollars to purchase isn't a lot of fun. You might consider getting a second and third opinion from vets in the area where you live and where the class is being held and discuss your concerns to find out if your vet is being overly cautious or not.
 
#16 ·
The breeder gave us a whelping pad - would this be okay to put down instead. My pup does prefer laying on hardwoods vs bed, couch, etc. Perhaps he would be better off with nothing like you said! Thanks for the safety tip!
 
#18 ·
The Ex pen is for when you are home and can keep an ear out if he is trying to jump or climb up it (most do not, but some will, starting when he is little is best for avoiding this). An Ex pen needs to be secured to keep it from falling if it's stretched out but if it's fastened in a circle or square it should be pretty good, use it like a play pen for a human child. The crate is the safest place when you all have to leave the house for work or errands. He does not need a bed, he will use it to potty on and you run the risk that he will chew it to shreds and eat it while unattended and that's a disaster in the making.
 
#19 ·
Hi, our puppy Robbie is 9 weeks today. We have had him a week. Just like you fine at night and goes in crate during day on his own for nap but only if door stays open. We are in 60's and retired so not working, but he is exhausting us! Lol

Same thing only gets up once at night. I am keeping him in living room or backyard as kitchen the smells drive him nuts and that is the only place he has had a accident.

Not for work but we need to train him so we can not be tied down 24/7 to him. We love him dearly but need a bit of time to do chores.
 
#20 ·
We have a Cooper, too! He is 10 weeks. I don't work, so that makes things a bit easier. We keep the kitchen/den area gated off from the rest of the house and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I'm definitely not comfortable with the idea of him running around the rest of the house till he is much older. Unfortunately he already figured out how to break through the gate. Now we have 2 saw horses in front of the gate. I don't think I would ever consider leaving him alone in a pen. He is way too determined. If I need to leave him alone in the house, I put him in his crate in front of the Disney Channel. Works like a charm!
 

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