New Puppy: Could use your collective wisdom

[Raj Narayan]

Hello All,

Kipper is 8 weeks old and we have had him for 2 nights now. He is a small medium ALD.  He had begun crate training with the breeder. He will go sleep in his crate. But he needs to see one of us. He looks fast asleep and not a sound for a while but will wake up as soon as we are out of his view. He starts crying and whining. 

Is it ok to let him do that for 1-2 hours at a time during the day?  What about at night?

I have planned to work from home this week but I need to have him be by himself for a few hours starting from next week. Someone will come in during the day and spend time with him.

Thanks

--raj

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Dogs are pack animals and need to be with their people. In addition, a young puppy has spent every moment of his life with his brothers and sisters and has never slept alone, in or out of a crate. I would keep a crate in your bedroom and another one in the living areas of the house where he can see what is going on around him. IMO, a puppy should never be isolated. 

[Raj Narayan]

It is not our intention to crate him when we are at home during the day.  Over the next few weeks we have to get him used to being alone during the day from about 9:00 to noon and from 1:00 to 3:00.

Rest of the time, he is walking around or playing free.  At night starting about 9:00, we crate him and then let him out every 2 hours or so (hopefully increase the duration every few weeks).

--raj

[Judi Kilpatrick]

This is a whole new environment for him, he needs to feel safe so when you are out of sight it probably scares him. At 8 weeks he will be pretty needy until he realizes that just because he can't see you, it doesn't mean you are gone. Like Karen said, keep him where he can see you, in a crate, a play pen or what ever works best. It might take a couple weeks but it will pass. Make sure he has lots of things to entertain himself and get him plenty of exercise, at this age they sleep quite a bit as well. Good luck and keep us posted on his progress, he's adorable!

[Jennifer & Truffle]

Hi there.  Kipper is adorable!  Our puppy Truffle (now 9 months old) slept in his crate in our bedroom from the time he came home with us at 8 weeks old until he was about 6 months old.  Like Kipper, he started crate training at the breeder. At 6 months, we moved him to the living room downstairs, where he's slept in his crate ever since (he whined a little bit the first night and was fine afterwards).  We've always kept his crate covered with a towel so it feels more like a man cave.  At night, he's happy to trot into his crate and sleep.  We also started acclimating him to the crate at an early age so that we'd be able to go out during the day. When we go out, we usually give him kong stuffed w/ frozen pumpkin or sweet potato and a couple of Orijen freeze-dried treats.  He can't run into his crate fast enough when he sees us preparing his treat (he's very food-motivated).  

I'm generally at home during the day, so other than "practice" runs when he was younger, I rarely put him in the crate when I was in the house, unless I needed to work upstairs. Our kitchen is gated off, so I would usually leave him there when I was in other parts of the house.  He now has a little more freedom to roam, but we still crate him whenever we go out, unless it's for a very, very short time (under 20-30 minutes) and only if I have time to ensure the kitchen is more or less Truffle-proof.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

As everyone has said, Kipper is a new puppy and a pack animal and needs the comfort and closeness of his people. How long he'll need it consistently varies between dogs. With my Lucy we only had her sleep in our bedroom (in a crate) for 3 nights before we moved her to the downstairs crate to sleep alone. With Oscar, it became obvious early on that 3 nights wouldn't fly with him, so we extended it to a little over a week. As far as being alone in a crate during the day, that too takes time. I made it a habit with both doodles to crate during nap times, while I was busy doing other things (often out of sight). If either of them woke up frantic over not seeing me, I don't remember it. I never left them locked in their crates at that age during periods of wakefulness. It took some time of consistent conditioning, but eventually they came to associate their crates with nap time, so if they go in during the day they immediately settle down to nap.

[Adina P]

We kept our Rosco in our room, crated, for the first few months.  Eventually, as adults, all our dogs slept in our room on the floor at night.  However, I remember that Rosco would yip, cry, moan, and bark as a young puppy if he was crated at certain times.  He was LOUD.  Even with me in plain sight.  But eventually he quit and he was fine in his crate for a couple of years.  He's no longer crated. 

[Raj Narayan]

Update on Kipper

It has been 2 weeks with Kipper and he has adjusted to us and to being in the crate. He sleeps there all night and needs only one break. During the day he is out and about except when I need to step out. He does perfectly fine in the crate for about 3 hours.  The new challenge is teething. We are slowly figuring it out. 

Thanks for all your help.

--raj

[Valarie]

Good news.  It does take some time to figure out what works best for each individual puppy.  He's adorable.