leash pulling....hysterical in crate...9week old puppy.....help.

[Miranda]

We have one beautiful well-behaved 16month old doodle and our beautiful nightmare 9 week old puppy that we picked up last week.  Our new puppy, Sandy, wants to be wherever our older dog, Cali is.  
Whenever we put Sandy in her crate she howls and barks hysterically, and also tried to dig her way out of the crate at night.  She isn't so bad in the afternoon....not sure why.  Anyway....we've been putting peanut butter in a kong and leaving it in the crate...even at night, and it seems to occupy her for awhile, but after she's licked it all out, the howling begins again.  Last night we were strong and just let her bark....but i'm pretty sure the neighbors are NOT going to be happy with us....considering she barked for 2 hours straight...midnight until 2 am.  (I live in an apt building).  Oh and as a side note...the night she was shipped to us via delta airlines...they FORGOT to put her on her connecting flight to Newark Airport and she spent an extra 4+ hours in her crate at the airport.  Not sure if this is relevant now or not.  Another thing she is doing is pulling on her leash like a mad women trying to catch up with Cali on our walks.  I leave Cali off leash because if I walk the both of them on their leashes, Sandy will just jump all over Cali and not take care of her business.  I feel like I might be raising a monster.  Sorry for the long post...any suggestions would be fabulous!  Thanks!!!

[Miranda]

update!

So the crate training isn't going very well exactly....we stopped putting Sandy in the crate at night and instead she sleeps on Cali's bed. It's been ok so far. I am a light sleeper so I can tell when she gets down from the bed because Cali will get down with her. Their collars jingle a little so it's kind of a warning sign that I better wake up! Sandy slept through the night once so far....so i guess it's starting to get better. As for when I'm not home....we've still been trying the crate. She peed in it last week...but nothing else so far. She still barks hysterically after she licks all the peanut butter out of the kong....but I'm crossing my fingers that she'll get used to it, bc there really isn't another option for her at this point. She will chew anything and everything! When Cali was little we tried using a baby gate in front o the kitchen....but she would just climb over it. I'm pretty sure Sandy would do the same....or just bark to get out of that as well. At least with the crate I know she's safe! Thanks again for all of your help!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My Springer climbed anything we used whether he could see through it (like a gate) or if we made it solid. He is very lucky he was our second Springer because we knew he would settle down and be wonderful but he did so much damage when we were gone. We finally placed a tall hutch to block a doorway yet he still ate wall molding, destroyed couches = cushion by cushion etc. until he outgrew it. We tried a trainer who just said to leave him outside when we were gone but that wasn't an option where we live. We should have pursued with a better trainer and perhaps we could have helped him deal with the separation anxiety.

[Lauria Orr]

I do wonder if the crate experience at the airport has something to do with it. We had no problem with Melody sleeping in her crate, or leaving her in her crate until an incident occurred with our house cleaner. She has not had pets and really kind of stays away from them. I am sure this was not malicious, but she didn't want the dogs to mess up the floor while she was cleaning, so she put Melody in her crate before she cleaned the floors. I was at work. She started the vacuuming after that and went around the crate. I think the noise of the vacuum cleaner coming at and around her in the crate, with no where for her to go, literally scared the poop right out of Melody. She was completely traumatized. I came home and found her shaking in her crate with poop everywhere. I called my house cleaner and she said she didn't notice anything unusual. I was so upset about this. The next day she again pooped in the crate. I called the Vet, and also spoke with other folks who are experienced with dogs. We have been doing a systematic desensitization with Melody. I leave the crate door open and put little treats in there for her. Now she is at a point of going in there for the treat on her own, and doesn't seem to be afraid of it. The vacuum cleaner is another thing we are trying to deal with. I have held and just walked around the vacuum cleaner without it on. I have left it in the room and have walked around it with Melody behind me. She was reluctant at first to get near it. We are now at the point where it can be turned on in the other room and she is okay. I had the house cleaner come back over and plant some flowers with me, so that she could see her and be around her without fear of her coming at her with a vacuum cleaner. This is taking time and patience, but she is slowly getting better. I know she is still reactive to loud noises though. A neighbor was using a leaf blower and it was coming closer to our property line...she started up the shaking again and was just beside herself.

My thought is that if your puppy was left in a crate at the airport for 4 hours with no place to go, and her environment was obviously drastically different than being with her litter mates and Mother, she may be dealing with some adjustment stress and also some trauma. Imagine the noises around an airport...baggage carts, loud speakers, and, of course, the airplanes themselves. I think the idea of small visits to the crate with the peanut butter Kong is perfect, and also the other things mentioned, having the crate by your bedside, touching the crate with reassurance that you are there. We have also used D.A.P. spray inside the crate 15 minutes before we put her in there. It is supposed to help, like a relaxation pheromone. The Vet said the dogs who have an issue like this may sometimes have to take a tranquilizer or Prozac. I am not wanting to go that direction, so am trying other alternatives right now. The Vet was concerned about the 4th of July and fireworks. I have radios going with the bass turned up so the fireworks won't hopefully seem so startling. We will be sure to be with her. Also, I think exercising her often will help. She can get a little tuckered out before getting into the crate.

We had the coupler leash as well, for our 2 Beagles. That was perfect!

Sorry this is so long winded!

Good luck with her. I bet and hope she will calm down soon!

Lauri

[Lauria Orr]

You know what? I just now read that you posted this in January! I am so sorry I wrote a long message about this! I thought it was a June posting. Good grief. I wish I could remove my posting. Does anyone know how to do that? LOL!

[Adina P]

Hey...might be helpful to someone else in the future...so don't worry about it!