# New Puppy Need Help!



## Entities (Jun 26, 2015)

Picked up our new Vizsla yesterday. We named him Otto hes a crazy little pup so far.
I need advice on crating him when Me and my wife are at work or out of the house. Last night he barked and whines like crazy and wont give up. Everything I read says not to go down and let him out etc. It also says to have him go in on his own. Is that even possible? I gave him a toy bedding and a cozy blanket but he just goes crazy. Have any of you had pups that would never give up?
Here is a situation as well. I work a week straight midnight's from 530PM to 7AM but then im off for an entire week. My wife works normal 7-4. I underestimated the difficulty level. Right now im off my week but im worried about how its going to work when Im back at work. My wife will let him out feed him and give some attention but then she leaves for work. About 15 min later I come home and pre dog slept untill 2. I dont think its going to work well on my week on if he cant get used to the crate.

I took him out yesterday every 30 to 45 min but he still had multiple accident all were done while in our presence. When he did go outside i made sure to give him attention and a treat. But when he goes in house and hes in the act should I tell him no or is he just to young to even understand?

Any advice?


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Get ready to feel like the walking dead.
The wife is going to need to get up earlier than usual to spend time with the pup, and this will be after taking him out to potty during the night.
You will need to spend time with him when you get home from work. So going straight to bed will be delayed. You then have to get up and try to act excited 2-3 hours later. You cant expect a puppy to spend the entire night in a crate, and then most of the day.

With real young pups, I take them out to potty every 20 minutes. Make sure they potty 2-3 times before bringing them back in. It takes that for the young ones to empty their bladder.
Getting on to them in any way for accidents is just a waste of time, and sometimes makes things worse.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

I could have written that exact post about 2 years ago!

Our guy HATED the crate. While he accepts it now and is quiet, it will never be his favorite place. My advice is just to stay strong. He barked straight through the night for weeks but it DID get better. Then he'd bark on and off. Then he'd just cry at bedtime. Now he's quiet. We gave in to him sometimes out of sheer sleep deprivation, so it probably went on longer than it should have.

Don't let him out if he's barking, but if he wakes up and cries in the middle of the night/day - do let him out to potty. But straight back in the crate (If he's anything like our guy - he'll probably continue barking for the rest of the night for a while - but at least you know he doesn't need anything. If you don't let him out for a potty break, he'll still bark because he'll have messed his crate.). We could never get him to go in the crate on his own either, so I'd just pick him up and put him in there without a fuss. Don't get into the habit of rubbing his belly, bribing him in, etc. The more you prolong it, the worse gets. I'm curious what other people did to get their pups to go in on their own. You can look up crate games on YouTube but our guy knew when we were training and when he was actually getting crated so they weren't super helpful.

Our schedules at the time were similar. My husband was working nights (no weeks off) and I work days. Neither of us slept much until our pup was about 5 months old. I'm not sure how we made it through! But yes, the more time you can spend with him before and after work, the better. The pup will NOT sleep all day and all night. He's going to need potty breaks every few hours and some serious play time a few times a day. I think I got up at 5 with the pup, played with him until I left for work at 8, then my husband came home around 9 and played with him until 10. Then he'd play with him from about 4-5 before he left for work and I'd keep him up from about 7-9. He'd wake my husband up at least once for a potty break and for the first few weeks he kept me up all night with barking. It was rough, but it does slowly get easier. Once they sleep through the night and you get some rest, they are so much easier to deal with - I don't do anything well when I'm sleep deprived! The more you stick to your guns, the faster (in theory at least) they are crate trained!

Our V really loves routines and it helps him settle. I suggest setting a routine of when he's crated vs. uncrated, when his potty breaks are, and going from there. Also search the forum for crate training - you can try different things like covering the crate, DAP infusers, etc. The only thing we found that really helped him was putting a stuffed animal in the crate with him to simulate a littermate. You can even warm it a little in the dryer first. Some people have a lot more luck putting the crate near their bed/sleeping near the crate too. It didn't work for our V at all but it worked wonders with our weim.

How old is your pup? I think our V had a hard time partly because the breeder let him go too early at 7 weeks.



TexasRed said:


> Get ready to feel like the walking dead.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

dextersmom said:


> Don't let him out if he's barking, but if he wakes up and cries in the middle of the night/day - do let him out to potty.


I always forget that part of the trouble with crate training Dex was that from the minute you put him in his crate until the next morning, he continually barked. I never knew when exactly he needed a potty break, so he had lots of accidents and then probably continued barking because he was upset by the accident. If I had to do it over again, I guess I'd try setting an alarm to take him out at certain consistent intervals for potty. It gets a lot easier when they finally start sleeping some, because then when they wake up, you know they're crying for a potty break.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I always just said the word Kennel, then put them in the crate, and gave them a small treat. They liked the treat, but darn sure did not want to be in the crate. I always left the door open to the crate when they were out. Even though they would protest when I put them in, they would sometimes go in on their own when they wanted to rest.
It was only months later that they would run hop in the crate (excited to get their treat) when I would say Kennel.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

TexasRed said:


> Even though they would protest when I put them in, they would sometimes go in on their own when they wanted to rest.
> It was only months later that they would run hop in the crate (excited to get their treat) when I would say Kennel.


*Sigh* I don't think Dex has ever rested in his crate voluntarily. He gets a ton of praise if he even walks it in randomly to look for cookie crumbs. His favorite treats are pieces of string cheese sticks (he doesn't usually get any) but a lot of the time he'll even leave those in his crate untouched. I used to try and put him in there when he was napping as a pup, but he'd immediately panic even with the door open. Part of me thinks he's claustrophobic.

Birch, on the other hand, is impossible to keep out of her crate! God forbid we accidentally nudge her on the couch or open the freezer door like we're grabbing a Kong in the evening... she's off like a rocket to her bed. She can open door knobs, so she runs down the hall, opens the door to their bedroom and crates herself. I swear, it must be karma after having a pup like Dex!


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## trevor1000 (Sep 20, 2013)

All i can add is it will get better
Don't give up.
When it is crate time now for our boy all i need to do is start slicing up a treat and he "dashes" to his crate and lay's down.
Its funny, sometimes i will just be cutting up something for our dinner and he will run to his crate and I will have to call him back.
He sleeps with us in our bed and some nights if he gets to warm he will jump down and climb in his crate for the rest of the night.
He did have accidents in his crate when he was a puppy and it got much better when I put a board in his crate to make it 1/2 the size.
They should only have enough room to turn around and sleep.
I also tried to be aware of when he drank and how much he drank.
What goes in comes out and not long after it goes in. 
Some people also feed all meals in the crate too.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

The Best advice I can offer here...and listen up!  I wish someone would have told me this 25 years ago with Number One...is that he'll survive. It's you and your wife I worry about.

First, the Basics:

1) Move the crate into your bedroom at night. He's a baby making a lot of new adjustments, and the biggest is separation...from his mom, his litter mates, from his only home...and to you and your life. The only one you can address immediately is the separation from you, so do it. He'll still complain, but you can reassure him and let him know you're there. He'll eventually get used to it, but if you guys are the type that just can't stand it, take him in bed with you.

2) Walks every 30 min or so for the first month until his little bladder is a bit bigger, even at night, and even if he's barking or complaining, just don't give him attention..pick him up, take him out, tell him to go potty, and praise effusively when he does.

3) If he squats in the hiuse, pick him uo mid stream and take him out to the potty area. NEVER punish him for accidents, it was probably your fault anyways


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Gingerling said:


> The Best advice I can offer here...and listen up!  I wish someone would have told me this 25 years ago with Number One...is that he'll survive. It's you and your wife I worry about.
> 
> First, the Basics:
> 
> ...


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## lyra (Nov 2, 2012)

When it's all getting to you, make sure you read this thread http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,6693.0.html

The first three months can be *hard work!*

I would agree with the advice to have the crate in your bedroom. These are clingy dogs and the separation from you won't make the adjustment any easier. Yes, the barking will be louder but hopefully he will settle much sooner.

Also, make sure you search the forum for other suggestions. This is a very common question and has been discussed many times!


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Hmmm...... Sounds oddly familiar. Everything we have told you so far is correct. It is different with every dog and owner. Lots of patience, tons of consistency, time and love are what will get you through this. He is just a baby, give him time to learn and adapt. Sooner than you think he will have grown up and be a wonderful companion. You will not forget the trouble you had at first but at least you survived!


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## Vizsla_Luka (Sep 8, 2015)

We got our Vizsla puppy just under 2 months ago and so this all seems like fresh memories!

Of course different pups adjust differently....it's possibly too late for this, but did the breeder give you anything with the smell of his littermates/mum? Ours gave us a toy, and we had on a previous visit taken the crate and left it there so he(and all the others) could familiarise themselves to the crate. It of course meant it got very dirty and smelly, but I think having something familiar for the pup is helpful. We took the dirty mat away once Luka was more familiar with his new setting.

Also, as others have mentioned in this thread, Luka's full sized crate was way too big for him when he arrived, so we just put a divider in to begin with so he had a smaller area to sleep in. We expanded the area as he (rapidly) grew and he's almost 4 months old now and he now has the full crate since we feel he's highly unlikely to have accidents when crated.


We always crated him next to our bed at night, the proximity helps. It was also very hot when we brought Luka home, and so we had a free-standing fan on which meant there was a light buzzing noise and he would get a waft of our scent throughout the night. I have no idea if they played a factor, but I feel like that helped him possibly?!

Crate training is worth pursuing because this is particularly useful when you travel, as Luka has come with us to various hotels and he doesn't make a peep when it's time to go to bed.

He really hated the crate in the first two days, he'd scream and howl and cry when we put him in there but we started to give him all of his food in his crate and that helped a lot.

He still doesn't like the crate very much, but is now easily persuaded to go into it if there is a treat and he settles straight away. This is also useful when he's tired but won't go to sleep, he just passes out once in there.

I can't really comment on the barking thing at night, as Luka didn't do this beyond the second night but what I can possibly contribute is the work/puppy balance. I work from home and kept a diary of everything in the first 2 weeks. You will probably find this to be true as well, but the puppy of around 2 months old will work in roughly 2 hour cycles - play for a bit, sleep for about 1/1.5 hours, then needs to potty as soon as they're up. If they're up for more than 30min playing, take them to potty again and beyond about an hour of playing they'll soon fall back asleep. (These few weeks was the biggest pain for me since we live in an apartment block and we opted not to use the balcony for potty training!!!) Unfortunately this means you'll have to follow the same patterns and sleep when the pup sleeps. If the pup gets too used to soiling his crate, it could become a habit so it's worth your while being really diligent in proactively taking him out before he even realises he needs to go. For what it's worth, we taught our pup to "pee pee" and "boom boom" and treated him for each time he did this outside. He learnt pretty quickly what those words meant and now he will go on command though "pee pee" more readily than "boom boom" admittedly. In the middle of the night when we used to take him out, we would not say anything to him except those commands, then we'd put him straight back into the crate.


It's always really tough in the beginning, you feel lightheaded most of the time from sleep deprivation, but it's worth the effort you invest now!


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## nancyripp (Aug 18, 2015)

Our puppy will be 14 weeks tomorrow. I feel your pain. Ours screamed nonstop the first 48 hours unless we were holding her. Even now she screams more than any other puppy I have raised. However, we are making slow but steady progress. She actually goes into her expen on her own when we leave for work now and doesn't scream. At night she will go into her crate and sleep on her own for a few hours. However, she still wakes up multiple times during the night and often screams after being pottied and put back into her crate. (Our pup has a bladder infection which we are treating that has not helped with the night time sleeping.) If she continues to scream more than 20 minutes at night after coming in from a potty break we move her out to a crate in the garage so we can get a few hours sleep. All I can say is hang in there.


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