# leaving pup alone



## tinkerbell (Oct 2, 2009)

Hi my name is Hannah and I have a 9 week old pup Lilly. We have had her a week and she is settling in well, as long as we are there!
We have a crate in the kitchen and a crate in the bedroom, but to be honest after two nights of no sleep at all we caved in and let her sleep in a huge dog bed just down the side of my bed(not husband's side!) She sleeps well there, she wakes me twice through night to go outside, and returns to that bed with no fuss. She makes a couple of attempts to get in the bed but is put off without a fuss. She has also not wandered around the bedroom or messed anywhere. Great you might think, but here goes the problem....
During the day due to work, she will have to be left for three hours three days a week only. I only had to completely leave her for one morning this week, and other than that I am just trying to gradually train her to be alone for three mornings next week. Well it has been a nightmare! and it ain't just the dog who has been crying, I have cried buckets today I am at the end of my tether, hence this post, please help!
She goes in the crate fine when I am there, she eats her meals in there, she gets treats in there, she has toys etc in the crate. The second I walk more than 3 foot away from the crate she starts to cry, and it gets louder, and then becomes whining, and then finally incessant loud piercing barks. I have explained to my neighbours that i am trying to train my dog to be alone, and they are being very understanding, but my fear is that this barking may never stop.
Yesterday I put her in the crate, after getting up with her 6.30, breakfast 6.45, toilet a couple of times plenty of play with kids and me, one exhausted pup into her crate at 8.45 a.m She screamed! I got dressed and decided to go out to the shops and actually leave her alone for one hour.Came back one hour later and was talking to my neighbour outside for 10 minutes, and I could hear her barking outside! The trouble is it is so loud and she doesn't seem to pause for breath.
I have practised every day for 9 days putting her in the crate for varying times, no more than two hours, usually more like one due to the noise!
I am now so worried because I have to work for three days next week, and I am upset for the dog, because she is obviously not happy at all when I leave her, and also I am worried how much of this my good neighbours will actually take (they are retired and home all day).
I am wondering have I spoiled her by letting her sleep with us at night? What should i do, should I bite the bullet and make her sleep downstairs? Have I made this situation worse?
Also i should say, i don't think it is the crate that bothers her because I have also tried just leaving her in a room for a few minutes and she starts complaining loudly just the same. Also she wtill wanders in and out of her crate at various times of the day, but never to sleep only for a treat or to get a toy!
Any advice at all would be welcome. Also I would welcome any feedback about how long this barking may go on for and of indeed if it won't stop what on earth am i going to do?
Thanks in anticipation
Hannah


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## Lisa (Feb 18, 2009)

Sorry I don't know that I can be much help. Sounds like she is really attached to you. You seem to be doing everything right. Maybe you need to keep her in the crate at night. At least for now till she can be comfortable in it. Is it you she does this with or does she react the same way if she's with your husband and he leaves the room? Any luck with a radio left on or the TV? I know at first Catan would bark too but he would settle after awhile. We waited outside to find out for sure.

Good luck. I know it's frustrating but you'll get through it.


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## Crazy Kian (Aug 10, 2009)

When you leave her in the crate do you cover the crate with anything? 
Try covering the crate with a large blanket so it completely darkens the crate for her, so she might think it's quiet time. We started to do that with our pup when we brought him home and it seemed to work. Yes, he fussed and whined at night but he knew we were in the room. When he had his time outs we did the same thing. He still gets his crate coverd at night but not when we leave him during the day.
Everything you are doing is fine, you just have yourself one feisty V  ...........welcome to the club.
Once you get past this little hicup you will really see what a joy these dogs can be.

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## tinkerbell (Oct 2, 2009)

Hi, thanks for the advice. I do cover the crate, but only three sides, should i be covering the whole thing? 
Anyways I just had a brainwave, I put the dog bed that she sleeps in upstairs( a soft one, but with raised sides) in the crate in the kitchen, and she jumped right in and went to sleep! Hope we have finally turned a corner.
On a funny note, when she woke up she went ballistic in the garden digging in some soil, like she was on the scent of something, and I have just had to wash her down in the sink, she was filthy because its been raining. She is a proper handful, but we do love her, even though we are exhausted!
Thanks again


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## DragonTheRevolutionary (Feb 15, 2009)

NEVER LEAE UR PUPPY, STAY WITH THEM FO-EVER


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## Vfloyd (Jul 20, 2009)

hi 

Just wanted to say we had (still do sometimes) the same problem with Floyd. I work mornings and have to leave him for 3.5 hours every day, and I feel so guilty because I know he will be barking and miserable on his own. My neighbours tell me that his barking has really settled now when we are out. He is almost 5 months now and at lilly's age would bark the whole time he was left in his crate ( i, like you, could hear him from outside the house). He is better now tho and 9 times out of 10 when I return he is lying quietly sleeping in his crate. I know exactly how you feel and i too was despairing at times and cried too! It will get better, and as your pup grows she will begin to realise that you do come back when she is left. Hang in there!!


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## tinkerbell (Oct 2, 2009)

Thanks for that it gives me hope!
We tried to put our foot down and make her sleep in the crate in the kitchen last night, it was a nightmare! She howled and barked on and off all night. We got up three times to let her out and one time I was too late and ended up cleaning poo up at three in the morning.
When she is our room she gently wakes me as soon as she needs out, and she doesn't cry. It feels like I have just made our life hard work by trying to put my foot down and have her downstairs. I just want her to get used to the crate.
Don't know if I can face another night like that, when I knwo it would be so easy to have her in our bedroom.
Should I persist with the night time thing, or should I give up and just concentrate on her being in the crate during the day for a few hours?
I am now at the stage where I don't know if I am doing right for wrong!
Thanks for all the replies. keep em coming!


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## Islander (May 2, 2009)

Keep the faith.. it will all fall into place soon. Our little girl is now 14 weeks old. The first few nights of putting her in her crate (the crate is in our bedroom).. she would howl and cry so one of us would lay on the floor next to the crate and put our fingers in the crate.. she would soon settle and go to sleep. She whines when she wants to go potty and out we go and then back in the crate. She now goes in her crate between 10 and 10:30 each night - no whining no howling... she still gets us up once a night to go potty... if it's toward morning like about 4 a.m. or so she gets to come up into bed with us until we get up about 5:30. Oh and the amazing thing last night about 9:45 my husband took her out to potty and when she came back in she ran right for the bedroom and put herself to bed in the crate!!!! 

The daytime crate was another story.. she would scream, howl, cry and flail around like we were murdering her.. but now she is much better. I work from home so I am with her all the time, but there are times when I want to run errands and don't take her with me so she needed to learn to be in her crate without pitching a hissy fit. She has improved greatly although still is not thrilled with any time in the crate during the day. We will keep working on it.... oh and yes we do feed her in her crate to continue to show her it is a good place... when she sees us getting her food she runs to the bedroom, goes into her crate, sits down and waits for us to deliver her food to her!


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## cynwagon (Sep 2, 2009)

Once you give in, the fight is over ... haha. 

At first our puppy cried and howled and we ignored as hard as it is, and we have neighbors too ... then when he'd fall asleep on my lap, I would lift him and gently put him in the crate, and close the door. When he'd wake up he'd whine to let me know, ok time to go out. 

EVERYTIME we put him in the crate, we throw treats in there so he wants to go in, then we close the door. We leave toys and a bowl of water too.

Our crate is covered on 3 sides (not the front door).

At first we only had some towels in there as he was peeing, and he would wake up at 4:30 AM and start crying ... but we just bought a comfy bed and put it in there, he's been sleeping from 10 - 7 no accidents! (Knock on wood) he's 16 weeks. He's in there as we speak, on his own will with the door open.

Keep truckin ...


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## tinkerbell (Oct 2, 2009)

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I now feel much better, I thought I was either doing something wrong or I had a crazy dog! 
I have never had a vizsla before, but have wanted one for two years and researched them extensively. The one thing that never came up in my research was this hard new puppy experience. From reading posts on this site i now realise this seems to be the norm for vizsla pups, and if I keep consistent and stay strong I will end up with a dog in a million (which I already know she is, just not at three in the morning!) 
Just knowing that what I am going through is quite normal and other people have gone through it, has helped me so much.
Wishing everyone a good night with their puppy dogs!


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## 1notenough (Sep 6, 2008)

mine still get me up predawn wanting to go pee .so I just go to bed earlier,it gets me off to work early so i get home early ;D


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## sarahaf (Aug 17, 2009)

I was embarrassed to admit this on this forum, but if we're not honest we're nowhere--as is evident from a pic I posted in the gallery, Rosie is on the bed with us at night. We had a really hard time as you have with the crate training. She didn't just whine, she would scream bloody murder and tear at her crate for what seemed like forever. It was a wood crate, furniture style from Orvis, and she splintered apart the wood (not very safe for her). We also tried a pop-up crate in the bedroom which she destroyed. As I posted elsewhere, it turned out that the wood crate made her much less comfortable than the wire cage type we later got, which she took to almost instantly (wonder if it reminded her of the partitions at her breeder's). But we never did transition her off the bed at night. She does still complain when left in her crate during the day (she loves the crate as long as we're there) but not the screaming and flailing that she used to do. One thing I did was to pair the crate door latching with treats. That definitely got her comfortable with the door closing but now she also gets in her crate in order to get treats! 

You could try moving away from the crate very gradually, literally adding feet of distance each time and not progressing until she is comfortable. I've also read that you can condition them to be comfortable with you leaving by repeatedly making preparations to leave (keys, coat, etc) and then not leaving, then leaving but coming back immediately, then gradually adding time but keeping the intervals random so they never know exactly how long you'll be. We haven't put all of that work in, evidently, so we're still muddling through.

These are some instructions on crate training and managing separation anxiety that we have. The instructions for managing separation anxiety (second link) are what I was referring to.
http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=petowners_Dog_Behave_Crate_Train_Puppy

http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=petowners_Dog_Behave_Separation_Anxiety

Sarah


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## Vincent (Aug 12, 2009)

Tinkerbell

i know exactly what your going through as this is the first Vizsla i have owned and he is amazing, just so much character and such a good looking little man! Vinnie is 4 1/2 months now and we went through the same!!! we started him in the bedroom in his crate and then when he would only wake to go to toilet at about 4am we started to move him away from the bedroom towards the kitchen. started outside the bedroom with the door open so he could hear us still! we would just say Vinnie no go night nights!! he would then then let out this adorable sigh as if to say oh ok!! and go to bed!! he now sleeps in his crate at night and goes in there if he wants his own sleep time!

what we are struggling with is him barking when we are not there, it has got better because we have been creeping up on the house and then knocking the window and saying Vinnie NO with out him seeing us!! he goes quite then we go in the house and say good boy if he is calm!!

not sure if this helps as i am very new to Vizsla'a but this is what we got told to do and it really is helping!!


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## tinkerbell (Oct 2, 2009)

Hi thanks for all your advice I have picked up some good tips there! 
Just to give you an update, Lilly is doing much beter now, she sleeps downstars in the kitchen in her crate (most of the night) and she still barks when we leave her during the day, but only for about 10 minutes and when we come back she is asleep. This is a massive improvement.
The only problem we have with her now, is that she wakes about 4.30 am to 5.30 am every morning and expects us all to get up! If I put her in her crate after this early morning toilet break she barks the house down, which is no good with kids going to school, neighbours etc. I have relented this morning by putting another dog bed in our bedroom and taking her up to sleep in there for an hour. I can then put my hand on her and stroke her and she will go back to sleep. I hope doing this will not ruin our good work, but getting up at 5am really does not suit me! I felt like death yesterday after being up at 4.45am!
She is still only 11 weeks old, so I am pleased with her progress, at least she has improved every day. I feel so much better that you have all been through the same things. so thanks for the support.


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