[Mercy Medical]

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I recently got a dog from the SPCA (we brought him home last Saturday, June 26, 2010). He is about 1 year old and could be a mix of German Shepherd, Pit Bull, Red Heeler...who knows. He was listed as a terrier mix at the SPCA, but it seems that everyone thinks he's a different kind of mix, so he's just a mutt. He's a medium sized dog, maybe about 40lbs, so he's not too big. Anyway, this is my very first time having an indoor dog. While growing up I had 4 different dogs (two at a time, two different times), but they were all strictly outdoor dogs (they slept in the garage on their beds, were outside all day and we're basically allowed to wander our 5 acre land whenever they wanted). My girlfriend has previously had an indoor dog, a chocolate lab. So this is all very new to me. At the moment, I find myself in a very high state of stress...so much so that last night while attempting to get him to sleep in his crate, he kept barking so long that I finally gave in to my own stressed and vomited. We've been trying to crate train him since the day we got him. He pretty much has house training down and has only had 1 accident in the past two days. We're both gone to work during the day, but he's typically only in his crate for 4 hour stints (my girlfriend works close to home, so she takes him out during her lunch breaks).

The first few nights he did pretty good sleeping in his crate. He had him crated downstairs in the living room while we slept upstairs in our room. Every night other then last night it typically took him about 30 minutes maximum to finally stop barking. He was doing good last night until a loud car drove down the street (we live by a main and typically noisy road) and woke him up and barking commenced. We eventually brought him upstairs to our room as it was about 11:10 and I was too concerned about waking the neighbors, especially considering he had been barking on and off for about an hour. We ended up having him sleep in our room, with his crate at the end of our short hallway. He did good throughout the night, starting out with a bit of cuddling in our bed, but he eventually took himself (no commands from us) off the bed and slept on the floor. He didn't quite sleep through the night, woke up once, but overall he did fairly well. Is it bad for me to feel slightly apprehensive about having him sleep in our room? If he has pit bull in him, I know they tend to be fairly dependent breeds and can develop some separation anxiety issues. My best friend has a pit/shepherd mix that had A LOT of separation anxiety and after hearing horror stories from her, I do not want that to happen to my dog. So I guess the question is, is there anything wrong with having him sleep in our room at night instead of in the crate downstairs? He didn't mess or chew or get into any sort of trouble last night, so I think he's fairly well behaved in that manner. I plan on training him to only come up on the bed when invited so he knows that it's "our" place and he's only allowed on the bed with permission.

Also, he is a fairly energetic boy, which I assume is due to him being any of the breeds that people think he is. We take him on, what I feel, are a good number of walks throughout the day ranging anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. We also play a lot of games in the apartment and he has enough toys that should keep him occupied. Unfortunately, we cannot take him to the park to play right now as he has kennel cough and was recently spayed and has stitches, so he's on a bit of a doggy quarantine which I assume is difficult for him considering his age, breed and just the general excitement of getting used to a new place. He tends to follow us around the apartment and seems to be in a general energetic state at all times. I wouldn't say he's overly energetic, he appears to follow commands fairly well and doesn't constantly jump up on you. I guess my other major issue is, how in the heck do I get him to settle down? Like I said, I feel like we get a good amount of exercise and play time in to properly stimulate him and make sure he doesn't get bored, but he still seems to be just a tid bit high strung. Could some of this be due to him being in the whole "transition" period of now having a new home? Should I do my best to just ignore him while he follows us around so he'll learn that there's nothing exciting about anything we're doing?

I guess all in all, is I need a bit of reassurance. I'm highly stressed right now due to the overall situation even just being new for me, but I do not want that to come in the way of making a good home for this boy. I know that I'm capable of doing it, but being in the thick of it right now is just scary to me, I suppose. Any advice for new, stressed out puppy moms?

Sorry that this is so long, just happy to find a place where I can vent a bit and get some reassurance.

Thanks. :-)

[cigwyllt]

Take a deep breath - sounds like you have new puppy blues! You'd be amazed how many people I've come across who feel totally overwhelmed when then have a dog for the first time. No matter how much research you do or how much you want the dog it can almost be like Post Natal Depression when you are faced with the reality of being responsible for this animal for the rest of its life.

First of all, in the kindest possible way I have to tell you to "get a grip!" and get your own feelings under control. You have a choice in all this, you chose to get a dog and you chose the got you've got - he had no choice. So you need to be calm and assertive because the more stressed you are the worse he will be. You are in charge - if you are going to make yourself sick with the stress he is going to be running rings around you.

I think you are asking an awful lot from a dog to remain in crate for the working day (even if he does get attention in the middle of the day) and overnight. If you really feel you have no alternative but to crate him while you are out at least let him be with you overnight. It will do him no harm at all and will help you bond together.

I don't think he is getting anything like the amount of exercise and stimulation he needs if he is in quarantine. When he has the all clear to go out properly and he can have a decent run a couple of times a day I am sure you will see a huge difference in his behaviour indoors.

Toys in themselves will not keep him occupied. He needs you to play with him and train him. You can work on simple obedience - sit, stay, down etc and that too will help him to settle down as he will be using his brain as well as his body. You could look into buying a puzzle ball or bottle to feed him - make him work to find his food - he needs mental stimulation as well as physical.

Finally you may want to look at his diet. I don't know about foods in the States but I do know that additives can cause severe behaviour problems. Look for the highest quality food you can buy - maybe even a natural raw diet (loads of info on the site here) - and you could well see a huge change in him.

But the most important thing, more than anything else - RELAX!!!!

[Mercy Medical]

Thanks for the advice. :-) I know I need to get a grip. He's a very good dog who has done fantastically so far with basic obedience (he's getting sit down pretty good, working on stay, come and others). I think he's very intelligent and bright and will catch on quickly. I know in the end I'll be fine, it's just stressful in the thick of it right now.

The advice about the crating at night makes sense. I talked to my girlfriend a bit and I think we're gonna let him in the room from now on. He's was good about sleeping in the room last night. He started out on our bed, but eventually went down to the floor. No messes and didn't tear anything up.

And we do play with him when he's active and energetic and playful. I hope his kennel cough clears up by the weekend, I'd really like to get him outside to a park...poor guy, all he wants to do is play with other dogs at this point.

And as far as the diet goes, we're getting close to finishing off the Science Diet the SPCA gave us when we got him and I think we're gonna switch over to a more natural dog food with less additives and more real ingredients. Hopefully between switching foods, getting over this quarantine period and some more training things will start to improve a bit more next week.

Thanks for the advice! It just helps to talk to other dog owners. I have a couple other people in my life who have dogs, but the one adopted a 2 year old who is mellow as they come and the other...well...her dog had a lot of behavioral problems due to them babying her, so I don't think I wanna follow her advice. ;-)

Do you have any advice on training the dog to learn how to settle down? I want to try and have it so we are the ones that designate the play time or the settle down time.

Thanks!

[cigwyllt]

I'm sure you will find he settles more easily when he can get a bit more exercise. You don't want to overload him with learning just yet. You don't have to give him attention all the time but don't try to push it with commands just yet. Ignore him and tell him to settle but don't expect too much.

[Yogi]

There is an old rule that holds true to this day, a good puppy is a tired puppy. It is young and needs far more than just a walk or two a day. It needs off leash time to literally exhaust itself. Doing so and covering the crate at night plus using the crate as a feeding area will improve the attitude he has at night.
If you do not want to put the crate in the bedroom with you, than try leaving a stereo on low. Sounds effect dogs like people. Music can offer him something soothing to less the distraction from street noises. Good luck and always be patient. The key to owning a puppy.

[natskee26@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by Mercy Medical

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I recently got a dog from the SPCA (we brought him home last Saturday, June 26, 2010). He is about 1 year old and could be a mix of German Shepherd, Pit Bull, Red Heeler...who knows. He was listed as a terrier mix at the SPCA, but it seems that everyone thinks he's a different kind of mix, so he's just a mutt. He's a medium sized dog, maybe about 40lbs, so he's not too big. Anyway, this is my very first time having an indoor dog. While growing up I had 4 different dogs (two at a time, two different times), but they were all strictly outdoor dogs (they slept in the garage on their beds, were outside all day and we're basically allowed to wander our 5 acre land whenever they wanted). My girlfriend has previously had an indoor dog, a chocolate lab. So this is all very new to me. At the moment, I find myself in a very high state of stress...so much so that last night while attempting to get him to sleep in his crate, he kept barking so long that I finally gave in to my own stressed and vomited. We've been trying to crate train him since the day we got him. He pretty much has house training down and has only had 1 accident in the past two days. We're both gone to work during the day, but he's typically only in his crate for 4 hour stints (my girlfriend works close to home, so she takes him out during her lunch breaks).

The first few nights he did pretty good sleeping in his crate. He had him crated downstairs in the living room while we slept upstairs in our room. Every night other then last night it typically took him about 30 minutes maximum to finally stop barking. He was doing good last night until a loud car drove down the street (we live by a main and typically noisy road) and woke him up and barking commenced. We eventually brought him upstairs to our room as it was about 11:10 and I was too concerned about waking the neighbors, especially considering he had been barking on and off for about an hour. We ended up having him sleep in our room, with his crate at the end of our short hallway. He did good throughout the night, starting out with a bit of cuddling in our bed, but he eventually took himself (no commands from us) off the bed and slept on the floor. He didn't quite sleep through the night, woke up once, but overall he did fairly well. Is it bad for me to feel slightly apprehensive about having him sleep in our room? If he has pit bull in him, I know they tend to be fairly dependent breeds and can develop some separation anxiety issues. My best friend has a pit/shepherd mix that had A LOT of separation anxiety and after hearing horror stories from her, I do not want that to happen to my dog. So I guess the question is, is there anything wrong with having him sleep in our room at night instead of in the crate downstairs? He didn't mess or chew or get into any sort of trouble last night, so I think he's fairly well behaved in that manner. I plan on training him to only come up on the bed when invited so he knows that it's "our" place and he's only allowed on the bed with permission.

Also, he is a fairly energetic boy, which I assume is due to him being any of the breeds that people think he is. We take him on, what I feel, are a good number of walks throughout the day ranging anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. We also play a lot of games in the apartment and he has enough toys that should keep him occupied. Unfortunately, we cannot take him to the park to play right now as he has kennel cough and was recently spayed and has stitches, so he's on a bit of a doggy quarantine which I assume is difficult for him considering his age, breed and just the general excitement of getting used to a new place. He tends to follow us around the apartment and seems to be in a general energetic state at all times. I wouldn't say he's overly energetic, he appears to follow commands fairly well and doesn't constantly jump up on you. I guess my other major issue is, how in the heck do I get him to settle down? Like I said, I feel like we get a good amount of exercise and play time in to properly stimulate him and make sure he doesn't get bored, but he still seems to be just a tid bit high strung. Could some of this be due to him being in the whole "transition" period of now having a new home? Should I do my best to just ignore him while he follows us around so he'll learn that there's nothing exciting about anything we're doing?

I guess all in all, is I need a bit of reassurance. I'm highly stressed right now due to the overall situation even just being new for me, but I do not want that to come in the way of making a good home for this boy. I know that I'm capable of doing it, but being in the thick of it right now is just scary to me, I suppose. Any advice for new, stressed out puppy moms?

Sorry that this is so long, just happy to find a place where I can vent a bit and get some reassurance.

Thanks. :-)

To be honest, a rescue dog, or addopted dog knows.. From my experience, they have respect and feel like they owe you there lives.. You will defo have a good dog for life!

[CorkyMax]

Not much to add here--Cigwyllt always give such good advice. Just wanted to stress this point: You have only had your dog for 4 days! I am surprised actually that he is as 'good' as he is. New home to get use to and prob. noisier than he is use to with that busy noisy road so near. And just had an operation and with stitches that may bother him if he is doing a lot of coughing due to the kennel cough----And the kennel cough is another thing he has to put up with also. And being energetic too--I am surprised he did so well in your bedroom.

I have a feeling that patience and time, (time for both of you) a lot of exercise and love will do a good job of getting you a pretty darn good happy well-adjusted dog. You may begin to wonder what you ever did without him!

Lol, didn't know or see your post YOGI, till just now!---You give such good advice also!

[Mercy Medical]

Thanks for all the good advice. I just want to make sure we're doing everything "right" and I am a tid bit of a control freak so I suppose that's something I will quickly need to get over.

I think more then anything I'm just nervous/scared for myself. Haha, I've had dog responsibilities before growing up, but I've spent the past 8 years completely dogless and pretty responsibility free in general.

But yea, like Cigwyllt said, I need to get a grip. Thanks for all the tips and help, I definitely think I'll be coming back here for more if I need it.

[Mercy Medical]

Just a bit of an update...we had him sleep in our room last night instead of the crate and things went fairly well. He didn't quite sleep through the night, woke up once and my girlfriend took him out to pee, but otherwise he didn't mess in the bedroom nor did he make any attempts to destroy anything. This led to significantly less stress for me as well, which was nice.

Now I have more questions. :-) He tends to roam around a lot while we're trying to get to bed and he doesn't really seem all that tired. He got the chance to run around a bit at my girlfriend's parents house, but it appears even that amount of play couldn't wear him out (I'm starting to call him our little energizer bunny). Could the bit of restlessness just be due to the fact that he's not getting enough exercise? Or could it be due to the fact that it's still the first week and he's just getting accustomed to things, especially since this was the first night we didn't even attempt to crate him and instead took him straight to the bedroom. Or both? Is there any training I could do to help him calm down a bit and get ready for bed?

Thanks!

[cigwyllt]

I would say it's both the newness of the situation and the pent up energy. He will learn your routine and fit in around it. For instance, our dogs just had to hear the couple of notes that indicated the computer was shutting down and they would all get up and march into the kitchen and climb into their beds. We didn't "train" them - they just learned. We have three dogs now - two of them are family pets and one of them is mine. My dog knows that when I turn out the lights in the conservatory I am going to bed and he goes too. As soon as I put my hand on the light switch he trots off to the kitchen and curls up in his basket - the other two are happy to hang out with anyone else who is up so they don't respond in the same way.

Consistency and time are key to teaching him routines - they will work just as well, and perhaps have a deeper impact on his behaviour than if you were to send him to his bed for instance and tell him to stay there. Ignore him when he is restless during your preparations and he will soon learn to take himself off and out of the way.

[Mercy Medical]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

I would say it's both the newness of the situation and the pent up energy. He will learn your routine and fit in around it. For instance, our dogs just had to hear the couple of notes that indicated the computer was shutting down and they would all get up and march into the kitchen and climb into their beds. We didn't "train" them - they just learned. We have three dogs now - two of them are family pets and one of them is mine. My dog knows that when I turn out the lights in the conservatory I am going to bed and he goes too. As soon as I put my hand on the light switch he trots off to the kitchen and curls up in his basket - the other two are happy to hang out with anyone else who is up so they don't respond in the same way.

Consistency and time are key to teaching him routines - they will work just as well, and perhaps have a deeper impact on his behaviour than if you were to send him to his bed for instance and tell him to stay there. Ignore him when he is restless during your preparations and he will soon learn to take himself off and out of the way.

So ignoring is the key? That's basically what we've been doing the two nights he's slept in the room with us. He'll wander around, jump up on the bed and lay down, then jump off and lay down again...then he'll jump back up and walk up towards our heads and the whole time we laid there and didn't pay any attention to him. Should we continue doing this or should I attempt to "train" him to go lay down and go to bed?

[cigwyllt]

I would go with the ignoring - it can take months for a rescue to grasp the basics of what is required in his household so just let him bond and get some idea of what you want from him.

[Mercy Medical]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

I would go with the ignoring - it can take months for a rescue to grasp the basics of what is required in his household so just let him bond and get some idea of what you want from him.

Mmmk, we'll keep at it. Once again, thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. :-)

[Ozzy29]

First how are you doing?
It is going to take a couple of weeks for the dog to settle. He will likely learn what your nightly routine is all by himself.
Is it possible to have the crate in your room? You might set it up as his sleep area in the room with you. When you finally lay down for the night move him in. If you are in the same room he might be more relaxed. You will then have the chance to crate train him. As he gets used to going in for the night you can move the crate slowly away, or leave the door open for him to be able to go in and out.

[Mercy Medical]

Originally Posted by Ozzy29

First how are you doing?
It is going to take a couple of weeks for the dog to settle. He will likely learn what your nightly routine is all by himself.
Is it possible to have the crate in your room? You might set it up as his sleep area in the room with you. When you finally lay down for the night move him in. If you are in the same room he might be more relaxed. You will then have the chance to crate train him. As he gets used to going in for the night you can move the crate slowly away, or leave the door open for him to be able to go in and out.

I'm doing much better today. Not having to deal with his barking last night was a blessing.

The crate has currently been placed upstairs (our bedroom is upstairs, living room and doggie play room is downstairs) right in front of the steps so he isn't able to wander downstairs without us (we don't have a doggie gate yet, but will be getting one hopefully soonish). We have been leaving the door to the bedroom open so he feels less confined and so he can go into his crate on his own if he wants (we also leave the crate door open).

I'm not sure if I want to (or need to) crate him during the night. He seems to be doing fairly well as far as telling his Moms if he needs a potty break at night nor does he chew up anything in my bedroom.

[Mercy Medical]

Just an update on the dog situation...

Vincent is doing better after a week. He appears to have calmed down a bit. There were many moments over the long weekend that were mostly spent just laying in the living room sleeping and watching TV. So this is good. He still gets a little rowdy from time to time and wants to play, but we are trying hard to ignore him and only play when WE allow the play. I think it's helping a bit.

He is also sleeping through the night now, which is fantastic. No waking us up for potty breaks. We wake up a bit early, but I've noticed he's allowed us to sleep a little later as the week has gone on, but we tend to wake up early in general, so I suppose that's good for him.

We got him outside a good amount this weekend while we enjoyed the pool. He got a good amount of people socializing time as well as dog socializing time (he shared the fenced in yard with 3 other dogs - a 3 year old, large chocolate lab, a 1 year old morkie and a sheltie). He got along relatively well with the dogs. The first day he met the Morkie, he wanted to play and did not realize how much larger he was then her and even pawed at her a few times, but she found some good places to hide. The second day he mostly left her alone and proceeded to annoy the lab (who has a tennis ball obsession and no desire to play with other dogs, but he's not mean, he's great and just ignores them). But all in all he did well other then constantly pestering Cooper (the lab) by nipping at his ears and jumping on top of him.

The potty training is going well, we haven't had a mess in the house for probably 5 days, so he caught onto that whole thing very quickly. He also already got the hang of sit a bit and is improving. So all good things.

I'm feeling a bit better, although I still have my moments of frustration where he won't listen to me and just wants to play and all I want to do is scream, but I'm trying to take deep breaths and realize he is nothing more then an adolescent boy at this point. It's still rough, but I feel like the intensity of those feelings has diminished and hopefully will continue over the coming weeks as I adjust to this new life change (man, I didn't even know how attached I was to my own routine until this guy came along).

I suppose the biggest issue we are having with him at the moment is his distaste for the crate. I don't think he has separation anxiety because he will fight going into the crate a bit, but it's not as bad as it was at first and all he typically does in the crate is bark or paw at the crate door or the plastic bottom, but he never destroys anything (or at least haven't yet, if the dog isn't destroying in the crate after a week is it safe to say that he probably won't at all?). It seems like he only has a very mild case of separation anxiety as he just tends to bark and get anxious when we put him in there and leave. We've been working a little bit on putting him in the crate for short periods of time while we're home and only letting him out once he calms down. Anyway, with the crate training is that just something that's going to come with time? I mean, I know ALL these things will come with time, but I suppose there's some fear in me that after watching how much he doesn't enjoy being in there it feels like he will NEVER enjoy being in there. Do most dogs just get over it eventually? Are there ever dogs that will ALWAYS hate the crate, even if they have zero negative associations with it (we feed him in the crate now, whenever he walks in there on his own we praise him, he always keeps his hind legs outside of the crate, there's only been a few occasions when he has completely walked in and he has never sat or laid down in there by himself).

Thanks!