UPDATE: Okay, so I went home twice to walk her. Once at 10:45 and once at 1:45. At 10:45 she was fine. my MIL said she hadnt made a peep all morning. She came out of the crate, kissed me hello, went to the bathroom, we played for 3 minutes and then she went back in the crate. The second time was heart-wrenching though.... I came home and as soon as she saw me she started to whimper. Took her out, she got all excited, she went to the bathroom, had some water, etc. But then she just would not go anywhere near the crate. She kept jumping up to kiss me, crawled all over my lap, did anything she could to distract me from putting her back int he crate. I didnt want to force her for fear of her becoming afriad of the crate....but I had to go back to work too. I played with her for a 4 minutes and then lured her into the crate with a treat. I closed the crate door and she tried to put her little paw through the bars. She was SO SAD. I almost started crying..... I absolutely feel terrible. And whats worse is I have a feeling she's not going towant to go in her crate anymore because she associates it with me leaving!!!!! Ugh....this is SO much harder than I thought.
So, friday we went to NSAL and almost walked out with nothing. Most of the dogs were babies (like under 1 month) and we really wanted something around 6-9 months and housebroken. But we felt terrible for all the dogs in there. We ended up playing with a 3 1/2 month old shepard mix who we fell in love with and took home. She's such a cutie -- i took pics and will post them tonight when I get home.
BUT....its been SO hard! She's not housebroken yet (we've been working on it with her) so I went back to work today and feel terrible leaving her home in her crate. She's been a fast learner though and already knows how to go to the bathroom outside. But she can only hold it for 3 hours at a time so I have to come home during work hours to walk her. She also doesnt like being left alone for more than a little while. So, I already have seperation anxiety when I leave the house without her
DH loves her so much but he's been getting so stressed about how much work it is to train her. Also, since we're in the ILs house, we have to keep her upstairs because their dog doesnt seem to like her very much. So, we're confined to the upstairs with her, which makes things tough for us because we cant do anything around the house because someone always has to be upstairs watching her.
So, we'll see how this week goes. I cant imagine taking her back there....she's already part of the family. So, we're just going to make it work and hope that things fall into a routine and she is able to hold it a little longer in the next few weeks.
Any words of wisdom or suggestions?? We knew it would be hard...but this is SO much more difficult than we expected.
cindyandkevin
Posted:
Member since
Re: We got a puppy! -- UPDATE
Awwww, you did the right thing, don't feel bad!!!!! The pp is right, don't make a big deal about leaving or about arriving when you get home. Just act non-chalant and that'll make things easier. We used to throw a treat in to get Kasey in her crate, now she often goes in by herself and we praise her like crazy!!! You'll both get used to the routine, it just takes some time for her to trust that you're coming back. Whenever we put Kasey in her crate we'll say something like 'Ok, we'll be back soon' and then walk out of the room without looking back.
AeroJenn
Posted:
Member since
Re: We got a puppy! -- UPDATE
Posted by cindyandkevin
Awwww, you did the right thing, don't feel bad!!!!! The pp is right, don't make a big deal about leaving or about arriving when you get home. Just act non-chalant and that'll make things easier. We used to throw a treat in to get Kasey in her crate, now she often goes in by herself and we praise her like crazy!!! You'll both get used to the routine, it just takes some time for her to trust that you're coming back. Whenever we put Kasey in her crate we'll say something like 'Ok, we'll be back soon' and then walk out of the room without looking back.
thank you for reassuring me that it'll get easier. This part is just so hard.
DH is getting annoyed because I told him that when we get home form work we need to taker her outside to play with her for an hour. She gets crated during dinner too because we eat downstairs and thats where the other dog is. So, our pup has to stay upstairs. I hate doing that to her, especially if she was crated all day. So, I want tomake sure she gets plenty of play time when we get home from work. DH feel like he's got stuff to do and a few minutes is adequate And he's mad at me for stressing about crating her to begin with. Maybe im just more attached than he is... its definately good to know others have been there tho
