 Barked: Sun Mar 17, '13 4:18pm PST |
 | |  | | Hello! Just picked up the little guy from his breeder yesterday, he's 10 weeks old. I waited until 10 weeks at the recommendation at some of the posters here and I'm glad I listened!
Anyway, he's been doing pretty well, only one accident so far but otherwise he holds it well and doesn't take too long to respond to the 'go potty' command that the breeder taught him (and I've been reinforcing).
The only area where I'm pulling my hair out is the crying/whining. He cries almost all day and all night, inside and out, away from me or next to me. It gets even worse when I put him in his crate when I can't watch him - he is literally yelling and howling and trying to chew his way through the wires. Last night it took about a half hour of me sitting next to him while he was in his crate for him to stop whining and settle down. Today, we sectioned off the kitchen just for him and would keep him in there while we did things around the house. Regardless of whether we were in his eyesight or not he would cry and whine and try to push his way through the gate. Heck, even when I went in the area to grab food he would still cry.
The problem is that I just don't know how I should be reacting to this. I know that I'm not supposed to give in to his crying, but given how this is only his 2nd day away from home, is that mean of me to only give him things or pet him when he's being quiet? What should I do when he's yelling and howling for me or my parents while we have him in his crate or in the kitchen?
Also, he doesn't seem to care for treats very much, which also has me puzzled. Whenever he stops whining and quiets down I try to go up to him and give him a treat but he ignores it completely and just starts whining again. We also gave him toys but so far he's only barely played with them. Because of this, I've been resorting to petting him and giving him lots of praise when he does things well, but I don't know if that's enough to reinforce the good behavior.
Sorry for all the probably silly questions... I've been reading up on this for years, but when you're facing it, it's a whole different beast. I don't want to mess up! |  |  | |  |
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). For example if you have a few chores and you put him in there, give him a puppy kong filed peanut butter and a little bit of kibble thrown in there as a snack. I haven't met a dog who didn't like a kong with peanut butter. I'd think any of those puzzle like toys like balls that dispense treats when the dog rolls it would maybe give him something to do. Even if he isn't too food motivated yet... might be worth a try. A big stuffed toy might also give him something to snuggle with and make him feel a little more secure, our puppy had a cuddle buddy and she was much more calm after we gave her that thing.
