Trial and Error
May. 19th, 2008 06:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prosodicOur couple of nights with Reece so far have been pretty dramatic.
We crated her on Saturday night and then went to bed. After she watched us retreat into the bedroom, the whining started. Then the crying. Then the full-on howling.
At that point, I was worried about it disturbing the neighbors. So we came out and sat outside her crate until she calmed down and went to sleep, and then we snuck off to bed, leaving the living room light on.
Around 4:30 AM Sunday morning, I got a leg cramp and jumped out of bed. I tried to be as quiet as possible, but she heard me, and the whining started again. So Lance went out and slept on the couch until I woke up for good.
Yesterday morning, we found that she had pottied in her crate overnight, so we washed her crate liner.
We left the house yesterday for about 90 minutes without it being super traumatic for her. We went to Home Depot and Target and she seemed to be really good when we left and when we came back.
Last night, we got out a radio and put it on easy listening. We put her in her crate and stayed with her until she drifted off to sleep. There was a minimal amount of whining and crying.
We set the alarm for 2 so that I could get up and let her out in the middle of the night, something we had overlooked doing the first night. The process then started all over again...once we got her back in the crate, the whining, crying, barking, howling, etc. Lance ended up spending the rest of the night on the couch while I went back to bed.
I leave for work in about 45 minutes and I'm not sure how to handle it. Lance leaves before I do, but she's a Mommy's girl anyway. It's much less traumatic for her when Lance is out of the house. I have a Kong, and I plan to fill it with peanut butter and put it in her crate (she also has a water bottle attached to her crate). And I hope that will keep her occupied enough that she won't notice that I'm leaving. That's probably wishful thinking. Lance will be coming home at 11 to let her out and give her some exercise. He's going to change his work shift to work from 6-2:30 so she'll be alone less during the day.
So far, injuries sustained by me are minor, but numerous. Reece thinks that Mommy's arms and fingers are chew toys, and I have bite marks all up and down my arms. Plus, I was prying a piece of mulch out of her mouth last night (she loves eating mulch and grass) and got a really nasty splinter on my left index finger.
Welcome to Puppy Parenthood, I guess.
We crated her on Saturday night and then went to bed. After she watched us retreat into the bedroom, the whining started. Then the crying. Then the full-on howling.
At that point, I was worried about it disturbing the neighbors. So we came out and sat outside her crate until she calmed down and went to sleep, and then we snuck off to bed, leaving the living room light on.
Around 4:30 AM Sunday morning, I got a leg cramp and jumped out of bed. I tried to be as quiet as possible, but she heard me, and the whining started again. So Lance went out and slept on the couch until I woke up for good.
Yesterday morning, we found that she had pottied in her crate overnight, so we washed her crate liner.
We left the house yesterday for about 90 minutes without it being super traumatic for her. We went to Home Depot and Target and she seemed to be really good when we left and when we came back.
Last night, we got out a radio and put it on easy listening. We put her in her crate and stayed with her until she drifted off to sleep. There was a minimal amount of whining and crying.
We set the alarm for 2 so that I could get up and let her out in the middle of the night, something we had overlooked doing the first night. The process then started all over again...once we got her back in the crate, the whining, crying, barking, howling, etc. Lance ended up spending the rest of the night on the couch while I went back to bed.
I leave for work in about 45 minutes and I'm not sure how to handle it. Lance leaves before I do, but she's a Mommy's girl anyway. It's much less traumatic for her when Lance is out of the house. I have a Kong, and I plan to fill it with peanut butter and put it in her crate (she also has a water bottle attached to her crate). And I hope that will keep her occupied enough that she won't notice that I'm leaving. That's probably wishful thinking. Lance will be coming home at 11 to let her out and give her some exercise. He's going to change his work shift to work from 6-2:30 so she'll be alone less during the day.
So far, injuries sustained by me are minor, but numerous. Reece thinks that Mommy's arms and fingers are chew toys, and I have bite marks all up and down my arms. Plus, I was prying a piece of mulch out of her mouth last night (she loves eating mulch and grass) and got a really nasty splinter on my left index finger.
Welcome to Puppy Parenthood, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 02:40 pm (UTC)If you haven't already got some, Nylabones (http://www.nylabone.com/) are the best things for chewing dogs. They are much safer than meat bones as they do not splinter. Our dogs have loved them. They are a bit more expensive initially than regular bones, but they last forever. I would definitely recommend them. You can get them from dog.com for a reasonable price.
The Kong with peanut butter is a great idea. We have a hollowed out ball that we fill with PB and it helps to entice the puppy into the crate. Once the puppy associates the crate with good things, they will want to go in there. I also put the food bowl in the crate when feeding our puppy and that helped too!
Good luck with the puppy.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 02:41 pm (UTC)