Puppy blues—advice needed!

[Paperaeroplanes]

Puppy blues—advice needed!

We have a three year old male miniature dachshund and a week ago brought home our eight week old female whippet puppy—she is now approaching nine weeks.

As I am sure everyone thinks—we *thought* we had made a considered and informed decision after about two years of wanting to get another dog specifically a whippet!

Well, the day rolled round and after a sleepless night of excitement and nervousness we went to collect our new bundle of joy. She is a lovely little thing—was so good on her journey home aside from one incident when she climbed on my head with such speed that I couldn't stop her becoming entangled in my hair and my boyfriend had to pull over to help!

Initial introduction to our dachshund didn't go that well. As she was eight weeks old and without vaccinations we couldn't have her meet him in a park and to make matters worse it was torrential rain complete with thunder so a meeting in the garden was off the cards. The dachshund growled at her and she hid under the sofa. Now though they play together really well and he even allows her in his bed and he likes to get in her crate too.

All this aside, a number of problems (and the sleep deprivation) have left my boyfriend and I with a serious case of the puppy-blues.

We had not anticipated the complete lack of sleep for one. With the dachshund, he slept pretty much through the night from the second night we had him—I don't know how! We would wake up once a night at the most and take him out, otherwise we went to bed late and got up early and he was fine in his crate by our bed.

With the whippet, she will willingly go into her crate at night with no squeaking but was waking up almost hourly and needing to pee (11:30, 12:30, 2:00, 3:30 and then 5:30 she was up and ready to play). We have tried tiring her out before bed, and also setting our alarms so we can wake her up on a two-hourly schedule for elimination. This seems to be an issue though as she will willingly pee, but will then howl when put back in the crate leading to even less sleep.

Dachshund in his crate in the same room I should point out is heard snoring through all the squeaking and howling—I wish I had his ability to turn my ears off!

Now, we are happy to train her but we are running on empty. I feel like I have a baby and no maternity leave at the moment—as does my fella!

In the day she is, how shall I put it... single minded. I have never seen anything like it—"no" just does not register with her. She is on/in/under everything. I realise she is a pup but my word this is exhausting. One reason for this is that we have a huge issue with toys. Dachshund gets his hackles up and his best growls out whenever she has a toy. I can snap him out of it but it is a constant source of disquiet really and I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do.

Food also was a bit of a battleground with a jealous dachshund, but now I feed them in the same room, at the same time and just keep them calm and apart. He does sometimes get a bit funny with her afterwards but nothing dramatic and it is improving. I feel like I don't want to be telling him off all the time though as he for the most part has the patience of a saint dealing with a boisterous pup biting on his tail or jumping all over him.

Puppy is only going to get bigger and into more mischief and with the total exhaustion I need some help.

Going back to the breeder was genuinely considered last night as both me and my boyfriend struggle to cope at our jobs. Him due to extreme lack of sleep and me as I also am tired as hell and work from home so am constantly distracted looking after the pup. We realised a pup is hard graft but seriously didn't envisage the damage that is being done to our work!

I worked from home with the dachshund pup and he was saintly in comparison. The whippet just seems to bite, scratch, jump up, howl and fluster me all day!

She also can hold her pee at times for a few hours in the day, and then all at once we will have three pees all on the carpet/floor within 15 minutes which is maddening when you know she has just been out.

The constant cleaning up, not sleeping, saying "no", fighting over toys, making sure dachshund is ok and not too stressed cycle is unbelievable. We are on the verge of breakdowns!

She is, of course, an angel when napping...

 

[Barb04]

If you're using a wire crate, put a blanket over the top and sides, leaving the front open. Some pups like to feel more enclosed.

For the peeing issue, you might want to check for a UTI just in case. For the dog to be peeing so much, this might be possible.

I know in my house, I only have balls to play with outside and no toys inside to avoid any issues.

I know others will help out here too.

 

[krissy]

Kili was my first puppy ever. Summit, the saint, our first dog. He is so low maintenance, and even though I researched and work in an animal field, nothing prepares you for a puppy.

I was up 4 times a night for weeks with Kili. She had recurrent UTIs and ended up having surgery at 7 months to find and fix a congenital anomaly. She's been right as rain since. You say she cries to go out almost hourly at night. of course she goes when you take her because she's a puppy with a tiny bladder, but... if you DON'T take her out and just ignore her... does she pee in her crate or does she hold it? Kili could not hold it. if you ignored her thinking she was crying for attention she would pee in her crate. Get the puppy checked for a UTI. That said we almost never had accidents OUT of the crate. Maybe this is right, maybe it's wrong... but my puppy was either in her crate, outside, or I was working with her. So she really didn't have opportunities to have accidents. She also didn't have a chance to be on/in everything. If she wasn't in a crate or x-pen she was on a leash attached to me.

Summit was not thrilled about a puppy coming home but he was pretty good. Puppy was fed out of Kongs in her crate so we never had food issues. Now they eat from side by side bowls. Toys are always out in this household but Summit doesn't care too much for toys so he doesn't guard them. Can't help you there. Put the dachy away when you want to have puppy out to play with toys.

 

[*blackrose]

Welcome to puppydom. LOL It is a wild ride, and if you can survive it, you are a saint.

This seems to be an issue though as she will willingly pee, but will then howl when put back in the crate leading to even less sleep.

If she is crying in the crate because she has to potty, unfortunately, there isn't much you can do but take her out to potty. There are, however, different things you can try to get the crying AFTER potty breaks to stop. Different dogs do better with different things...it is up to you to figure out what system works best.
Try changing her crate location.
Is she by your bed? Move her into another room where she is by herself, with no visual stimulation, and something to provide white noise to drown out any noise stimulation she may hear. This is what I had to do with Abrams. Every time we moved or rolled over in our sleep it would get him on the alert again.
Is she already by herself? Try moving her next to your bed, so you can appropriately respond when she does make noise. (Is she anxious? Being a brat? Having to potty? Bored out of her mind?) This is how we handled Sadie when she was a pup, as she just wanted some comfort or someone to hold her bone while she chewed on it (which you can apparently do in your sleep hahaha).

With all of the puppies I've had (so...a total of three LOL - I'm by no means an expert), I always make it clear that night time potty breaks are just that: potty breaks. Not playtime, not pet time, not explore time. They whine, we go out, they potty, they go back in the crate like nothing ever happened. The end. I keep their stimulation as low as I possibly can (with Abrams, I actually carried him in and out as walking to the door made him too excited) so they aren't ready to start playing by the time we make it back to the crate. I also always made sure that when they WERE returned to their crate, they had something they could do to quietly occupy themselves if they really did want to do something. (Chew on a bone, for example.)

Since you work from home, I think it would be a WONDERFUL idea to work on crate training during the day. This will not only help your pup cope with being crated when alone (which she will be at night), but it will help YOU keep your sanity and give you some puppy free time where you don't have to supervise, or play referee, or clean up messes. Put her in her crate, give her a super special awesome treat, give her a super special awesome chew bone/stuffed kong, and then leave. Shut the door. Let her scream and bark away. (Although hopefully she won't, due to the super special awesome foodstuff.) Don't let her out until she's quiet. Rinse and repeat.
Feed her in the crate. Play "crate games". Have her go in, shut the door, toss in a treat, then let her out before she has time to freak out. Gradually increase the time the door stays shut, and how far away you are before returning to let her out.

Dachshund in his crate in the same room I should point out is heard snoring through all the squeaking and howling—I wish I had his ability to turn my ears off!

Ear plugs are God's gift to puppy owners. (Although I've never actually had to use them, hooray for me.)

In the day she is, how shall I put it... single minded. I have never seen anything like it—"no" just does not register with her. She is on/in/under everything. I realise she is a pup but my word this is exhausting.

Sounds like she is bored. A tired puppy is a good puppy! Interactive toys, interactive games, walks outside...and, if you just can't take it anymore, an x-pen or a crate. LOL

One reason for this is that we have a huge issue with toys. Dachshund gets his hackles up and his best growls out whenever she has a toy. I can snap him out of it but it is a constant source of disquiet really and I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do.

Unfortunately, I don't really have any words of wisdom dealing with toy possession...but I can say that giving your Dachshund a break wouldn't be a bad thing. He is probably just as amped up growling at her because she's trying to play as she is actually trying to play. Give him quiet time alone. Gate him off in a separate part of the house. Let him relax, without the need to feel defensive/possessive, and let your girl play with toys without the need to feel defensive.
That won't fix the problem...but it may help keep your sanity while you work on the issue.

I feel like I don't want to be telling him off all the time though as he for the most part has the patience of a saint dealing with a boisterous pup biting on his tail or jumping all over him.

No shame at all in feeding them in different rooms. My dogs have zero food aggression, but Abrams is a bumbling idiot and Cynder lets him get away with murder. When Cynder was still eating dry food (health issues prevent that now), she'd eat in the bedroom and Abrams would eat in the kitchen. Kept me from having to beat off derp dog from her food dish and it made Cynder feel more secure.

She also can hold her pee at times for a few hours in the day, and then all at once we will have three pees all on the carpet/floor within 15 minutes which is maddening when you know she has just been out.

Tell. Me. About. It. Abrams was GOD AWFUL. He would hold is bladder for hours during the day when he was crated, but when he was loose he would literally pee (or ask to go out to pee) FIVE TIMES AN HOUR. Drove me absolutely NUTS. Now we're up to maybe an hour and a half to two hours. And he's six months old. And he will still act like he can't hold it and whizz on the floor even though he can hold it for ten hours when I'm at work. :wall:

It's a work in progress. But it will get better. If you know you can't directly supervise, tether her to you or crate her. That way you don't have to worry about accidents happening when you can't be there to correct it.

The constant cleaning up, not sleeping, saying "no"...

Only other thing I have to add is to stop saying "no". Instead, teach her what you WANT her to be doing. You can say "no", but if you don't give her something ELSE to do instead, it is useless. It is also much more beneficial to teach specific commands than just a generic "quit doing this". Off/leave it/drop it/sit/down/stay/etc./etc. In my house, "no" actually means "Get whatever is IN your mouth OUT of your mouth." No doesn't also mean, "drop the toy so I can throw it", or "don't jump up on the couch", or "leave him alone", or "don't sit on my lap when I'm trying to eat". Those are "drop it", "off", "enough", and "GET". Still all very negative things to say, but at least we have clear communication. LOL

All of that being said...if it truly is a poor match, I don't think anyone would fault you for returning her to the breeder. Puppies change routine and make life more difficult, but they shouldn't break apart your lives.

 

[Oko]

Sounds like she is bored. A tired puppy is a good puppy! Interactive toys, interactive games, walks outside...and, if you just can't take it anymore, an x-pen or a crate. LOL

Entire post is gold, but I just wanted to add that bully sticks are life savers, haha. A little pricey for adult dogs because they go so fast, but totally worth it imo for tiny puppies when you REALLY need some peace.

 

[Paperaeroplanes]

Thank you

Firstly—thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply and offer advice—I appreciate this immensely.

We had a bit of a better night last night as we had friends and their dog over so managed to stay up later and so did she. We also moved her crate into the living room. She then slept in her crate from about 12:30-4:30 without any noise or fuss so she can do it when she wants! Then we had about an hour of pure hellish barking which eventually we had to go in and see to as it was getting too distressing for her I felt. She then had a poo (so I felt terribly guilty as the whining had been for something!) and went back to sleep from about 5:30-7:40.

I have also been leaving her for an hour a day to take our dachshund out for a walk and I have filmed her whilst we are gone. I don't leave her in the crate purely as I am worried she could injure herself if things got hysterical so have her crate as her bed in a puppy-safe room. She seems to be quiet for a bit and play with toys, then howl franticly for five minutes and then sleep. If she pees, she knows to go on the puppy pads.

As it is the weekend and we are both at home we have been able to introduce some toys and monitor the dachshunds response—he is completely tolerant now albeit with a sort of hang dog resignation!

Commands we have an "off" for her jumping up, a drop for when she is playing with or chewing something inappropriate and "no" I am afraid we naturally are still using as a response to peeing on the carpet or similar. We are going to have to work on these as she doesn't really even seem to know her own name yet so I think it will take a long time! She is going to puppy classes in a week so this will help me help her!

I have two more questions now though—she is quite dominant with our dachshund and sometimes during her mad bursts of energy really pummels him and barks in his face! What sort of action do you think most appropriate for calming her down? Dachshund doesn't tell her off as he probably should but he really doesn't enjoy it—he likes a fair bit of play but it is just these outbursts he can't handle!

I think once we can take her on walks in a couple of weeks we will be in a much better place but dud to vaccinations it isn't possible yet. Also the garden is pretty much useless at the moment as we have non-stop rain in England currently and she (and the dachshund) refuse to go out other than for peeing of course!

Secondly putting treats or chews in the crate is a marvellous idea but what would you suggest for a nine week old? We are still gradually mixing some new biscuits into her diet that are different from the ones the breeder was giving her so as not to upset delicate tums. What could I stuff a kong with that would be bland yet exciting?!

Also just thought of another question—when she falls asleep on our laps should we move her into the crate so she gets used to it?

Thank you in advance!

 

[krissy]

I have two more questions now though—she is quite dominant with our dachshund and sometimes during her mad bursts of energy really pummels him and barks in his face! What sort of action do you think most appropriate for calming her down? Dachshund doesn't tell her off as he probably should but he really doesn't enjoy it—he likes a fair bit of play but it is just these outbursts he can't handle!

I think once we can take her on walks in a couple of weeks we will be in a much better place but dud to vaccinations it isn't possible yet. Also the garden is pretty much useless at the moment as we have non-stop rain in England currently and she (and the dachshund) refuse to go out other than for peeing of course!

Personally I don't think a 9 week old puppy can be classified as dominant. That's like saying a 6 month old baby is dominating his 10 year old brother. 9 weeks is an infant really. She's being a pain in the butt. She likes to play but she lacks a full understanding of acceptable social interaction and impulse control. She thinks playing rough is fun and doesn't get that someone else might not agree. I would redirect her if your older dog doesn't enjoy this type of play. I wouldn't tell her off, I would just offer to play with a toy instead, or put her in a timeout for 20-30 seconds to calm her down.

As far as walks... everyone does things differently. Personally, Kili went fr her first walk around the block the morning after she arrived home. I ended up carrying her for half of it because she was cold, but she went for a walk almost every day starting that first day. She came to me with er first set of vaccines. I weighed the risks and the benefits and decided ai was more afraid of an under socialized/under exposed dog than parvovirus. I see more cases of fearful, shy, and fear aggressive dogs at my job than I see cases of parvovirus. Might depend on your location what kind of stance you take. Last year I saw 3 cases of parvovirus. This year I saw none. Last year I saw probably 100 fearful/she/under socialized dogs. This year I've seen the same. Depends on what you fear more I guess!

 

[*blackrose]

She's being a pain in the butt. She likes to play but she lacks a full understanding of acceptable social interaction and impulse control. She thinks playing rough is fun and doesn't get that someone else might not agree. I would redirect her if your older dog doesn't enjoy this type of play. I wouldn't tell her off, I would just offer to play with a toy instead, or put her in a timeout for 20-30 seconds to calm her down.

^ This.

Abrams knows the word "enough", and I made sure that Cynder had a safe spot to retreat to. For her, it is the couch. When she jumps up onto the couch, Abrams knows that playtime is over and he is to leave her alone.

And I also agree that walks probably won't harm her. As soon as Abrams had his first boosters (he had a set at 7 weeks and then again at 9.5 weeks), I had him out the door and being a puppy. I avoided areas with a TON of other dogs of questionable vaccine histories, but I didn't want to loose out on socialization and exercise opportunities. He's still alive, and we had a bad outbreak of parvo earlier in the year in my area.

 

[Paperaeroplanes]

Yes I agree—I think she is just being a pain in the butt and has her funny five minutes and takes it out on the dachshund. Dominant was a bad choice of word—I just mean she is controlling the "game". When she tried to play like this with our friends papillon, he told her off immediately—dachshund however just rolls over on his back!

I am interjecting but bringing out a toy is a bit of a problem as dachshund then feels he is missing out on playtime or gets possessive over the toy. He is a contradictory little fella—on the one hand we can see he doesn't enjoy being barked at and jumped on but on the other if I take her away to give him some peace he whines as he thinks I suppose that he is missing out? This is all a learning curve for us all though so time is going to help so much—he will learn to relish some alone time and I will try the time out when whippet gets over hyped up. This morning she lost her marbles first thing—trying to jump on the kitchen table (waaaay too high!), falling off, running into doors, trying to pull the cushions off the sofa, chewing everything in sight, yapping—just crazy! Basically over excited to be up and about I suppose but she really loses her ability to listen to commands for these ten minute outbursts. I feel like I am reasoning with a toddler in the middle of a tantrum

I took her into our hallway as it is huge and carpeted so safer (squiggling like an eel) and tried to throw a ball for her to tire her out but all we could both hear was a squeaking sausage dog shut in the lounge It did calm everyone down though and dachshund is much better at letting her play with toys while he is in the room. As long as she doesn't try to take a toy he is playing with we are all ok!

It is getting so much better though and in no small part due to your kind advice!

We have had two excellent nights now with crate training—me waking her to eliminate at 1:30 and then my partner doing the same at 4:00. Then she gets up with us at 7:15 and we have had no howling, no barking—nothing.

With taking her out for walks—we have socialised her with friends adult dogs who are vaccinated for the time being, and we have puppy class beginning next week. We live in London where there are a lot of unvaccinated dogs and we encounter many dogs on just a quick walk round the block as it is such a densely populated area. I suppose I am hedging my bets as the vet advised us strongly to be cautious as she said this year she has seen more cases of parvo than in previous years.

Her second injection is on Monday though when she will be ten weeks so hopefully we haven't missed out on too many socialisation opportunities by then and can take her out from next week. I definitely fear her being under socialised and under exercised for sure—but going on vets advice due to where we live.

Trying to think though if we could take her anywhere over the weekend though where it would be less risky to give her a fun outing.

Once again—thank you for all tips.