Question
We recently got a french bulldog/jack russel mix puppy of about 8 weeks old. She loves people and loves curling up on your lap to sleep.
3 weeks in (I know not long!) and we are slowly working our way back to normal working hours, ensuring she is let out every couple of hours for toilet and playtime.
We have started putting her in a pen but haven't crate trained her. We're doing this as she's in the "chew everything" stage and also not fully toilet trained so we can't leave her to roam around the room just yet. The issue I'm seeing is when she's put in the pen after playing or being out and is immediately left there, she howls... and howls!
I've tried rewarding her when she stops, and ignoring when she howls but the howling doesn't stop until I wait in the same room for her to get really sleepy. Then she doesn't really care if I leave because she's too tired.
Is this an ok way to get her to be alone?
Is there a better way I can teach her that as soon as she's in the pen, she should go to sleep/calm down?
Answer
Being separated from her family is always hard for a puppy, especially right after play and cuddle time, when she feels really connected to you. Staying in the same room only makes it harder for her. She sees you right there, wants to be with you and doesn't understand why she isn't allowed to.
The worst thing you can do in the current situation is staying in the room and trying to calm her down by talking to her. She cannot understand a single word of what you say. To her it feels more like taunting... I'm right here, I see you and even call your attention to me, but I still won't allow you to be with me.
A better solution might be:
- introduce a new command that you tell her every time you put her back into the pen. Don't make her sit and wait, use a unique command for the pen.
- Put her into the pen and leave the room. Don't make more of a fuss than absolutely necessary. Close the door and stay out of sight.
- Stay as still and silent as you can for a while until she calms down.
- Don't make any exception to this unless it is absolutely clear that she is endangering herself somehow. If she learns that she can summon you back by howling long enough, she'll never stop.
This is supposed to teach her that after hearing the pen command she should expect boredom. No-one will be in the room to interact with, no-one will react to her howling. It will take a few days for her to accept this, but if you stay strict and don't make a single exception, her howling should stop soon enough.
Don't go back in to reward her. In this specific situation, rewarding her can be detrimental, because she gets excited again when you actually want to teach her to calm down.
To make being alone easier for her, you can give her a chewing stick or food toy like a food dispenser ball or Kong when putting her into the pen. That gives her a little distraction from your leaving and time to calm down.
Answered By - Elmy