[Otto]

Cocoa's second night with us last night (fortunately I'm not back to work until Thursday and wife works part time from home) and we're using a crate as the bulk of downstairs is open plan.
Our experience has probably not been helped by her seeming to have an upset tummy (incl. some blood in her stools - vet seems OK with it). The first night we followed the advice of leaving her in the crate and coming down to her only after prolonged whining/howling which meant a re-assuring visit after half an hour at 11pm - fine. More sustained howling meant a visit at 3am to find poo deposited on the vet bed so had to clear that up and she was settled by 4am and we woke her up at 7am. Last night we tried the leave her to it approach. Howling became too much come 4am so down we went to find diarrhea on the vet bed and spread around her bed and on the bars from her frantic howlings. After all cleared up, Cocoa and us settled again at 5am until she woke up at 7.30.
So, neither approach has worked thus far, albeit hampered by upset tummy.
Vet's advice was to come down to see her when she's quiet and try to avoid coming down when she's howling. Can see the logic but won't we be disturbing her by coming down when she's quiet, ie asleep - and, if she's howling, that means she needs attention (eg has poo'd) - assuming she's not attention seeking.
Such a difficult time (both of us have had dogs before, but never had responsibility for puppies) and a real dilemna as to what to do, which approach to adopt.
If anyone has any advice from their experiences, would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks.

 

[Mogdog]

I think I'd by inclined to get to the bottom (sorry!) of what's causing the loose stools and blood. What food is she on? Maybe just upset tummy as she's come to a new home ....could try giving her cooked chicken/rice and see if tummy settles. Also live natural yoghurt is good for upset tummies ...could try a dollop on her food. (We had problems like this with Maisie and when it didn't ease with time we took stool sample to vet and it turned out to be parasite infection that needed treating.)

Re the crate training, it depends on what you are comfortable with. Personally (because I am a softy) I would go down to her and change bedding etc .... they hate to soil their beds. Alternatively you could leave crate door open and spread newspaper out, so she doesn't have to soil the bed.

When her tummy is settled you can concentrate on the crate training.

 

[DONNA]

I agree with advice above ,but as far as crate training goes could you not sleep downstairs with her for a while just until the tummy trouble is better this way you will know if she has had an accident straight away or you could settle her with a ssssh if shes just crying because she dosnt want to be in there.

 

[sharplesfamily]

OK I'm no expert and will not comment on the upset tummy as I am certainly no expert in that area (thank goodness). But re crate training at night, I am in the 'leave them to howl' camp. We have half of Luna's crate as newspaper and half as vet bed. Therefore if she wakes up and cries we know she can toilet without soiling her bed and therefore shouldn't be in any discomfort. On the first night for half an hour she cried at 1.30am but we ignored her and she slept until 6am. She was then quiet the next two nights but on the third night made one more attempt and this time for an hour cried, whined and howled (very cute howling - we thought it was my 4 year old!). But again we ignored her. She hasn't woken up in the night since. And every night since we got her the crate has been clean, dry and tidy in the morning. I therefore believe she was howling for attention, and now she knows she gets no attention she doesn't bother.

But there is the 'go to them when they cry or wake them in the night to toilet' camp - you just need to decide which suits you and stick to it. Both methods will get you there in the end. But consistency is the key. Whichever method you choose you should stick to it.

But obviously sort out the tummy problem first, poor thing.

Good luck!

Harri

 

[Otto]

Thanks for the advice Sue, Donna & Harri. Last night, adopted the approach of going to see Cocoa when she was quiet. Went quiet at 11.00 after 15 mins or so of howling, so after a further 10 mins or so of peace went down to her and took her outside for a quick wee. Quiet again after 10 mins or so of whining, went down again at 1.30, another quick wee outside and the usual loose stools. All quiet again after a few mins whining and went down to her at 6.30 to find her nice and clean and dry. I'll take that as a comparatively successful night!
I think a problem may be that she comes from a breeder with working dogs where the sire is a house dog but the working mum and other cockers and labs live outside. Cocoa has therefore had little or no house training until coming to us - plus her feed is Skinners Field & Trial (for puppies) which the vet feels is aimed at working dogs rather than pets - have started to introduce a less calorific, but good quality feed.
Back to work tomorrow, so hopefully the progress continues!

 

[wilfiboy]

Glad you've had a better night .. when her tummy settles I'm sure things will get easier x

 

[DONNA]

Yes glad to hear it was a better night.
Afew people on here who have had dogs with tummy troubles have put them onto Natural Instinct and it seems to be so much better for them (no more loose stools and tummy problems) maybe if your new food dosnt help that might be worth a try??

Id try leaving half her crate with a puppy pad in tonight if stools arent too bad and not wake her for the toilet /and still check on her when shes quiet to give you the peace of mind that she hasnt had an accident in there.

Hopefully by the end of the week she will be sleeping all the way through ,good luck your doing brilliantly dx

 

[Mogdog]

Glad to hear she had a better night ....its hard work at the beginning but well worth it to get them into a good routine.

Hope the new food suits her. If not, Donna's advice re Natural Instinct is good ....worth looking up on Google.

Best of luck

 

[Otto]

Many thanks Donna & Sue - taken a look at Natural Instinct - raw meat, that surprised me - will look at ordering some if no improvement shortly.
Have some puppy pads to hand - on putting one down for the first time, Cocoa seemed to think she was being given a great new chewing toy!! Might try putting one down tonight and creeping down to check on her during the night and not necessarily waking her.....

 

[DONNA]

Yea i only used tha pads for a week as Buddy started to chew them so just stopped putting them in ,hes never had an accident since touch wood dx