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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.
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.