Hiya again

Wysiwyg - Thanks for the reply, Sorry I didnt make that bit very clear. I am off sick at the moment (long term) so am in the house all day with her. My Wife gets up at about 5.30am-6.00am for work and then lets her out and puts her back in her crate before she leaves. When I get up anywhere from 8-9am I let her out and she is with me most of the day. I do however try and crate her for 10 mins a time a few times during the day whilst I am in the kitchen with her. Its not through lack of attention that she cries for us, more like too much attention I think!! The routine of crating her on an evening is my wife goes to bed at about 9-10pm and I crate Missy at about 11-12pm. I then let her out at about 1am for a wee and then re-crate her and go to bed myself. So all in all she is only really in her crate for a maximum of 6-7 hours and that is between 11pm-6am. I hope this has made it abit clearer about our daily routine Thx again

trouble21 - Thx for the advice I have no doubt that your theory would work as Missy would have what she wants, which is our attention and to be with one of us. I am quite reluctant to spend so much time with her because I already think she is suffering from seperation anxiety and I dont really want to make it worse. With my illness and my wife's job, sleeping in the kitchen for maybe 3 weeks is just not viable. Nice idea though and dont get me wrong I am very appreciative of your input I just dont think it would be practical. Also, with the crate being in the kitchen I could only just about lay down, the dog would have more room than me lol

mustards mum - Be careful, your hubby might send you back downstairs with your dog if you carry on snoring lol Do you fancy coming and spending a few nights on our kitchen floor? Mind you, if your snoring is bad the dogs crying and howling might be better lol

Well we made it back from Dog Obedience training in one piece. My wife did the work with her as I watched She seemed to do quite well for her first time. It is well worth the couple of pound a week, if only to get her socialising and behaving with other dogs. Also, we got a nice collar for her which was recommended instead of the cheap one we bought her at the rescue kennels. I asked the trainer there about the problem and she advised just to stick with it now as we rushed her into the crate too quickly and the damage was done. So I suppose tonight we will just do what was done lastnight and cross our fingers. She is very reluctant to go near it unless we arent anywhere near her so we cant close the door, so I suppose we will just have to pick her up and make her feel safe in there before leaving her for the night.

Any more help would be greatly received and thanks to all who have posted.

lol I don't snore, well I've never heard me

Although do you think that's why Hubby is so keen on a new puppy


Glad training went well, Zeus and I were bored very quickly, as there is only so long that you can get the dog to do the basic commands which we had mastered way before classes and as such the pup and I became bored and went on to more advanced training........... sadly the trainer wasn't happy and said we were disruptive and giving the other dogs owners unreasonable goals (I hasten to add that we were in a big paddock where we and the other dogs had lots of space so not disturbing anyone elses training)

We now do all our training on a day to day basis and he's great I'm a proud mum

awwee you sound so proud

To be honest we thought that it was boring for the dogs, so we will probably do it until she has mastered the commands and then try the advance. Your dog sounds so intelligent, maybe the therapeutic rythym of your snoring that he has being having to sleep through has developed his brain quicker lol

I have just uploaded a few pics of missy so I thought I would post the link to my thread on the pics page incase you want a look.

http://www.dogweb.co.uk/showthread.p...453#post620453

Hope you like

Totally loved the pics that is one lovely looking dog

As for the snoring............ I still don't admit to it but I do think that sleeping on the floor with him developed a bond! even if it was one of him sympathising with me he obviously didn't think he could "out yowl me"

I'm terrible for thinking my dog is the best dog on the planet, the most well behaved ,the kindest and gentlest (sp).......etc but that's what anyone thinks of their pup isn't it

Hi and welcome to DW
You have been given some very good advice but the main point is "sticking it out" I would put her in her bed and leave her there until wee time then back to bed and goodnight even say goodnight so that is her cue word to settle down.....personally I wouldn't give her anything in her crate (toys), light off, radio off.. she needs to learn this is sleep time........ I think if you are crating Missy at 12 I would leave her until the morning before letting her out ..it could be confusing that she is in her bed and then after an hour or two comes out again .. possibly she is not settling down as she is waiting to come out.. My dog is crated trained, has been from birth really .. but she still runs to the bottom of the stairs and looks up..plaintively.. when I say bedtime.. and like Missy, Poppy will happily take herself off to her bed when SHE wants some peace! Poppy still moans and cries when I first crate her .. she is 8mnths old.. she is quiet and settled in about 5 mins.. she's a
bright little dog and knows its worth a shot
It may be worth bearing in mind that in many ways Missy has only just been released from a permanent crate albeit a larger one, as time passes she will become more confident and safe in her whole environment not just near you or your OH..
Hope she is more settled tonight!
Rachel

Rachel - Thanks for some great advice I suppose it is more what I was wanting to hear. What I suppose I needed is someone to say there will be light at the end of the tunnel. I dont know about the radio being turned off, the main reason is we bought a new fridge freezer and it makes bangs that even makes me jump lol. The distraction of the music I think would be better than the total shock of silence to BANG if you know what I mean. I was pretty much thinking the same as you about not letting her out again on a night at about 1am, it is just hard because I go in the kitchen and she just looks at me and I am a soft ar** really, us men are, well some lol So instead of letting her out for a cuddle (which is what I want really...ssshhhh ) I make it look like I am letting her out for wee wee. I will stop that tonight though, or try Thanks again for the advice

Mustards mum - your making yourself look guilty for being a loud snorer for denying it lol If only dogs could talk lol Thanks for your nice words about Missy, can you see how we couldnt resist the opportunity of taking her the same day

Well its time for Missy's bedtime now so I am going to get ready to turn the TV up. We are lucky really, we have just moved into a new semi detached house and as yet have no neighbours, so we can have the TV on loud to block out Missy's cries. A few little things I am going to try tonight -

My wife has a Tigger hot water bottle so we have put her pj top on him lol and we are going to fill the hot water bottle and leave it in her crate. She wont be able to get to the bottle because it is hidden away in Tigger. She has another teddy which she has been sleeping with and hasnt destroyed it in anyway, so I am confident she will be ok.

I am also going to cover the top of the crate with a blanket, who knows it might help!!

Thanks again for all who have posted today I am pleased I have joined such a helpful and friendly forum, you should all be proud Just a second, i can hear something!!!......oh dont worry its only mustards mum snoring hahaha

I will let you know how the night has gone

Hello and welcome to DW.

I understand that you don't want Missy in your bedroom with you, but when I got each of my dogs as pups, I had them sleep in my bed with me untill I felt they were settled in, and then out them into their crates in the kitchen, they cried on and off for a few nights, but no longer than a week maximum. They are no longer in crates now they are fully housetrained, they didn't seem to be bothered that I took the crates away either.

Hope you had a more peaceful night!
Missy is beautiful what lovely photos!!!

Keep going with the crate, she'll get there, it does take time. I have to admit I don't leave our pups to cry it out for 2 reasons, my son needs his sleep so I don't want him to wake up and so do my neighbours!!!!!! When our pups cry in the night we go down and sit by the crate and ignore them ( in the dark) until they settle and go to sleep, then we go back to bed...once they are settling quicker, we say 'no' or 'quiet' firmly when they start to make a fuss. Now if the pup starts to moan in the night we can just yell 'quiet' from upstairs and he is!!!!! It's like you're there...but it's not play or fuss time and they soon get the idea I promise!!!!! Keep doing what you're doing, make the crate a 'happy' place and she'll soonsettle.
Let us know how you got on....
Ailsa x

Good morning all

random - Hiya, thanks for the advice. Alot of people do keep their dogs in the bedroom and I think its just down to personal preference. Your dogs seemed to adjust to sleeping away from you once they got used to the crate which is excellent, I think I just dont want to take the risk that she will create more because she has slept with us. Thanks again

Alisa - aww thankyou for the nice words about Missy I guess we are in a fortunate position of having no neighbours and my wife can sleep through anything (no I dont snore mustards mum lol ) Nice idea about giving her no attention when going into the room. If she starts to injure herself or anything trying to get out of the crate I will give that a try definately. Thanks

Update from lastnight :

Well, after logging off I let her out for wee and then made her hot water bottle and covered her crate with a large towel. As I was in the kitchen I made sure I closed the door with Missy and myself in their. I sorted her bed out and made it nice and comfortable but she wouldnt go anywhere near it!!

I decided it was time for abit of love and affection so I sat at one end of the kitchen near the fridge freezer and used bits of "schmakos" (pedigree treats) to get her comfortable next to me and relaxed. Over about 15 minutes I gradually moved closer to the crate until I was able to just nudge her in. I sat at the door and stroked her and she laid down on her bed in the crate. After another 10 minutes I closed the crate door which ofcourse she sat up at and looked at me worrying. So I turned the kitchen light off and sat back down with her with my hand inside the crate. You could tell she didnt know what to do, either lay so i could stroke her or lay on the hot water bottle lol. After about 5-10 mins she was battleing to stay awake so i slowly backed off the crate and opened the kitchen door, she didnt get up, she just laid watching me. Then I said goodnight and closed the door.

I would say maybe 15 mins of crying and howling however after that there was silence She had an amazing night She was so tired from yesterdays adventure at the training but still I am so proud of her.

I have to cut this short now as my friend has just arrived. I will post some more later.

Thanks for all the advice, it looks like we are definately moving forward

fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!