Happy Friday, friends! I am happy to see another weekend upon us, as it's been a busy week. Mornings have been a bit busier with the Mister away (he usually takes Molly to school in the morning), and of course having the electricians here for three full days created a bit of a disruption. But that work is done, and now we just need the landscapers to come back and put the dirt back in the big hole they dug.
I thought I'd use this post to give you a bit of a puppy update (I shamelessly stole the word "pupdate" from WeRateDogs).
I've seen a lot of positive changes in Ruthie in her second week with us. The most notable is that she is "going" outside most of the time. I've been rewarding her with treats and praising her every time she goes, and it's clearly paying off. She's had only a few accidents indoors this week, and I suspect those are largely due to the disruption of people in and out of the house. We've got a regular schedule of when we go out now, and I have a better sense of when she needs to go, so my hope is that things keep moving in a positive direction.
She's also been doing much better at night. I'm still sleeping on the couch (not the goal long term but acceptable for now), though the periods of sleep have been getting a little longer. She seems to need to go outside sometime in the midnight to 1 a.m. time frame and wakes up maybe once or twice other than that, though when she doesn't need to go out she just needs a little soothing to get back to sleep. She's mostly waking shortly before my alarm goes off or when it does -- it'll be interesting to see what happens when there's no alarm on the weekend!
We've had more success on walks (where she doesn't get as distracted by noises from traffic and birds) and regularly make it down our street and to a neighboring one. She's also made some dog friends! Our next-door neighbors brought our their Great Dane, Lydia, the other evening when we were outside, and though Ruthie barked at her, she was clearly interested, so we let the dogs go up to each other. There was lots of sniffing (easy for Ruthie to do, as she practically fits underneath Lydia) and tail wagging. She also did some brief sniffing of Sunny, the Golden Retriever who lives across the street, yesterday morning when we met her and her owner coming back from a walk. I'm hoping that she'll soon meet Vader, the black Lab who lives on the other side of us, and Leo, my brother's dog.
It's clear that she's becoming more comfortable because the puppy behaviors are coming out more. She is chewing everything (including her bed!) and also trying to get into places that we'd probably prefer she not go. Her latest is doing an army crawl under the couch and refusing to come out. I'd be tempted to let her stay there, as I'm sure it's a comforting place to be and there's not enough space that she can really crouch to go potty under there, but I'm also worried she's going to start chewing on the fabric on the underside of it. So she's spending more time in her crate when I need to do something, like eat a meal, and I also got a folding fence so that I can at least keep her confined to the kitchen and family room area. If anyone has good tips on how to get her to stop barking and whining when she's in the crate, I'm all ears. I can put it up with it when I'm home alone and need to run upstairs or downstairs for a bit, but it's not good in the long term. She eats her meals in there and gets treats, plus she has toys with her. I know a lot of it is that she wants to be with me, but obviously there are times when I can't be with her or need to put her in the crate so she's safe.
That's all I've got, friends. Have a wonderful weekend! I will be back on Monday with my One Little Word update.
I'm so happy to hear that Ruthie is settling in! And yay for meeting new dogs and exploring everything around her. As far as how to get her to decrease barking and whining in the crate, all of the Applied Behavioral Analyst training I've had (thanks to Colton!) reminds me to ignore the behavior we don't want and to praise what we want. So I would try to ignore the whining and barking and give lots of treats and recognition when she's not whining/barking in the crate. So much easier said than done, I know all too well!!
ReplyDeleteI had a shih tzu while I was in undergrad and felt terrible about keeping him crated during the day while I was at school. But then a co-worker taught me that dogs are cave dwelling animals and that crating them is soothing and helps them feel safe once we get over the initial hump of it. And it's so true! So just hang in there and try to stay consistent by rewarding the behavior you want. It will pay off.
I hope you have a great weekend!
I'm glad for this Pupdate and glad Ruthie is learning and really settling in. You sound like a proud parent, as you should be! I'm glad she's met some new friends and I hope next week is even better than this one. Good girl, Ruthie!
ReplyDeleteThis Pupdate is wonderful Sarah. It really sounds to me like Ruthie is make strong/fast progress. You should be proud!! Such fun to meet her neighbors too. I hope the weekend is a good one for you. Please give Ruthie a little scratch/pet from me...and maybe a treat too!!
ReplyDeleteRuthie is making progress, learning and growing. I hope next week brings more of the same.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are making great progress with Ruthie! I do hope you can get back to sleeping in your own bed soon.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Ruthie will make friends easily which will make walking more fun! Ruthie needs a distraction when she's in the crate. I give Mylo Earth Animal No-Hide rawhide bones when I leave and they keep him occupied while I make it out the door. Your local dogshop can tell you other long term options. Toys just don't cut it when Mom leaves the room. :)
ReplyDeleteSo glad Ruthie is getting more comfortable! Crate training is the best thing for a dog. It works best to not leave food or water dishes in the crate at any time. The crate should be more of a bedroom than a living space and feeding should take place outside of it. Having the crate door open with a cushion, blanket, and favorite chew toy during non-crate time will break the association of isolation with the crate. Throwing a treat inside when you’re not planning to close her in will also help her see it as her den. If the crate is large enough that you’re currently fitting water and food in it, I’d suggest beefing up some of the comfy cozy additions to fill the space once dishes are removed. For our dogs, old towels or blankets that we didn’t mind them shredding a bit were good for this until they grew to fill their space. I like to also drape a blanket or towel around the 3 sides that don’t have doors to make the space feel more secure. Once you’ve made the crate friendly and open like a bedroom, the next step is ignoring the whining. Attention to a behavior reinforces the behavior. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a cry-it-out situation. I’m not sure how old Ruthie is, but she seems young enough that she might still need a potty break once a night. You can definitely limit her food and water intake after a certain time of night to help her make it through, though. Other than that, time to go back to your bedroom and let her adjust. I know - harder said than done when the spouse who didn’t want a puppy is being woken up, too. I did this when my husband was out of town and it only took 1.5 nights to mostly break the habit. All dogs are different, but it does work quickly if you stay consistent. I’ve got lots of tips and tricks up my sleeve from raising so very many puppies, so feel free to ask. Every dog is different, but lots of things have worked consistently, so I might be able to help brainstorm options that will work for you, Ruthie, and the rest of the household.
ReplyDeleteHello Ruthie, you're doing so great!!
ReplyDeleteLove a Pupdate! sounds like things are all moving in a positive direction, so yay! best wishes for all of those good things to continue.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy that thing are going well, Sarah. Big fan of crate training, although we had great success with food and water IN the crate while house training (because, as our vet instructed us, dogs don't pee where they eat). Not a good long term solution, but good for the housetraining days. Another suggestion is to make her crate really cozy and den-like (which is a challenge for the chewing stage . . . ). We got a crate cover with fabric "sides" that could be rolled up or rolled down, and we found that all our dogs liked the cozy-factor. (It also helped that the couldn't see what was going on sometimes . . . ) When she's not crated for the night - or when you need to be away or busy elsewhere - make sure the door is always open for her to come and go freely. You may be surprised when she starts ducking in for a little snooze . . . XO
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