I just want to know if what I am doing is correct...
We are dog sitting for 10 days. The owners said that the dog has no problem being alone as it is rarely in there house due to a family member having allergies (discovered after they got the dog). They told us that she goes into her crate on command ( in there garage) and they have never had a problem with her making noise other than the first two nights of getting her (rescue) a little over a year ago. I will say that we were warned and (we thought) prepared for a dog to be extremely anxious, nervous, scared and unsure
The first night, I slept on the couch (miserable) and the dog was off and on with whimpering in her crate in the next room.
Since my husband doesn't want me to sleep for 10 nights downstairs, we decided to bite the bullet and have no one downstairs. We do not want the dog upstairs, and said this to the owners who told us that when she was in their house, they would not allow her upstairs, either, and they had no problems (we installed a baby gate just to be sure).
Anyways...she was exercised to the MAX yesterday, had her peeing time, had a toy and a treat in her crate. My husband comes upstaisr and for 2 hours she goes off (howling, whining, barking), finally quieting down. throughout the night she would settle down and then try again. Several times we almost went down and "rewarded" the howling, barking, and whining, but we didn't. We felt that when we did get up, we had take some sense of control of the situation.
This morning, I tried some SA training and put her in her crate with toys and treat, left for 5 minutes with the intent of returning in that period of time. She was going off again, so I felt that I could not enter for "rewarding" the howling, barking & whining. So I sat outside and waited for quite. A couple of times, I thought I had it and reached for the door only to have her start again...
Here is my question...What is the best way to do this type of training (ignore the noise, reward the quiet) if she doesn't stop? It also happens when I go upstairs to get something. When I am out of sight, she whines. I need to come back down but I don't want to reward her whining by coming back downstairs just because I have to. (I really hope this makes sense).
I am interested because my husband has left for a business trip for four days and I going to do what we did last night, again, tonight. I want him to see progress on this SA and I would like to feel good about leaving my house to run errands without having a choir singing their sorrowful song to our neighbors.
Thanks, much!
Chris
We are dog sitting for 10 days. The owners said that the dog has no problem being alone as it is rarely in there house due to a family member having allergies (discovered after they got the dog). They told us that she goes into her crate on command ( in there garage) and they have never had a problem with her making noise other than the first two nights of getting her (rescue) a little over a year ago. I will say that we were warned and (we thought) prepared for a dog to be extremely anxious, nervous, scared and unsure
The first night, I slept on the couch (miserable) and the dog was off and on with whimpering in her crate in the next room.
Since my husband doesn't want me to sleep for 10 nights downstairs, we decided to bite the bullet and have no one downstairs. We do not want the dog upstairs, and said this to the owners who told us that when she was in their house, they would not allow her upstairs, either, and they had no problems (we installed a baby gate just to be sure).
Anyways...she was exercised to the MAX yesterday, had her peeing time, had a toy and a treat in her crate. My husband comes upstaisr and for 2 hours she goes off (howling, whining, barking), finally quieting down. throughout the night she would settle down and then try again. Several times we almost went down and "rewarded" the howling, barking, and whining, but we didn't. We felt that when we did get up, we had take some sense of control of the situation.
This morning, I tried some SA training and put her in her crate with toys and treat, left for 5 minutes with the intent of returning in that period of time. She was going off again, so I felt that I could not enter for "rewarding" the howling, barking & whining. So I sat outside and waited for quite. A couple of times, I thought I had it and reached for the door only to have her start again...
Here is my question...What is the best way to do this type of training (ignore the noise, reward the quiet) if she doesn't stop? It also happens when I go upstairs to get something. When I am out of sight, she whines. I need to come back down but I don't want to reward her whining by coming back downstairs just because I have to. (I really hope this makes sense).
I am interested because my husband has left for a business trip for four days and I going to do what we did last night, again, tonight. I want him to see progress on this SA and I would like to feel good about leaving my house to run errands without having a choir singing their sorrowful song to our neighbors.
Thanks, much!
Chris