[aliho]

My boyfriend and I adopted a 5 month old mini dachshund, Elsa, 5 days ago. Right now I am a teacher in-between jobs, so am at home all the time. No surprise, Elsa has become very attached to me, and whines even if I am in the other room when my boyfriend is home.

She loves her crate and takes all of her toys in there when she's done playing on the floor. At night we have her in our small bedroom with her crate open and her newspaper for eliminating (she's pretty well paper trained already); I don't lock her in her crate at night because our room is so small, and we have under the bed closed off.

So today I tried to leave her in her crate alone (with a stuffed Kong, blanket, and TV on) for 35-40 minutes, and I came back to her whining and barking with her nose pressed through the bars. I guess there are two concerns for me: a) I feel bad leaving her crying in her crate, which I know doesn't make it easier for her, and b) we live in a small NYC apartment building, so I don't want my neighbors getting upset.

Just looking for some suggestions or reassurance. I'm thinking about getting a baby gate and putting her crate, Kong, and papers in our bedroom when I leave her. Any one had better luck with that over crate training? Or is it likely she'll still freak out?

 

[weatherspc]

My mother had what sounds like the same problem. She fixed this by putting a warn sock in the crate with the pup to leave her sent with him while she was out. I can't remember who gave her this idea but it worked for her. He stayed more calm and quiet while she was out until he learned that after a few hours she would return and give him all the attention he required.
Best of luck.

 

[Dawnben]

teach her to love the crate. I think clicker training is the best so is kikopup.
Crate Training- Part 1- Clicker dog Training - YouTube