[Lucreacia]

My Pomeranian puppy is only ten weeks old and I have had her for the last two weeks. I have some areas of concern that have caused severe stress and sleep loss. Firstly, I made the mistake of sleeping with my puppy for the first week. She is a very sweet girl who barks and gets upset when I so much as take a bath even when she is in the room with me, due to a small barrier between us regardless that she can still see me. Secondly, since I work and live alone, I had to put my puppy in a crate when I left home in spite of her obvious reluctance to be locked inside. When I do, she tries to get out of the door before I can shut it but by the time i return she is lying there peacefully waiting... toys undisturbed.

Last week, due to sleep loss, I decided to put her in her crate at night. Each night is worse than the last. She went from only barking fifteen minutes to barking for hours and hours off and on. Each lunch break I go home to let her out so that she does not spend more than four hours in her crate at a time. Today, she was still willing to voluntarily eat and drink in her crate, but still hates being locked in it or in any room where I am not with her. What do I do? I read about slowly introducing puppies to the crate and will work on rewarding her in the crate, but still have to leave her alone for four hour increments in the day and sleeping in my bed is no longer an option.

 

[SchnauzerGirl8810]

10 weeks old is very young and she's probably a tiny pup, so 4 hours is probably pushing it.

Suggestions:

1) while you're at home, leave the crate in the living area with the door open and reward her for voluntarily going into the crate. Once she is comfortable doing this (don't rush this step), close the crate door and leave the room for 1-2 minutes. If she's quiet, return and reward and let her out. Do not return to her if she's whining or crying. Wait until she quiets down. Repeat this frequently while SLOWLY increasing the time spent in the crate.

2) Always do a long walk and play time to tire her out before going in the crate.

 

[Thisisme19]

Have you rewarded her at all (even once) by letting her out of her crate when she was barking or whining?

You only want to reward calm and quiet in the crate. Once the weekend comes about make it a priority to spend a bunch of time getting her comfortable with the crate. In the meantime you just have to wait it out. Make sure that she's gone out for a walk and playing or training before bed is a good idea to try and tire her out as much as possible. When it's bed time, lead her in the crate and say good night. Then ignore her until she settles down. And by ignore, I mean not a single glace or sound in her direction. Putting a blanket or sheet over her crate might help as well.

 

[Lucreacia]

Thank you both! I have not rewarded her for barking and have stared putting her meals in the crate. So far she does not mind going in at all, so that's a start. I will do what both of you have suggested. Thank you!