Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Puppy Blues

Who likes crate training?! After our first night I thought we'd had it made. Five minutes of whining & little Marley zonked out & was quiet until I woke up a couple hours later. Wanting to snuggle the sweet little baby - I brought him into bed with me for a nap yesterday afternoon. BIG MISTAKE. Last night was not good! I had taken 2 Benedryl to try to dry up my sinus' so I wasn't in great shape anyway. After he finally stopped whining initially (or maybe I fell asleep during it?) it was quiet for an hour. I took him out to potty - back in the crate - an hour later it started again. I tried ignoring it for I knew he didn't have to potty again & it just continued...continued...continued. Knowing I needed some sleep I took him out to potty and finished off the night on the couch....with Marley. LOL But hey, we both finally got some sleep!

Today I had to leave the house a couple times for about 20 minutes a piece. Figured it was a good chance for some more crate training. After arriving home both times I made sure not to let him out until the whining stopped. Which took a bit.

Watching him was the most pitiful thing. I'll let the photo do the rest of the "talking". The only thing missing from painting the picture of what was happening is the quiet whining every time he took a breath....just like a newborn baby who had cried themselves to sleep.

8 comments:

  1. Love your new background and the new Header picture is precious...you have Marley well on the road to picture posing behavior...I am so jealous of your training ability. Draco is a wild petulant little dog. Marley does look sad and pathetic in the cage...good thing we can be immune to puppy eyes sometimes.

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  2. OMD, you added a 5th? Can you talk to my husband for me? lol. Marley is so freaking adorable! Congrats :D

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  3. Thanks Debra! My page needed a "face lift" I thought. :o) These guys just love their picture taken - it's really funny. When I do individuals I can't keep Milo or Matilda off of the chair! LOL

    And yes, we have to be immune to those puppy eyes on occasion. It's not easy but it's neccessary in order to not have a misbehaved dog! :o)

    I think you do great with Draco pics btw! He looks like he behaves very nicely for pictures to me!

    And yes Jessie - we added a 5th. :o)

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  4. Awww Marley is just so handsome! and that photo is priceless :)
    Shon

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  5. We had exactly the same problem with Elliot. For 3 nights he went right to sleep. On the 4th he whined for nearly 2 hours and drove us mad. I decided not to use the crate anymore and put his little bed next to my side of the bed so I could pat him if he woke up. No need, he went straight in and to sleep and no more problems since.
    Love your header, how on earth do you get them to pose together - I couldn't even do it with 2!

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  6. I'm generally pretty "strict" when it come to crate training - I think it's very important to train them when they're young. We did however, run into a similar problem with Maribelle. Except she'd get so upset she'd poo & eat it. Sooo, we brought in the outside pen, put the crate inside of that & left the crate door open. Worked MUCH better!! I'm glad you found something that worked for Elliot.... Sounds like he's doing great just where he is now. :o)

    Luckily I've trained each of the pups as soon as they came home to love picture taking (using lots of treats & "wait" commands. LOL Marley just happened to pick it up right off. Though of course his attention span isn't all there yet so he got bored after a few shots. He was quite easy though compared to some of the others when we first brought them home though! :o)

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  7. Aww poor little guy. That face would break my heart. You are so much stronger than I would ever be able to be. I'm such a softy!

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  8. Heather, you are certainly strong. The first night Chewy was home we tried that, and it only took 5 minutes for us to break down and bring him into bed with us, hahaha!! Myself I would rather have them snuggled into bed with me!

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