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MurfsMa
Orange County, CA
MH
Posts:280
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| 09/24/2009 1:43 PM |
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Oh! Rupert is adorably gorgeous! Everyone else has provided a lot of good advice...and getting him used to the crate is really the best piece that you can try and follow. When we first got Murphy he slept thru the night in his crate so even though we had armed ourselves with every piece of advice we could about getting up every few hours and letting him go potty and how to handle whining... it never happened. So we actually had to force ourselves to wake up in the middle of the night to wake up Murphy to go potty... I feared his little tiny bladder would explode or something even more awful... we didn't want to make a routine of it so we tapered the midnight wake-ups off after a while until we were only getting up with the alarm.
But I will tell you that the biggest saving grace was setting up a small kennel-like area in our bedroom. We kept his kennel open with a big comfy blanket and a stuffed animal inside (a snuggle puppy with the beating heart... HE LOVED IT! to death actually  ) then around that we set up an excercise pen with an old throw rug underneath it in case of accidents with some chew toys and another blanket. This was all set up right next to the bed so if he did decide to wake up, which occasionally did happen, we could just put our hand down and pet him and let him know we were right there. That usually settled him right down. As he got older (and more trustworthy) we were able to get rid of the ex-pen and he would just sleep in his crate with the door open. Now that he's just over 18 months old he sleeps on a dog bed right next to our bed. Occasionally he's allowed in the bed... but it's rare  He's smart enough to know his place and when he can finagle his way in!
Good luck to you and welcome to the forum! Keep posting pics... Rupert is going to be a big boy before you know it! |
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Splat
Illinois (Northern)
MH
Posts:3155
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| 09/24/2009 2:08 PM |
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I don't know if this is right or wrong, but also the first night mine stayed in his cage I left the door open...I had never used the cage and I didn't want him whining or crying all night long keeping my kids up...So I am not sure if that helped him or not....
Rupert/No is so adorable...his expression looks a lot like mine's! |
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Terra's Owner
Planet Earth
MH
Posts:262
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| 09/24/2009 3:29 PM |
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Rupert has a full tail - I saw you were in the UK - Cool. I don't see that much in all the photos. I like how the hair on the end of it crosses. |
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John (human), Bearoff (gsp), Jenny (Plott), Sunshine (Heinz57 rip 11/4/2010), Terra (missing but still in my heart) |
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Klynn7
Blaine, MN
MH
Posts:84
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| 09/24/2009 6:28 PM |
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He is adorable! My little girl is 14 weeks now. We got her when she was 9 weeks and had the same night issue for the 1st night only. Then we moved her crate into our room and ever since she's slept through the whole night with out going potty in her crate or waking us up to take her out! I guess we're lucky with that one though. One thing I do for her while she's in her crate is leave a fan on right by her. I don't point it at the crate, but I think the consistent noise is soothing and can block out some of the other noises she hears that might upset her.
The other thing we really worked hard on is to make her LOVE her crate! We have one in the bedroom and one in the living room. The one in the living room she has full room of while the one in our bed room we only give her enough room to lay down in. The downstairs one if more of a play crate that we used to get her to like it. All her toys are in there and we stick her in there while we're home for 5-15 minutes at a time when she can still see us so she doesn't associate it with us leaving. Plus, then we have a few minutes of time to get stuff done without having to keep an eye on her. Her upstairs crate is where she is at night and during the day when we aren't home. She gets her favorite treat when she goes in there (Snausages) as a special treat. After about 2 weeks of getting one any time she went in there (even on her own) she runs in there and will sit with the door open just to get the treat. It's right on my side of the bed so she can see me when the lights go out and knows we aren't going anywhere.
I'm a 1st timer too and by no means an expert, but she has been perfect when it comes to her kennel. |
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-Korbey
Randi
Stella
"We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment." -George Eliot
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erikacarrillo
La Honda, CA
MH
Posts:229
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| 09/24/2009 6:40 PM |
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We have a room off the side of our bedroom that is Koda's pen and we keep a crate in there where we can see her. When we first got her she didn't have a crate and would play with her bed all night by flipping it over and ripping apart the foam (no more foam mattresses). She whined at the beginning, but we would ignore her and eventually she settled down. Now she's in the crate and may cry a little bit, but much less than before. I usually close the crate so she doesn't pee on the floor during the night, but occassionally in the morning she pees on her crate pad. She sometimes whines in the morning, but I usually don't respond right away so that she knows that it won't get her attention. I take her out right before bed and right when she wakes up. Do your best to ignore the whining. We built an extra tall gate because she kept climbing over the ones we bought.
 
 
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CL66
MH
Posts:419
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| 09/25/2009 2:26 AM |
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Just a little update for you after last night. I brought his basket into the bedroom and put it at the end of the bed (i'm going to eventually get him in his crate, but need to train him to like it first!). After a little whining and barking at not being IN bed with us, and jumping up, he eventually got the message and took himself off to his bed. And it worked really well.
He woke up 3 times whining and every time i took him out, twice just for a wee and once for a wee and a poo, which judging by the mess he made in the kitchen is about right for the number of times he needs to go. But not once did he try to mess about and play so i do think he genuinely was crying to go to the loo.
Should I now start to ignore some of the whining, in an attempt to train his bladder, or does that come naturally and eventually he'll need to go out less. Just don't really want him peeing on the floor in the bedroom, even if it is on newspaper.
The setup you have for Koda looks great, i'm jealous! And Splat, love the photos of you stunt riding that horse. Not sure what mine would do if i tried to do that!! Do you, or anyone, ride out with your GSP offlead, that's what I eventually want to train Rupert to do. |
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Klynn7
Blaine, MN
MH
Posts:84
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| 09/25/2009 4:18 AM |
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| I asked the same question about ignoring the whining about or 4 weeks ago! Don't do it! Randi is 14 weeks now and is now starting to completely empty her bladder and go a few hours without having to go outside. He'll get the hang of it eventually. |
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-Korbey
Randi
Stella
"We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment." -George Eliot
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JillO
Greenville, SC
Posts:4
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| 09/25/2009 4:44 AM |
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Rupert is a handsome boy! My GSP, Rippy, has a full tail too, and she knows how to use it, our table tops are clean and our shins are bruised! For crate training I highly reccomend Susan Garrett's 'Crate Games' DVD. I've trained three dogs to love their crate using her techniques. One is a nine year old beagle rescue who would go nuts in a crate, biting at the bars and pitching a fit. She loves her crate now and will drive into it on command.
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TessaGA
Georgia
MH
Posts:2387
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| 09/25/2009 6:36 AM |
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I would NOT ignore his whining in this case and take him out, it seems that he is just letting you know he needs to go and wow, that's a good thing!
When I said earlier to not let him out of the crate when he is whining, I meant when he is whining because he doesn't want to be in it or he wants attention. That should be easy to gauge most of the time. If unsure, I would take him out BUT: Regardless of why you take him out of the crate, try to catch a moment when he is not vocalizing. I taught Tessa to "settle" (meaning be quiet and lie down), so even when she was whining to go pee, I would say "settle", and then opened the crate after she settled. At first I kept that moment of quietness very brief - even a few seconds will work, she eventually figured that crate will NEVER open when I'm noisy. Then gradually increase the time the dog needs to be calm. |
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To live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness. [Thomas McGuane]
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Splat
Illinois (Northern)
MH
Posts:3155
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| 09/25/2009 7:16 AM |
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Glad to hear the basket in the room has helped with getting sleep!
I have only had my pup for a month so I don't have him ready to hit the trails with the horses. Most horse people around here (especially vets, equine dentists and farriers) have blue healers and they go on the trails without leashes. My parents have one and she goes on the trail rides and always stays right with us. I am hoping my GSP will learn off her, plus with our training hiim to heal and such. |
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CL66
MH
Posts:419
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| 09/25/2009 7:20 AM |
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Posted By TessaGA on 09/25/2009 6:36 AM
I would NOT ignore his whining in this case and take him out, it seems that he is just letting you know he needs to go and wow, that's a good thing!
When I said earlier to not let him out of the crate when he is whining, I meant when he is whining because he doesn't want to be in it or he wants attention. That should be easy to gauge most of the time. If unsure, I would take him out BUT: Regardless of why you take him out of the crate, try to catch a moment when he is not vocalizing. I taught Tessa to "settle" (meaning be quiet and lie down), so even when she was whining to go pee, I would say "settle", and then opened the crate after she settled. At first I kept that moment of quietness very brief - even a few seconds will work, she eventually figured that crate will NEVER open when I'm noisy. Then gradually increase the time the dog needs to be calm.
LOL yeah, they have very whippy tails don't they, perfect table height for sweeping everything off! Here in the UK i don't think you're allowed to show a dog that (at least this year) has been docked as it's becoming illegal so they're mostly full now. Not that I intend to show, as I'm planning on having him castrated.
Great, I'll continue taking him out whenever he needs it. He was very good and just whined or woke up and jumped up at the bed to get me up to take him out. He's learning pretty well at the toilet training.
I've got him enrolled in puppy classes which will start a week monday, so very excited about that and be great to socialise him with other dogs as we have no other pets. And when I spoke to the trainer this morning she echoed all of you and said yes, bring him to the bedroom, and said it really helps with the toilet training and that's one of the most important things. Thanks for the great advice everyone  |
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