Hi,
I wonder if anyone can give me some advice. I recently got a new puppy. He is a retriever cross and is 11 weeks old. I have two problems that I would love some help with.
1 - At night when he is put in his crate he barks and howls incessently- and I mean incessently. All through the night without a stop. I actually don't know how he keeps it up! This also makes it extremly difficult for me to go into him to reward and praise him when he is quiet as he doesn't stop! Is there anything I can do to resolve this?

2- Now this is the one I am more worried about. We also have a 20 month old dog, a flat coat retriever/collie cross. She is an absolute dote but is shy around dogs. If she meets them on the beach/walks etc she is fine and will play with them but other than that is nervous. She has become extremely stressed over the last few days since we got the pup. She is slinking around the house clinging to the walls so she doesn't have to go near him, is shivering and shaking and has gone off her food I knew it was not going to be an easy transition but I didn't think her reaction would be so severe.
Is there anything I can do to help her? I can't bear to have her like this and I feel so guilty that I have taken away her happy life. If she stays like this then I am going to have to try and rehome the puppy- a step I really do not want to have to take
Please please help.

Hi & welcome,

Sorry I don't have time to write a long reply but I think I would suggest you get some help from a behaviourist (check apdt website).

It sounds like your 20 month old dog is really sufferering and something needs doing fairly quick if she is off her food.

Can you seperate the pup for the meantime and not let her have run of the house? She can be let out hourly for toileting and play etc and you can put you other dog somewhere she feels safe and them swap them back again?

The intergration needs to be done slowly and your pup will be fine in some confinement. I wouldn't push it with your dog, she will need a lot of time to adjust to the puppy but it would be better for her if the pup didn't have free run of the house.

Hope this helps and good luck. Michelle

Thanks Michelle, will definitely try that. The only problem is that as soon as we crate Carter, the puppy, he barks his head off non-stop and this upsets Izzie, our 20 month old, even more. Am at a complete loss as I hate to see Izzie like this. Will go and see if there are any good behaviourists near me.
Thanks

Is there any way you could section off an area for the puppy instead of using a crate?
If not, have you tried giving the pup a filled kong in the crate? You could feed all his meals in the kong and it will be great for keeping the puppy occupied in his crate.
You could also try rawhide chews - for a pup its quite good to soak one end in water for a while to soften them first and then they get going on them. Just need to try and find things to entertain the puppy in his crate. There are other types of food dispensing toys you could try too.

I'm sure you can get the puppy to enjoy being in his crate - maybe do a search on here about 'crate training'. Might help

She could be upset because of the puppy's noise. Is she the same if he is not making noise? If she is, then what I would suggest you try is to keep puppy perhaps in the kitchen for a little while, then bring her in on a leash, and get someone to give Izzie nice treats every time she sees the puppy. She will only get these treats (make them something high value, like chicken) when the pup is there, not any other time. Hopefully, she will then associate the puppy's presence with nice things and get to love him. It will take a long time, though.

As to the night time noise, can you perhaps put the crate in your bedroom so that the puppy can still see you and feel you close? It is a shame your other dog is afraid of her, or she could be the answer, but that is not going to happen any time soon.

Do keep looking for a good behaviourist, as said though. Make sure it is one who uses positive reward based training and does not talk about pack leaders.

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Don't panic Izzy will get over it. I have two sensitive/nervous collie bitches and they would have liked to have packed their suitcases and left home when I had a new puppy 2 yrs ago...!! Its been pretty much like that for the past 30 years every time I've introduced a new puppy into the household and I think I've only ever had one bitch that would put a puppy in its place.

If Izzy is nervous you must keep calm and whatever you do don't shout at the puppy because if you get upset/excited so will she.

Don't let the puppy jump all over her, she needs time and space to adjust and puppies tend to think everyone is fair game to play with.

It might be an idea to buy a puppy pen (you can purchase them pretty cheaply off ebay/websites).

I know its a nightmare at the moment but slowly and surely their relationship will improve with careful management from you.

My three are all the best of friends now but it did take Quiver about a year to get over Leafy's arrival. She wasn't quite so bad two years ago when I had the last pup.

Hope this reassures you a bit.

I suppose at 11 weeks she might not have had her full vaccinations. If she has or as soon as she can I would personally try taking them for walks, If theres two of you try having one each. One of mine wasnt sure about my last pup when I got her at first, but out on walks for some strange reason he was fine and when she was in her puppy crate too. As you also said you older dog seems more ready to play with other dogs whilst out in general it may help.

If she cant go out for walks yet it might be an idea to take her out in the garden to play with her and leave the back door open so your other dogs got access if she wants to and see if curiosity takes over and she may come out and join in too. Worth a try.

Nervous dogs seem to pick up on other dogs stress and nervousness so if the new pup wont settle and is distressed in the crate they may be bouncing off each other emotionly. You could try having the new pup on a lead indoors maybe even attached to your waist or when you are sitting watching TV in the evenings, that way the pup wont be distressed, at the same time she wont be able to go up and force any unwanted attention on you older dog, the older dog will get used to her being in the same vacinity and maybe once shes weighed up the pups not a threat, and also maybe not so stressed and upset, aagain the older one might approach in her old time or at least begin to settle more with her about.

There are things to help calm the situation, I found the DAP products help,
They are artificial versions of the pheromones mum emits to calm and soothe the pups, you can get it in a plug in version and a collar version. I used it with one of mine when he was stressed when going outside as a pup and still use them for times of stress like fireworks. Ive got one in use now with the xmas and new year fireworks. Another thing that can help is a tee shirt you have worn in the crate and also a large cuddly toy for the pup to cuddle up to, as long as shes not the sort of pup to pull off and eat fabric. You could also put a radio on a talking station down low as the sound of voices often re-assures them in the night.

I dont know where yours usually sleep, but if you dont mind you could always either sleep downstairs for a few days with the pup in the crate and your other dog near by (If you want their permanent place to sleep to be downstairs) or even take the crate and put it in your bedroom until shes settled in and both dogs seem ok.

Hope this might give you some ideas.

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Thanks SO much everyone
With three sleepless nights I just feel like I'm going slightly mad! We had a HUGE breakthrough with Izzie today. She has started to interact with Carter and is sniffing at him and inviting him to play every now and then. Plus she told him off when he went too near her Kong, that's my girl I don't know if it's just that she's getting used to him or if the DAP collar we got on Thursday is helping.
Now just to crack the incessent night time barking. I'm going to try the "move the crate to the bedroom" approach tonight. If he whines and barks do I ignore him or let him know I'm still there? Or would that just teach him that barking gets attention? Lord, it's all so confusing!!!

This incessant barking is what I experienced with my very first puppy, she didn't stop barking till she got hit by a taxi

You might even find that once in your room she settles quicker, Best thing to do is have it near the bed at first, sometimes if you just put your hand out on the crate for a few minutes saying nothing they will settle. For some strange reason if you turn over away from the crate and sigh, then ignore them they seem to settle. I usually used the words name /sleep as I did it, now at night For all mine I still use their names in turn followed by sleep and when they settle repeat sleep and good boy/girl.

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