We have got an 11 week old border collie puppy and have had her for just over 3 weeks. Originally we were living with my partners parents for the first coupld of weeks we had her and she slept inside her crate with another much older dog in the room. She used to cry when she was first put to bed and when she could hear people around but would then stop until one of us got up in the morning to see her at around 7.

Last week we moved into a new house which is an end terrace, every night now when we put her to bed she goes to sleep very quickly and only barks for a few seconds. However for the last 3 mornings she has started barking and squeaking normally from 6.15am but Sunday morning is was 5.40 and will not stop unless we go downstairs to see her. We have tried telling her to be quiet, we have squirted her with a bit of water (which used to work at the old house) we have also got up at these times and fed her and put her outside but she continues to bark as soon as she's back in the crate.

We don't want to have her in the bedroom with us as we feel this is setting a bad precendent however it is causing us so many problems especially being new to the street and the noise is so loud I am sure that it disturbs the neighbours.

Can anyone please help us with something we can do, it is not as if the dog is neglected we both get up at around 7am anyway and from next week I'll be walking her at this time, however we cannot have her constantly barking for 30-60 minutes every morning.

thanks for your help

she probably just needs to go out to do her business, maybe if you take her out but dont talk to her let her have a wee etc, then put her straight back in her cage she might settle back down. My youngest dogs are 3yrs & they still want to be up before 6.30

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What time do you settle her at night?

How long have you left her before going down when she starts?

Welcome! I've had this problem when my dogs were puppies. What time do you let her out at night? I always tried to let them out as late as possible. However, they were ready to play in the morning. Does she have toys in her crate? I also used to turn either the radio or tv on animal planet so it wasn't so quiet. I have to admit though that I would try to play with them and try to wear them out so they'd go back to sleep. If you have to get up early that probably wouldn't work. I did place one of my puppies and her crate in our bedroom out of shear exhaustion. That did seem to work. I'm not sure if any of these suggestions will work, but I wish you luck! (sometimes you have to just let them cry)

When do you "squirt water" at her? Is the behaviour happening when you do this or do you do it when you go down and she is excited to see you?

What time do you take her for a walk before work at the moment?

I think putting the radio on quietly in the background sounds like a good idea, just so it's not all quiet in the room, your dog can then have a bit of reassurance and won't feel alone. If this doesn't work, there are quite alot of behaviourists you can speak to. Also there is something called a DAP diffuser or spray that relieves stress and gives them a calming feel, you plug it in the room and it releases a scent that de stresses them. The spray can be sprayed onto bedding which will do the same. Also the spray is good for car journeys and trip to the vets.

All veterinary surgeries should do this, also alot of internet pharmacies. My nan tried the diffuser for her two dogs and it helped greatly, but it may differ for different dogs, may be worth a try though. She got hers from petmedsfromvets online, was easier for her to order as she doesn't drive.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice, we don't got to bed until around 11pm and we put her outside just as we go to bed, we have tried putting her out in the morning but she just wants to play, we don't talk to her as we do this, we have also tried feeding her.

She has two or 3 toys in her crate all the time so she has things to play with, I am very reluctant to put her in our room, on Saturday morning I did get up and went to sleep on the sofa and put her in the crate next to me and she was quiet then.

We squirt the water as soon as we get downstairs from hearing her cry, she will cry until we are downstairs then she'll stop when she see's us.

Currently she's not being walked as she won't be having her 2nd vaccination until next week as the VET wanted to leave a 4 week gap between vaccinations so I need to wait until next week to walk her.

I would be happy to let her cry until 7am and we get up however I am worried about letting her make so much noise for an hour when we have neighbours who can surely hear her and we don't want complaints within a week of moving in.

We know that collies are very clever dogs and I'm sure that she is doing this for attention and that is why we do not talk to her except to tell her no, when she is being like this, she is a lovely pup but I was hoping that this crying would stop now, I may try the radio idea thank you

We have the same problem with Orla, She is as good as gold all night but as soon as she hears any noise from upstairs she goes mad and I have to then get up and come down to let her out, I will stay up after this as its never normally before 6am.So will be intersesting to read whats suggested

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Kelly, Russ-the husband, Owen & Leah-the kids, Charger & Coco-the cats and Orla the pug dog

would be happy to let her cry until 7am and we get up however I am worried about letting her make so much noise for an hour when we have neighbours who can surely hear her and we don't want complaints

Hi,


Could you go and speak to the neighbours and tell them the situation and ask if they can hear her and if so say you are sorry about the noise and hopefully it will be stop soon when she settles. Sometimes people worry about the neighbours when the don't need to, they may understand the problem and may even have been in the same position themselves at some time.

When you come down do you let her out of the cage straight away?


Pamela

If she isn't displaying the behaviour because she is getting rewarded for it i.e. you coming to see her, and then you squirt her with water all this will do is associate seeing you with a bad thing - water in the face from time to time.

If she stops because you go donw then you need to stop going down to see her as having you there is her reward for barking and teaches her that if she barks she gets attention. Like you say Collies are extremely smart but any dog will pick up on this.

Seeing you should be a positive experience (it is now and that is why she stops barking) but when she runs the risk of getting a face full of water every so often she is going to lose this and you will only distance the dog for yourself.