Crying in crate and excited barking

[tasmindomine]

I'm starting to go through the course with my new Goldendoodle puppy who is now 13 wks old. She is a loving, relaxed and mellow dog most of the time who just wants to follow us around and sit at our feet. She is my second dog and I did all of this back when my lab Cali was a pup 14 yrs ago. Cali knew more words/commands than my own kids until they were about 4 yrs old. I have clicked around and we are having 2 persistent issues with her that following the notes haven't helped us with progress. Hoping someone can give me some extra suggestions?

 

1. Crate training: I crate trained my older dog with no issues so have followed all the things like feeding her all her meals in there, nice blanket, cover, never letting her out when she is crying. We basically put her in there overnight and maybe 1 or 2 hrs in the day when everyone is out of the house. My husband works from home, so there are no day long stretches. She resists going in, and then cries like she is caught in a bear trap for 5-10 minutes at night and up to 20 minutes during day stays. She never soils her crate and we take her out beforehand, so its really about separation anxiety I think. We have done this consistently since day one, which was 3 weeks ago. The duration of crying when we close her in has been increasing week by week instead of decreasing. (I've already read "love the crate")

 

2. Morning play excitement? barking: Since my husband works from home, on teleconferences, etc we CANNOT tolerate barking from a dog. When she gets excited and especially in the morning with the kids when she first wakes up she barks a lot. In the morning routine trying to get them to school and me to work, I have them take her outside and run around, but she continues barking. I've tried distracting her by getting her to sit for treats or other actions, but she can't focus first thing in the morning. The barking has escalated over the weeks significantly and I need to nip this in the bud. (I've already read "excitement whining", all three barking ones, and the "Impulse control / frustration tolerance")

 

Any help or direction would be much appreciated before these behaviors get worse

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Where is the crate placed at night? Are you offering a stuffed Kong when you close her in there? Have you tried covering the crate with the blanket? What do you do when she is crying in the crate? If she is used to sitting on your feet a good part of the day she may be suffering from separation issues when in the crate at night. Many owners of puppies of this age, notice improvement when the crate is kept near the bedroom so the pup is reassured the owners are close. Interestingly, research has shown that this night-time closure to the owners has no impact on separation anxiety in adult dogs suffering from this.

 

Many dogs are super excited when waking up and barking is their way to express that. Impulse control exercises take time to take effect with young pups, but applied daily should lead to improvement overtime. However, it sounds like you need something to keep her occupied for a longer time during the morning routine. Have you tried providing her with a Kong Wobbler filled with her kibble during this morning routine versus feeding her breakfast in a bowl? Can turns be taken to play with her in the yard while everybody gets ready and she comes back inside once everybody is gone? If she can't focus on training how about playing a treasure hunt game in the yard? Establishing a new routine that channels her excess energy and enthusiasm may come handy.

 

Preventing rehearsal of the overly excited behavior would be important until better impulse control kicks in. She is very young so impulse control in a puppy isn't really something to be expected to happen overnight (just as small children won't sit down calmly until we give them something better to do), but we can manage the behavior at this stage and try to redirect to calmer activities. Exposure to the kids may overstimulate her so it may help keeping her in a separate area (like kitchen area blocked off with a baby gate with a Kong Wobbler to keep her occupied). If she is unable to focus on the Wobbler though, and goes straight to barking, it's likely she's too overtreshold and this is something that needs to be worked on more.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli