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Question from a new puppy owner client- unique perspectives?
Hi everyone!
Hope you’re all doing well. I wanted to ask you all a question and see if anyone had any interesting or unique perspectives that were different from mine.
A puppy client just emailed me and their puppy is barking. It’s only been home with them for two days. I see them on Friday but I want to give them some tips ahead of time. Here’s what the client said:
The puppy barks in the crate at all hours, and when it’s in the pen and one of the humans isn’t in there with him. They’ve been trying to ignore him when he’s barking and reward when he’s quiet. I want to be mindful of my thoughts (I went all Jedi there lol) and not just react with a quick response. I think the dog is clearly anxious and is trying to communicate that it needs attention.
I don’t want them to starve the dog of attention and have the barking become worse. It’s clearly trying to communicate a need here. But I also don’t want them to feel like they are rewarding the barking. Does anyone have any words of wisdom?
I’m going to suggest crate games, toys, and tossing a treat or two after every time they step out of the pen.
Thanks in advance!
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6 Replies
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Hey I think many times we focus to much on ignoring the puppy because we don’t want to reward the puppy with attention when they whine or bark. First I just had a client with the same problem. I told them to have puppy checked by vet. The puppy had a UTI which was causing the problems. One of the things that dogs need is to feel safe. Being separated from mother and put into a new environment must be very stressful. I can’t think of a species that leaves their young out in wild to fend for themselves. Well there might be but I can’t think of any. I see nothing wrong with letting the clients know that they can help their puppy get through the night. There are many things you can do to help. Put the crate in the bedroom until dog feels more comfortable, put blanket over top of crate, play soft music, put a toy in crate or just softly petting dog until they calm down. Yes we have to be mindful of not rewarding the dog but we don’t have to let the dog whine or bark for hours. Hope this helps
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Hi Zane,
Glad you brought this question to the group. There are different schools of thought on this, as you’ve already mentioned. Just like in human parenting, there are people who advocate for “letting them cry it out” and others who believe in attachment parenting, where the child is worn like a joey in a pouch, 100% of the time. With puppies, I fall somewhere in the middle. We need to meet their needs as Bruce has said, and also teach them to feel safe and comfortable when alone. I don’t think abandonment in a box helps anyone feel safe, do you?
A holistic approach includes knowing the age & breed of the puppy and analyzing whether their basic needs are being met (clearly not, if he’s barking all the time.) What is the expectation of the puppy parents for the pup to be in the crate? They may have read about crating just enough to think it’s okay to leave the pup in there 16 hours or more a day, for example…
I think you would be doing them a disservice to try to give “quick tips” by email before getting a complete history and understanding the problem, to be honest. We don’t know whether the pup is healthy, understimulated, frustrated, anxious or something else, otherwise. It is difficult (if not impossible) to build a training plan without these details. They could take your partial advice, make the situation worse and then never call back because your “advice” did not work.
Sell them a consultation with you and then give them your best information during the consultation. Don’t sell yourself short; after all, you are running a business. 🙂
PS: @bmacwatt, many reptiles and fish.
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Catherine. That was a great response to the question. You got me on the fish and reptiles. Ha ha
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@bmacwatt ???? ????
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Thank you so much @bmacwatt and @programdev i really appreciate your guidance! I agree with both of you. All good points. I think I need to change the structure of how I do things (reducing the amount of email guidance I give). I need to stick to my guns and stick to training plans and verbal in session advice.
On that note, do either of you have a specific training plan format you like? I need to make that more concrete and a set structure that’s easy for myself to edit if necessary and for clients to plan and execute. I’ll do some research on my end also.
Thank you all!
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Great Suggestions Catherine and Bruce! Not much to add… I had a puppy that really disliked the crate – I tethered her to me with a leash during part of the day while I was home so she was contained to my area and not crated. I also introduced the crate slowly with treats – in an out – increasing and mixing up the time. And day one, I slept on the couch at night in the den while she was next to me in the crate, and I moved it each night further and further away. Did that for about a week. It took many months to love the crate, but she finally did. It may not be a quick fix, but if the puppy’s needs are being met as Catherine said, he should be ok with it in time. It would be interesting to know how long the family is crating and using the pen during the day.
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