Can anyone help me please?
I have a 9 week old puppy that for some reason has started to like the sound of his own voice. I have tried the water pistol thing to try and shock the pup into being quiet but to no avail. Ignoring him doesn't work either. What else can I try or will he just grow out of it? It isn't a problem at night he just pops into his crate and goes to sleep. But if you put him in his crate during the day if he's not tired he just barks and cries. Any help appreciated please champdoggers.

Hi, :)
If he's sleeping ok at night he's obviously settled with you, but if you try to make him stay in his crate when he's not tired I think he's going to get bored and start hating his crate, then you might get problems at night too!

I should give him lots of playtime with you and toys to play with by himself too. Treatballs and stuffed Kongs are good but I don't know if they're OK for puppies, though someone on here will know. :)

Kath.

I agree with you Kath :)

Whilst you do not want to be seen to give in to barking and attention-seeking behaviour - your pups is clearly telling you he's not tired, doesn't want to go in his crate and needs some stimulation from you :) These early weeks are so important in establishing a routine - tiring your puppy out by houstraining, basic commands, teaching him to play with toys and then letting him sleep :)

I thought that you should make the pup go into his/her crate when you need time out or when you are busy and can't really devote all your attention to the dog. I may be wrong. All I want the pup to do is go into his crate and amuse himself for a few minutes without barking the place down. It may be that last week I was at home and am now back at work and my partner is looking after the dog. I am having the next 2 weeks off so will see how he copes then. Thanks for your advice, greatly appreciated.

Like small babies - pups have to learn to amuse themselves, and if throwing a wobbler gets attention then they are more likely to do that than amuse themselves. Try keeping some specially chewable toys for him only to have when he's in his crate - stuffed Kongs (make sure he doesn't get more food than he needs this way though - try taking part of one of his normal meals and put it in a Kong, rather than feed extra treats), Raggers are great - and if he's teething a wet Ragger (or even an old tea towel soaked and tied in a knot) which has been frozen can bring extra releif for a teething puppy..

Also - try not to make it a case of 'making' the pup go in the crate - try and encourage him to want to go using small treats or the offer of a favourite toy - it will make life a lot easier in the long run if it doesn't develop into a battle of wills.

You are right - you do need to train your puppy to settle, but personally, I have found it better to work around the puppy for the first few weeks - then they teach themselves to settle. When I got Willis I got him into a routine where he would get attention through play, and a bit of training, and housetraining and meals, and through this, he naturally tired himself out and put himself to bed. He was therefore teaching himself to settle down :) Then, as the puppy grows older, and you need him to go to his bed, he won't see it as a punishment - more of a "thats where I go to sleep".

Willis had a bed in the kitchen. Very quickly he learned to wander off there when tired - he liked the sound of the washing machine. As he grew, when I needed him to go in there, he would....he'd get a kong to keep his mind busy and would fall asleep. I think you have to be careful you are not expecting too much at an early age :)

Don't foeget also that puppies go through stages...and if you can get him into a routine with his bed, it will probably go out of the window at the teenager stage - but it will come back.

What these two have said makes a lot of sense to me - by putting him in his crate when he's not ready (and during the day I find it's best to let a pup go in it's crate of its own accord - and praise and reward when it settles nicely in there, perhaps with a chewy toy or stuffed Kong) he's learning to bark for what he wants - attention and to be let out. Just as with the yapping JRT post - the key is to reward the behaviour you do want, ignoring often appears to not be working as the dog thinks to himself 'hey, this worked last time, maybe more will work this time seeing as they haven't noticed me yet!' - in psychological terms this is caused an 'extinction burst' -he may well have learnt now that upping the level gets him a result, so he'll try even harder - but it WILL work if you continue to ignore him 100% and make sure he gets no reward - this means not even looking at him when he's being noisey.......

Rather than putting him in the cage when you are busy etc try a child gate, possibly on the kitchen door, that way he can still see you , leave the cage in the roon open etc and through time he will accept you are busy and either play in the room or sleep in his bed. He is still very young and it does take a good few weeks for them to settle and establish their routine.

Good luck.

Pam

having had four labs who all loved their cages at bed times, i wouldn't put him in it at any other time or he might think it's a punishment to go in there.my choc lab amber who's now 7 months used to do the barking for attention thing, but when she realised we were just ignoring her she stopped the spoilt brat act.It's hilarious now though, as she goes and stands by her cage and barks when she's ready for bed, and then we have to go up to bed or she wont settle.I think they train us really don't they?:)

hi tim
is he only barking when you put him in his crate during the day,if so can he still see you ,or are you in another room
give him plenty of toy's chew's,feed let him have his meals in his crate as of course meal time will be something he enjoy's (with the door closed) , make his crate a pleasurable place,if he ever does anything wrong don't put him in his crate,put him outside ,and then he will associate his crate with nice thing's , when he's barking i guess you let him out of his crate,well firstly he know's that barking get's your attention,and if he barks you let him out,the best thing to do to get him use to his crate during the day is to try short period's of you putting him in,and then letting him out when he's only quiet.