Our little lad is settling in - but - hes very upset if left in a room himself with the door shut and we need to set a routine for bedtime as we havent slept for 3 days. He has learned the toilet is not the gateway to another dimension and is whining outside the door less now, I dont let him follow me from room to room but let someone distract him with a game and hold his lead gently while I potter about and only return when hes quiet. Its the nights. He goes out to toilet at 10 then I settle down with him next to me in the hated dog bed. Ive tried tying him up to a heavy object which then moves across the room :) and end up sleeping with his lead in my hand. The howling and whining is pretty awful but I kid on Im asleep and ignoring it. Now hes been with us since saturday is it time to get firm and fit a hook and eye on the kitchen door and leave him to it? He jumps stair gates.

There are very differing points of view on how best to settle pups in when they first arrive at their new home.  My own is that they come into the bedroom with us - I don't like to think they start off their new lives with us already confused, worried and unhappy at having left their mum and siblings and all of the smells and textures that they're used to - but we can't help that part (unless we all just move in with the breeders lock stock and barrel for a week :D )  What we can do is not add to their distress by bringing them into their new environment and only a matter of hours later abandoning them to be on their own for the first time ever in their little lives :(

Can you have the puppy with you overnight for a couple of weeks or so while establishing all the various routines he needs to know in other areas of family life?   My personal choice is they just end up staying in the bedroom - but I do have earlier experience of both not letting them in there in the first place and of eventually moving them out so I've formed a view based on what I think is best and isolating IME is too extreme.

Good luck, Teri :)

I,m gonna agree with Teri on this one, our pup came to live with us at 8 weeks and we immediately let him sleep in the bedroom  with us, he is now 13 weeks and he has been going through the night ever since.    He has a last wee before bed and lasts right though  until morning when we have to rush him out for a wee as his bladder is bursting lol.
I guess some of you are  wondering if he is weeing on my carpet but believe me i have found no wet patches to date (hope i aint gonna be eating my words now) :o(

We went through a week of that recently, the howling went on through the night with out any let up. on the sixth night we put puppies bed in the bedroom with us and the transformation was miraculous, she slept right through and was clean, where as when she was on her own there were puddles and piles every where, which I'm sure were done through stress.

I let her sleep in our bedroom reluctantly, but really I should have done it from the start, sleep is wonderful luxury :)

Hi Lorelei and congrats on your new addition :)
Would it be possible to get a crate for him in your bedroom to begin with. We did this with our new rescue GSD and over a couple of weeks moved her out the room and eventually downstairs with Khanu. Also gave us the chance to take her outside during the night to avoid accidents.
Hope he settles soon - Echo is a fabulous name by the sounds of it :D

I have always crated my littlies in my room. they seem to accept that they cant get out of the crate, and settle down faster than if allowed the run of the room.  Somehow it makes them feel safe :)

My friends relationship with her dog was saved by introducing a crate .  she hated the idea at first , but once she got to grips with the security element it provided the pup with , and the fact that  her ability to enjoy his puppyhood was fading she took to it.  She was amazed puppy had no problem with it, other tahn initail nerviousness.  She introduced it at feeding time, and never 'put' him in it, but encourgaed him in, using a command word to get him used to 'cratetime'. .  She crated in her room first time, as he was very insecure and then gradually ( over a series of weeks)  moved the crate nearer   the place she wanted him to sleep.   Both are sleeping happily now and enjoying each other much more .

Thanks for the help. Echo isnt a pup, hes an adult, which made me doubt if the crate would work. Ill have to invest a good bit of cash in a HUGE one - Khanu, what size will fit a GSD? Glad you like his name :) Hes sitting in the dog bed during the day now and actually lay downstairs in dog bed while Gothboy played MiddleEarth upstairs today. And we have a big duvet which he seems to like making a nest in. It will take time, but hes settling well in other ways.

I'd say he'll settle in time he's not been there a week yet and as you say he'd possibly been a steet urchin before you got him.
But he sounds like he'll soon come to realise when everyone goes to bed (or he thinks leaves him alone) that they all come back. I bet he gets it sooner or later sounds like he's already starting to relax by lying on the dogbed and at least it proves he's got a more conservative view of music staying downstairs while MiddleEarth on upstairs. :)

Karen

Our crate is 42" long - so quite a monster :D Both fit in it fine and can turn around easily (not together though ) There isn't enough room for them to lie out flat - which I know shepherds love doing :rolleyes: but my guess is it won't be a permanent fixture anyway - ours certainly isn't.
I know you can get reasonably priced ones on ebay. I introduced the crate to Willow by feeding her in there for a few days before shutting the door etc since she is a very greedy dog this was relatively simple. Until we could have her crated in our room I slept downstairs with her, she was fine it was Khanu that was the pain when I did that - guess it was the novelty of having Mum downstairs :)
I think in the end we only used the crate for 2 weeks - it wasn't an expense for us since we already had it for when Khanu was a pup - maybe you could see if you could borrow one? Your welcome to use ours but I think you're in Scotland and I'm waaaay down south by Heathrow! But if you want it I'm sure I can arrange a courier or something, let me know.
Kelly

Hi again Lorelei
Glad to hear Echo is settling in. Have to agree on the crate - Sparky will still sneak into his when he can for a quick nap (although he has run of the house, and the crate is now for Busby). It will give Echo that feeling of security too - once Sparky was used to it, he wouldn't settle unless the door was shut. Eventually he changed to his bed, but as I said, he is still happy to go in the crate for a few minutes peace from the Monster. Admittedly, he was a pup when he was introduced to it, but as long as you go about it very slowly, which you're bound to, it will be fine.

Tracy :)

I have a Great Dane sized one for sale...brand new, still in the box - £30 plus postage. PM me if you want details.

Have Pmed you Chloe. Things are looking up, I slept on Wednesday night :) Echo lay in his nest while I kipped on couch. Not a murmur... Tonight its OH turn on dog sitting while I sleep in my bed. He is doing so well when hes only been here a week and having to learn rules he never knew existed. It wont last, I know, the issues will surface after about 2 weeks but hey, who wants a dull life?