Does anyone have any suggestions as we are at our wits end!! We have a young pup 11 weeks old and she is really noisey. One example would be every morning at 5am she hears my hubby get up and she whines and screems constantley for her food and for attention. We have tried everything we can think of. Telling her off, being firm, banging something to distract her and ignoring her but nothing seems to work. She isn't frightened of anything or seems to mind being told off at all. If we ignore she just carries on.

She is like this throughout most of the day - she seems to constantly to crave attention and we are a losing patience.

She starts training classes on Thursday so hopefully they will be able to offer some advise but any suggestions would be very helpful.

aww shes still a baby.  What sort of dog is she?  How long you had her?  Do you let her out for a pee at 5am.  Whats your routine with her, people can then give you some more indepth advice.

At 11 weeks she's behaving like a normal puppy! She will want lots of company and attention especially when she wakes up after a whole night away from her people. She'll also need lots of sleep and it's useful to get her into some sort of routine so she learns to cope with brief periods away from you and also learns that it's positively rewarding to please you. Certainly, punishment shouldn't form part of your relationship with her.

>She isn't frightened of anything

Surely you don't want her to be either.  You are giving her attention, albeit negative attention, everytime you tell her off.  Puppies don't understand what we consider right and wrong just as human babies don't.  Once she learns your morning routine she might be a little less frantic.  However, I think some breeds are more vocal than others anyway.

new pups are liek newborn babies, you need to spend lt least 10 mins of every hour with them, weather it is toileting, feeding, playing or comforting. the bitch woudl of mat all the pups needs and now you are the pups new mother and you have to take the place of the pups mum.

at 5am your young pup is going to be hungry and needing the toilet. they will want to be comforted, played with. you have to be there for them. you cant just lock the pup up at 10pm and hope it will be quite till 8am the next morning it just dosnt happen like that.

if you get into a routeen now, of feeding, toileting and play time things will become easier and the pup will know what to expect.

Perhaps I should have given you a bit more info.  We and are family have had many dogs and puppies over the years but have never had one this noisey!!! We bred her so she was born at our house and has had the same routine from day 1.  I understand puppies will cry, needs lots of attention and all the rest... but the noise is believe me excessive. We live in a semi and our neighbours are not dog friendly people so you can imagine what they have to say to the constant shrieking at 5 am in the morning. Basically I was hoping for some advise and to hear others experiences of this and how we can try and calm it down a bit.

You say you have bred her - does that mean that her litter mates have just gone. Could she be missing all the contact?  Could you put a t-shirt with your smell in with her? Also build up the time you are gone from her so start at very small amounts of time and very gradually build it up.

Do you give her kongs. If not it may be worthwhile to keep her busy.

Other ideas:
radio on
tv on in same room.
DAP diffuser
covered crate

hope this helps

Just thought could you clicker train her so that when ever there is a very small gap in the noise she is making she gets the best treat and lots of attention. She will then start offering the behaviour recieving the click (ie quietness) more and more.

As you have bred her I take it that you have the mum or was she the stud's pup?  If she is the bitches pup, can she not be with your bitch, that way she will not be alone and crying for attention, it is always so much easier with a pup if there is another dog in the house as the pup does not need to crave the human contact so much and if feeling lonely or needing attention will go to the older dog.

If for some reason she can not be with your bitch, (correct me if it is the stud) then..........

Telling her off, being firm, banging something to distract her and ignoring her but nothing seems to work. She isn't frightened of anything or seems to mind being told off at all. If we ignore she just carries on.


If you are going downstairs to tell her 'off' or bang something, you are giving her attention negative attention all be it, but attention just the same, it does not matter if you only do it every other night she will continue to cry as you came to her, ignoring her the night after will not help as you have gone to her the night before.

You must be consistant, if she screams the house down you must not go to her, knock on your neighbours doors and warn them that you are breaking in a pup and it may take a week.  When you do get up and go to her ignore her for the first minute, put the kettle on, make a coffee/tea and then turn and fuss her. you need to be consistant with this for a good week before she gets the message, that you are up because you want to be up, not because she is crying. :-)

If you bred her is there a reason why she can't be with the dam?

Thanks I think maybe we are not being consistent enough.  I haven't put the dam in with her as she crazes her but I have managed to partition off the room so they can see/touch each other through the pen.

Funny thing is she is absolutely fine when we go out to leave her she just goes to sleep with the radio on. The probs occur when we are in the house and not giving her our attention 24/7. The morning screeming starts as soon as she hears us get out of bed.

We are going to start the strict ignoring technique and praising her when she is quite. Fingers Crossed- failing that we are going to by ear- plugs and distribute them to the neighbours aswell:rolleyes:

If you get desperate with the neighbours and all, try a different tactic. Take the pup up to bed with you and take her out during the early hours (5am ish) for a wee.

Over a few weeks, you can then start to sleep downstairs with her, and she will or should, feel secure enough to do this. I usually sleep down with them for about 4 weeks, after that I find they are usually settled and confident enougn in their surroundings not to be so upset.

Also ensure you give plenty of love and attention, ("quality time" as they say) but ignore any barks to get attention. Praise any break in the barking and go back to teh pup when it stops, don't allow it to bark for long or it will just become a habit. When you leave the pup in one room, consider child gates rather than shutting the door.

Give a well stuffed kongs  to keep pup occupied when you leave - this way the pup may even enjoy a little time with the kong alone ;)

Alternatively, you can set your alarm for just before pup usually wakes, go out and take pup out. Re settle or take up to bed. What should happen is that the pup learns to wait for the alarm, and over time you can set it later and later.

Good luck,
Lindsay
x

Hi, our springer is now 13 months old but we had much the same problem when he was 10 weeks.  We put him with our 3 yr retriever at night and the crying ceased.  He was just lonely.  When we came down in a morning - before showering - we would go and greet the dogs, make a fuss of them etc.  We saw to them first and us second - just meant getting up 30 minutes earlier.  It worked.  We still get up and greet the dogs first - as they look forward to it (we have 3 dogs).

It is worrying wondering what the neighbours at thinking.  I went and apologised to them and they informed me that the only noise they heard was when I let him out in the garden - what a relief. 

I gave my springer soft (safe) toys and a soft bed.  When I left the house I treated it as a good thing  by giving the dogs treats before I left.   I went for 1/2 an hr the first time, then 1 hour and so on until the springer got used to me leaving him. The habit of giving treats before I leave still continues and does work.  I also leave the radio on, classical musical seems to work the best by calming them down.

Hope you sort it out.  If he is still crying when you go to bed, can you put his bed outside your bedroom door initially and then move it as he gets more confident in sleeping alone.