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new member... new puppy...

4887 Views 18 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  mhvonalmen8908
hello all I am new here and wanted to ask a couple of questions, first of all my wife and I are now the proud new owners of a healthy 8 week old basset hound named Sherlock (full name Sherlock Hound!). now I know that for a while the puppy will cry and piddle everywhere and such so I was prepared for that...

the piddling we have started to put her on pads, especially when we let him out of the crate or when he wakes up from his naps, he definitely uses it after the crate because he has held it for so long I think, the other times its a hit and miss sort of thing. we have a carpet cleaner, but what shampoo can get that will eliminate the residual odor from the urine and such?

The crying.... It was heart breaking int he begining because I know he is missing his family, and I will admit I am quick to let things get under my skin. but his crying and whimpering seem unstoppable, he's been with us for 2 days so far and its a whine fest and I by no means expect it to stop right away, but how long does this last? my other dog Roka didnt whine at all because she came from the pound. so this is my first experience.

In the crate he is fine really, cried for about 10 minutes then calmed down, then again for about ten minutes a few hours later, its when he is awake that he whimpers all day.

last thing I swear, I work long hours at night which is why be got the crate, but when get home I am awake about 2 hours then sleep and wake up and go again, I feel bad for leaving him in the crate so long a couple days out of the week, does anyone have any ideas? maybe put a gate up in the kitchen with some food and water and toys? I know this is a looooong post but thatnks for the input.
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well we all cry and stuff when we're puppies. It'll get better.

I had a thought tho... to reinforce the no pooping in the house rule, you could use the command, "NO S**T SHERLOCK!!"
heee
oh wow lmfao.... I dont think that command will work lol
haha i was kidding.
i stopped making a fuss at night when i made my way into the humans' bed.
bwaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha
We adopted our basset when he was 1, and he was already potty and crate trained. He still cries occasionally when he is in the crate, but it's only while he can still see us. For example, when we put him in there before bed... we put him in there and then do our nighttime stuff (brush teeth, shower, etc). He will whine while we're still up and moving about. But once the lights go off and we stop moving around, he calms right down and goes to sleep. We have a similar situation with our pup, on occasion he is in the crate for a long while, comes out for only a couple of hours, and then goes back in at bed time. But during those couple of hours that he's out of his crate, he's usually asleep in his bed! So I don't worry about it too much.

PS, our dog is named Watson! They could be best friends and solve mysteries together! :)
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lol watson perfect!!! the game is afoot! er... under ear!.... er... yeah...

good to know about the all day all night kennel situation, hes not aloud outside yet due to hes only just started getting his shots, which sucks! cause out other dog likes her walks.
I don't know your household situation but unless you plan on paper training the dog pads are a very bad idea. in the end it slows housetraining dramatically because it requires first training to use the pads then second retraining always harder then training with no history of reward to pee outside. So if the plan is to have the dog house trained vs paper trained then go with housetraining from the start the two step approach is a disaster the reason being this. Dogs develop a substrate preference. The act of eliminting is pleasurable well not really but it is self rewarding in this way the relief form pressure on the bladder and bowels. this becomes associate with what is under foot and over head etc. and the dog seek to recreate the experience. Dogs ten to go in the same spots for this reason. With paper training you are developing a substrate preference for paper /pad over carpet/tile wood etc. Then you have to overcome that subtrate prefference already firmly established in order to develop a substrate preference for grass/dirt or pavement depending on your situation. That is harder the the first training. If you need to go this way at least use a trainer that mimmick grass so you do not compond the situation.

potty patch

potty porch

for more details on housetraining and substrate preferrence see house training your dog
A 12 wk puppy who is busy playing may need to urinate every 15-20 minutes, whereas a resting puppy might go for an hour, and a sleeping puppy can go 8 hours at night. Activity makes urine! Activity makes urine! Repeat this 10 times, slowly. This is a very important lesson for new puppy owners.


...
The behavior behind this training: Dogs develop substrate preferences for eliminating. By substrate, I mean what they feel under their feet. In their first few weeks of life they need their mother to lick them to stimulate elimination. Around 4 weeks of age they begin to control this themselves. It is a self-rewarding behavior because it feels good. They associate this good feeling with the environment they are in at the time. This is about the same time they are walking well enough to go outside. If they are taken outside enough, several times a day, during this period of development (4 through 8 weeks) they will associate the good feeling of relieving themselves with the grass under their feet, the sky above, and all the smells and sounds of the outdoors. The tactile experience, the texture under the feet, becomes the cue.
If your puppy does not already have this outdoor experience, then you can provide it for him now, to retrain the "substrate preference" he has already learned. Take the pup out about once per hour. This is after play, eating, sleeping, etc. If the puppy can't hold his urine from the crate to the back door while walking, carry him for the first week or so. After a busy play session, take the puppy out, even if it's only been 15 minutes since he last went out. Physical activity produces urine. Inactivity slows the production of urine. This is why a puppy can sleep all night without wetting in the crate, but will urinate on the floor as soon as you let him out of the crate.


but what shampoo can get that will eliminate the residual odor from the urine and such?
None the only thing that can is an enzymatic cleaner and you can not use these like traditional cleaners they need at least 48 hours to be effective and that means the area must remain moist with the cleaner. IF the urine has dired and formed crystal unforunately there is nothing that really works.

The crying
'
The conventional advice is to ignore the crying so you don't encourage more crying by reinforcing behavior. A very western society attitude that has been shown to be complete wrong in study after study. One must take into consideration the developmental stage of the dog. A puppy is the equivelent of a infant. Study have show babies cry less when the response to the crying is imeadiate. you will find the same with a puppy it will cry less over time provided you provide the dog in a timely manner when it does cry. see The Harmony Program
The Cure For Attention Seeking Behaviour Disorders


It is so simple – following the “crying baby” model for filling the need as soon as it arises, ASBDs can be entirely avoided as well as cured by giving focussed attention immediately and as soon as the request has been received.

This does not mean one has to put one’s entire life on hold or “run rings around the creature” – it is literally a simple little flash of attention at the right time and when first asked for it; the classic “a stitch in time saves nine” principle.

Rather than “rewarding” attention seeking behaviour, it never gets to escalate, the creature’s energy system remains balanced and the disturbed behaviours never need take place at all.

As the babies who are fed when they are hungry cry markedly less or not at all, creatures who receive attention energy (or love or recognition energy) when they ask for it, their attention seeking behaviours become markedly less frequent, markedly less dramatic and may cease altogether once the system has been in operation for a while and the creature has understood that not only can it get what it needs just the for the asking, but also it’s energy system has become more robust, more healthy, more resilient and won’t collapse when there is a time when attention is in short supply.
Basset tend to be very needy as they are very social animal. This can manifest itself in seperation anxiety when you leave. What yoiu want to do is practive leaving the dog for very short period of time periodically throughout the day. The teaches the dog when you leave it is not forever see Seperation Anxiety
Puppies and newly adopted dogs are at higher risk to develop separation anxiety if they are smothered with constant attention their first few days home. It is much better to leave for brief periods extremely often so the dog’s early learning about departures is that they are no big deal and predict easy, tolerable lengths of absence: "whenever she leaves, she comes back."


maybe put a gate up in the kitchen with some food and water and toys?
This may be to large an area for the dog to get into all kinds of mischief. for a smaller area consider putting the crate inside an x-pen. The sue of interactive toy such as stuffed kong , buster cube etc that provide mental stimulation and exercise are good ideas as well the only thing is will create activity and therfore accident. Anouther alternative is daycare/boarding for those nights or a pet walking service that breaks up the nights into smaller segment. this option will be better for housetraining.
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We've had Whiskey for about a month now and I swear this is like reading one of my first posts here. You are not alone! It honestly took the full month for Whiskey to stop crying in the cage. And not just crying, but barking and howling for hours on end. We tried absolutely everything - and I mean that. But when we caught her digging into some electrical wires I had to put a stop to it and she went in and did not come out again until I said she could, bark or no bark. Eventually she stopped. Sometimes she whines, but nothing like before.

As for the urine smell, I use 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water and I keep it in a bottle for whenever I catch her going on the carpet. I pour the vinegar on the spot and then I soak it up with a shamwow. Seriously, the shamwows have totally saved our carpet. The smell never totally goes away for me though (as we didn't figure this out until it was too late) but we bought a cheap little carpet shampooer for like eighty bucks and I run that every week or so on the rough spots.
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Like everyone has said, the crying will eventually subside. You might try leaving him with a shirt that you've worn for a couple nights in a row (something that you don't mind having chewed up). This will smell like you and might help to calm him down. You could try leaving him in a fenced off area but make sure you get down on his level and puppy proof everything! I would recommend giving him some Kong toys filled with puppy safe treats to keep him busy. They make puppy biscuits and a type of spray cheese for pups. This will give him something to work with.

If you crate him while you sleep, put the crate in your room close to the bed. This way you can hear him, if he needs to potty and he can smell and see you. This may calm him a little bit more. You may also try putting your other dog in the same area as the puppy (if the older dog tolerates the puppy well). Basset are VERY pack oriented and having another dog around may calm him as well

One more thing to try. Before you leave for work, try to exercise Sherlock. You can try a short walk (nothing over 20 minutes) or a good round of play followed by a potty break. This will help tire him out and he will sleep a little more. Also when you leave, turn on the radio or TV to give him the idea that he's not alone (since you probably watch TV when you're home). Hang in there! It does get easier!

FYI - Sherlock was also the name of the basset that Elvis sang, "You ain't nothin' but a hound dog," too on the Ed Sullivan show.
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not nitpicking, but as a memphis hound, I'm obligated to mention that Elvis sang to the hound dog on the steve allen show... back to your regular programming.
not nitpicking, but as a memphis hound, I'm obligated to mention that Elvis sang to the hound dog on the steve allen show... back to your regular programming.
Right you are Esther! Sorry for the error. I've only had half the amount of coffee I normally would as Breezy decided to help herself to the rest of it. So my brain is still a little foggy today.
It does get better, Sherlock's mom. he will get more comfy in his surroundings. agree with Mikey- would omit the pee pads if he pees outside. Better to just have him pee/poo only outside and not inside at all. otherwise it gets confusing for them. and they are more prone to accidents/marking inside. unless all Sherlock does is pee inside, then ok to have the pads, i would say, or another indoor substrate.

Whiskey-- so glad things are going better and that you are more used to your crate now.

So.... what happened when Breezy drank coffee????
did she look like this? :eek:
So.... what happened when Breezy drank coffee????
did she look like this? :eek:
LOL! Actually she seems to be just fine. I looked more like :eek: She took a nap and wandered around the house a little but nothing out of the ordinary. I guess I've learned my lesson about leaving my coffee within her reach!
Everyone has great advice...you are going to do amazing if you can follow it! My only addition is NO stairs. Despite how some bassets are fine on them, Bowser has leg issues now from them...maybe it's not all them, but no stairs can certainly only help while Sherlock is still growing and adjusting his bones and cartilage!
we got stairs at my new crib. but it's just a deck outside so there's only five of them. i wasn't too sure about them at first but now I'm a regular pro. I also am lucky enough not to have been born with the bowlegs or "eastie/westie" paws so my humans said I prolly wont have any trouble as long as I stay slender (hahaha)

hang on... wait...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Molly has to climb stairs to go outside. Just 6 steps (I know this because I used to carry Zoey up and down when her displaysia was really bad), but the vet said that should be fine and not be an issue on Molly's development. Cute story: When Molly was finally big enough to climb the steps, she just didn't know how. My neighbors laughed at me as I sat out there teaching her how to go up and down. She truly didn't know what to do! It was cute :)
Forget commercial shampoo, use a 50/50 white vinegar/water mix. Unfortunately we figured that out too late and ended up having to completely replace the carpet.
Molly has to climb stairs to go outside[/'quote]

Depending on the width of the stairs you can make a temperary ramp out of plywood with 2 x 4 side rails to prevent the dog falling off the sides and either cover in Outdoor carpeting or floor paint with sand or other grip additive.

Mine often used a carpeted ramp as a slide when going down great fun.
Cute story: When Molly was finally big enough to climb the steps, she just didn't know how. My neighbors laughed at me as I sat out there teaching her how to go up and down. She truly didn't know what to do! It was cute :)
I had to do something similar to this when I had to teach Doppler how a doggy door works. We went over to friend's house who had rigged one in one of her windows. I lifted the flap so he could see and smell the outside. He went through that no problem. It was when the flap was down that he had trouble. But he figured it out pretty quick. So hopefully when we get one of our own he'll remember and be able to show Virga. But it was pretty funny watching him inch his way through the doggy door.
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