Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone, I am new here. I need a little help. My mom and I bought a 7 month old doberman yesterday from a man she knows that does Doberman rescues in southern Kentucky. He is a very shy dog. His personality is great, very loving. I was wondering if anyone could help me with some problems that we are having. Last night he wouldnt stop barking or whining at all. He didnt want to get in the bed with her to sleep. If we put him in a kennel he would just bark and howel non-stop. He also smells kind of bad even after a bath right when he walked in yesterday. My mom says taht she got about 2 hours of sleep last night due to him no being content. We also have 2 indoor cats. They all seam to stay apart but you can tell tension is high. They are used to sleeping with her so that was another problem. He was just awful last night and it didnt seam like there was any pleaseing him. Does anyone know what we can do for him to act better tonight? Plus tommrow when I am at school and she is at work, we will have to put him in a kennel. He will probably bark all day long. What do you think is best? She is considering takimg him back. Any input would be greately appreciated. Thanks,
BJ

Hi, Our male was 5 months old when we got him and he did the same thing. It is totally normal for a dog in a new situation to whine and bark. The important thing to remember is to be consistent. If you want him to sleep in his kennel at night then you are probably going to have to listen to him whine but the key is to ignore him. If he gets any attention from the whining then he will think it is a good idea to continue.

Another thing to try, if ignoring him doesn't work after a while, is to give him a squirt from a water bottle while telling him "NO!". I would then leave the water bottle in front of his kennel where he can see it. It might help deter him.

Anyway the best thing to do is to turn off the lights and go to bed. He will eventually figure out that you are not going to respond to him and he will go to sleep too.

We tryed this. He continued to bark for over 45 minutes. Hopefully tongiht will be better. Thanks ill try using the squirt bottle.

Good Luck!

It's understandable that the poor guy is uncomfortable since he doesn't know you and he doesn't know your mom and he doesn't understand where everything familiar to him has gone.

One thing you can do is make sure to keep him awake and busy during the day so that he's tired and needs sleep at night. If you let him nap all day, he's going to be ready to stay awake all night. I remember one time we moved to a different house and our dog had a hard time adjusting at first. He also wanted to whine and pace around all night so we kept him awake throughout the next couple of days, physially poking him awake when he tried to nap or inviting him to play or go for a walk every time he tried to sleep during the day. He was so tired that night, he just crashed.

Perhaps you can leave a radio playing for him when he's crated so that he can listen to voices and music. Might help.