Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We just brought home a new dachshund puppy; she just turned 3 months old. No problems with housetraining(she's crate trained) or chewing. The only problem we're having is that she hates to be left alone. We've tried leaving her in her crate for 30 minutes each day; she whimpers. The other day, we took her out for a good, long walk (after she ate), and then crated her (hoping she'd fall asleep). She whimpered from 6:30 til 9:00 that night, when we finally gave in and got her out - and she promptly fell asleep!
Please tell me this is just a new puppy still not learning that 'mommy' & 'daddy' leave and return - and that it's not separation anxiety! (we had a 15-year old dachshund that suffered from that the last two years of her life...we loved her, but it constricted us, as we always had to arrange for a sitter if we, oh, wanted to go out to dinner or the movies).
Can someone please let me know if this is normal behavior, and that if we just continue crating and leaving her alone for short periods, that she'll get the message?
Thank you!

Gretal is five months old and she whimmpers too. As a matter of fact, we have never heard her bark? We work as well and she stays in the remolded laundry room on the first floor. It has a door that leads out to our back yard and I have a small TV in the room. A baby gate is at the door and she sees our cats and us as we pass by. Her crate, with the door open is in the room. 95% of the time the crate is always left open and she roams the laundry room and always crawls back in to sleep. I have papers and a store bought pee pad near the back door. She has not soiled that for weeks, but I keep it there anyway.

Gretal whines most because she wants to be with us and I know she has been alone during the day, so I try to let her out. For the past nine weeks, she has been amazing with house training. She averages one accident a week. Usually because we have timed things wrong. We try and make sure she does number one and two before she comes into the family room with the family and cats. Unfortunately, most accidents have happened when my 15 year old daughter has been on guard....GEEZ, I wonder how that happened?

If she doesn't have success outside, I bring my coffee in the laundry room, or catch up on my own laundry and watch the news, while playing with her in there.

I tell you, she sounds like a person with that whining. So much emotion in that little voice...breaks my heart sometimes. I try so hard not to give in.

I understand.
Sorry for rambling
Kathy

>>Gretal is five months old and she whimmpers too. As a matter of fact, we have never heard her bark? We work as well and she stays in the remolded laundry room on the first floor. It has a door that leads out to our back yard and I have a small TV in the room. A baby gate is at the door and she sees our cats and us as we pass by. Her crate, with the door open is in the room. 95% of the time the crate is always left open and she roams the laundry room and always crawls back in to sleep. I have papers and a store bought pee pad near the back door. She has not soiled that for weeks, but I keep it there anyway.
>>
>>Gretal whines most because she wants to be with us and I know she has been alone during the day, so I try to let her out. For the past nine weeks, she has been amazing with house training. She averages one accident a week. Usually because we have timed things wrong. We try and make sure she does number one and two before she comes into the family room with the family and cats. Unfortunately, most accidents have happened when my 15 year old daughter has been on guard....GEEZ, I wonder how that happened?
>>
>>If she doesn't have success outside, I bring my coffee in the laundry room, or catch up on my own laundry and watch the news, while playing with her in there.
>>
>>I tell you, she sounds like a person with that whining. So much emotion in that little voice...breaks my heart sometimes. I try so hard not to give in.
>>
>>I understand.
>>Sorry for rambling
>>Kathy

One thing i notice you said you let her out when she whined. If you do that then she learns that if she whines she will get her way. Try to just ignore it for a couple days, when she does it. Keep it nice and comfy in there and provide a safe chew toy to keep her busy. If she really does keep on doing it, try to say no (don't scare her though) this is a last resort I did have to do it with my german shepherd, then he was quiet. Another thing you could try is to put on a radio or tv in the room where the crate is so that she hears human voices
-----
Heather, Dodger, and Jager