crazy puppy

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#1
hi, i'm new to the forum.

i rescued two dogs at the end of december. both are dachshund mixes. one is about 3 years old and is very mellow, the other is about 7 months old and i'm having a lot of problems with him.

i work all day so they're alone together. i leave them in the bathroom. at first the puppy was in a crate, but i'm told it was too big - he would make in it every day. now they are both in the bathroom and the puppy still makes every day (i'm gone for 9 hours so this isn't too surprising, i guess), but he also destroys EVERYTHING he can get - he even jumped about four feet to grab a wash cloth, and barks and scratches the door. yesterday he tore down the shower curtain.

at night they sleep in a dog bed in my bedroom. the puppy usually gets up around 6 or 6:30. this is not so bad. i try to make him go back to bed so that he'll learn to wait for me to get up. however, the last two nights he has been up all night. i can't get any sleep. i even took him out to pee and he did and then he still won't go back to sleep.

i tried calms forte, but it had absolutely no effect. he is running around and jumping and trying to play with the other dog and he just simply can't sit still almost all of the time i am with him.

can i get a smaller crate and start crate training him now? feed him in the crate, sleep in the crate, etc. - and do i put the other dog in a crate, too? and i'm moving to new york in three weeks - i didn't know this when i rescued them.

i haven't slept in two days. any suggestions?
 
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#2
Its good that you have two dogs since you have to be gone during the day. It keeps them from being lonely. Good for you, you must be very generous. I'll bet you're very frustrated now, too!

I've never used a crate, so I can't give you any good advice on that aspect, but here goes on the others -

First: have you tried paper training with the puppy, or using a puppy pad? Put it in a corner of the bathroom so he'll have it during the day and get him to use it in the wee (sorry, couldn't pass that up) hours of the morning. He's probably getting cranked up and excited by going outside in the morning. Dachsunds are hunting dogs and although they make wonderful house pets, they typically love all the sights and sounds and excitement there is outside.

Second: Make sure there are plenty of toys, chewie, squeaky, maybe a puzzle ball with treats in it, and a rope toy that both dogs can tug on with each other, available in the room where the dogs are confined.

You're just going to have to keep your towels up and wrap the shower curtain back up over the rod out of reach for awhile. You might try using a baby gate across the bathroom door instead of shutting the door, or even on the inside of the closed door to keep him from being able to scratch the door.

As for the sitting still, well, puppies have an unending supply of energy, especially when they have stopped growing at such a fast rate. We're going through that with Shiva, our Fila Brasileiro puppy. At 6 months old she weighs about 100 pounds, and she also has an infinite amount of energy. When she was younger and growing really fast she slept a lot, but her growth has begun to slow and her energy is boundless. If he won't settle down and go back to sleep you may have to put him in your crate, give him a chew toy and pull the blankets over your head for awhile. Let the older dog stay in his dog bed; the puppy will soon get the idea that his behavior is keeping him from getting to do the same things as your other dog. He'll start learning more and more from the older dog as time goes by.

Keep us posted on how things are going, and good luck!
 
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#3
Welcome 2DogsandaCat!
I don't crate either so I am of little help. Renee's advice seems sound though.
I have heard of many benefit in crate use, especially for working couples.
Thank goodness I am lucky enough to be home most the time with my dogs.

Chazhound
 
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#4
thanks for the responses. i put puppy pads down in the bathroom during the day, but he doesn't use them. i put up a baby gate and both dogs jumped over it. i guess i will get another so the height is doubled. i leave classical music playing while i'm out and the lights on in case it gets dark before i return. i need to get more toys.
 

Brattina88

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#5
I have done crate training, and if done right it works wonders, but 9 hours in a crate is a little too much. If you had someone to come in and let them out during the day I'd say go for it, but its unfair to keep the puppy locked up all day in a crate. Other than that I think Renee wraps it all up pretty well (as usual :cool: )
 
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#6
Be sure to get a couple of toys that squeak. They seem to satisfy a prey drive in hunting dogs. An old athletic sock with a tennis ball tied in the toe is usually a favorite, too.

Maybe if you get a bit of urine from one of the puppy's spots on a puppy pad it will help direct him to the pad.

At seven months old, he's probably got hormonal changes going on, too, so as he matures and the hormones level out things should get easier. Even if he's been neutered, he will still be going through hormonal changes, as his brain is releasing hormones to trigger maturity changes right now.

Good luck and try to tough it out; it will be worth it when you come home and have TWO adoring little faces smiling up at you, tails thrashing madly because the most important person in the universe has come home to them.

Keep us posted! This is a good group here; if something isn't working, someone will come up with something else. Maybe some of the dachsund owners in the group have some special insight.
 
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#7
Maybe you should get a smaller one, or try crate training. My mom takes Luke on a walk right before she leaves then I take him on one right when I come home from school. It seems to work.
 
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#8
I bought my dog from a pet shop so he pretty much did his duties and everything in his at the pet shop. I bought a small crate and he never did his duties in it. If the crate is too big then your dog will just relieve himself and go to a different side of the crate. At first he did whine but what we did was get him used to the crate. Everytime we took him outside we would put him in the crate until he stopped whine even if he stopped for 5 sec. This got him in a routine and he got used to it. I would kennel your dog at night and keep him in the bathroom with a baby gate. When I leave my 5 month old home I put him in the bathroom and put up the toliet paper plunger soap and all the shampoos. And give him his favorite bones and usually hide some treats in toys and he is fine. I don't feel guilty because he is interested in the treats.
Also I would never use the puppy pads because my puppy thought it was something to tear up. We just dealt with him and took him out every 45 mins. I know you can't do that. I think that you puppy is crazy at night because he isn't on a regular eatting schedule. But you can't do anything about that either.
Well we have had our puppy for about 4 months and now we don't even use the kennel. But he loves it. He loves to go in the kennel when it is too small for him and just play in there. He stuffs toys in there and he thinks his kennel is everything. He knows that it is his and he can do whatever he wants with it.
I highly recommend kennel at night bathroom during the day.
They say a 7month old puppy can be kenneled for 8 hours. Just add 1 to how old they are.
Good luck and I hope that you don't get rid of them
 

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