New pup cries constantly help! :)

[kierr]

Hi! We just got a new Basset Hound pup friday night. She is purebred AKC, 6 weeks old. She cries contantly! We feed her, provide her water and take her out every 1.5-2.5 hours to potty. We snuggle her, talk to her, try to get her to play but nothing works. We put her in a crate at night and take turns taking her out every couple of hours for potty breaks, she does cry in there too but also sleeps.

Could she be missing her littermates and mommy so bad as to cry day and night for 2 days? Once in awhile she will find something that interests her, or take a nap and quit crying for awhile. Should I let her cry herself to sleep or pick her up when she cries? I don't want to start giving her the wrong message about crying getting attention!

She seems very healthy, and in fact had been for a vet check the day we bought her from the breeder. She eats and drinks well and potties without any diarrhea or other problems. Her tail is waggy and she runs around just fine.

Is it a mistake at her age to try and crate train her at the same time she is having separation anxiety? We think if we took her to bed with us that she would still cry and we'd go insane with sleep deprivation, since holding her when she cries makes little or no difference. putting the crate in the bedroom also made no difference.

I know at some point this will get better but has anyone has these crying issues with their new puppy?

I'm so tired!!

 

[lucille]

I don't want to start giving her the wrong message about crying getting attention!

I've raised 2 children and several puppies and when they are babies they NEED comfort and attention. I had great success putting one puppy in a basket lined with a fluffy blanket and putting the basket next to me in bed. It cut the crying way down as the pup had the comfort of my presence. After a few weeks, the basket went on the floor and then the blanket went into a crate, there was no prolonged crying and I felt good about helping the puppy adjust to a new family.

Training is for later, for now, the fact that you respond when the baby needs you helps to build confidence in you and in the world.

 

[kierr]

Thanks for the tip there! we might use that for night time.

I should clarify though, that the whining and crying is constantly day and night.

It's all the daytime crying that we are having the hardest time with. We have raised pups before and not had this before during the day but then again I think our other pups were a little older, maybe. Night time and crate we expect crying but the crying for no reason during the day is insanity.

 

[bubbatd]

She was too young to be separated from her nest ....good luck .

 

[stevinski]

get a clock or metranome and let it tick next to her, it will remind her of her littermates heartbeats, also i'd love to see some pics!!!

 

[JennSLK]

Wow, 6 weeks. Thats really young

 

[dog_luver!]

My friends puppy used to cry constantly.... it turned out that he was born a non barker so he cried instead! maybe this is your puppys problem :-s

 

[rottiegirl]

She is way too young!! That is most of the problem. Sadly, she will probably develop other problems as well.

 

[lpollockandrsn]

Put something warm in her crate with her. Like a bean bag that has been warmed up. Not hot, just warm. A towel from the dryer would be nice but it wont hold the heat as well.

 

[Agility23]

Hello,

6 weeks is way to young to start with.

Dont just ignore the crying maybe if this was a pup who was the right age to be seprated then yea maybe ignore it but a pup that age is just far to young.

 

[IliamnasQuest]

Hi Kierr -

Unfortunately the breeder you got your pup from made a huge mistake in letting her go to you at six weeks old. Puppies do their best if they stay with their littermates and dam until at least eight weeks old. It doesn't seem like a big difference, but it's huge to the pup. A good breeder would have known that.

So you're starting off with some potential problems that shouldn't have been there, but since you have the pup you just have to try to work through them. Keep in mind that this tiny baby (physically and mentally a tiny baby) was taken from all the comfort and warmth that she knew and put into a situation that is confusing and frightening. She has no skills to deal with this and I expect that's why she's crying so much.

You say she had a vet check the day you got her - please watch carefully for any changes in her eating or pottying habits. She's very susceptible at this age.

I'd say that you need to take the place of her littermates and mother at this point. While you have a valid point about not wanting her to think crying gets attention, she's just too young to handle the situation. You need to spend a LOT of time with her, interacting and playing and touching and reassuring. Training is immaterial at this point. At night she needs to be somewhere close to you - I know that sleep deprivation is hard but you took on a puppy that needs the reassurance at night. If it's not feasible to have her in the bedroom, maybe the people in the house can take turns sleeping on the couch to comfort her. The other suggestions given here are valid too - a warm water bottle, a ticking sound, a radio even might help comfort her too.

What has the breeder said about the constant crying?

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

 

[MK&C]

There are these things called Snuggle Puppies...they have heatpacks and an artificial heartbeat in them, so the pups think it's his mom and sleep more comfortably through the night...we've never gotten one, but our breeder recomends them to new puppy owners and we will be getting one when we take Charley home. You might want to try it out

http://www.snugglepuppys.com/

 

[Violet21]

We put Hugo beside the bed in his crate and dangled our fingers down.

I sat in his crate with him for the first 2 weeks every night and cuddled him to sleep. It helped him associate the crate with positive things. He also got cookies and toys in there.

Now, he walks in the crate and plunks down for bed happily

don't give up

 

[kidsanddogs]

The only puppy I knew that did this much crying turned out to be very ill. Get a second opinion from another vet. I hope your pup is not sick, but you need to find out what's going on. Good luck.