New Puppy

[gbscri]

Hello Everyone!!
We just bought another puppy this past weekend and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions/ideas on how to crate train her, and the dos and don'ts when getting a second dog. We have an almost 2yr old Chocolate lab who sleeps in our room either on the floor or bed with us. Hubby works nights so it's usully only one of us in bed at a time.
We have a crate for the new puppy which she doesn't like which is normal. But should i just let her stay in there even though she is crying and crying. Hubby has been giving in and sleeping with her on the couch for the last 2 nights just so we can get some sleep, but he works tonight and i'm not sure what to do? Will she cry herself to sleep? We never crate trained our older dog so this is all new to me. Also I was thinking of taking our older dog out for walks just on her own right now? I'm thinking she should have some one on one time to make her feel that she is not being replaced or anything. Is this a good idea? Thanks everyone! Oh also i've been mixing her food with the food i want to put her on, how long should i do this until i can just give her the new food by itself?

[mfrank31]

Re the crate training, this article helped me TONS. I brought home my dog when he was 4 months, from the humane society, and followed these steps right from the first day and it worked within a couple days. It takes some patience but definitely worth it..

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals..._training.html

Good luck!

[gbscri]

Thank you for the article! I think we were trying to much to fast. I will try the whole leaving the crate door open when i get home tonight while we are just watching tv. The only thing i don't know what to do at night? I don't want to scare her by leaving her in there all night, but i don't want her to roam the house so what can i do until she is used to the crate?

[mfrank31]

I'm not an expert but - if you take the time to sit with her while she eats her meals in the crate, praise her, let her explore the area freely, and just make it an overall positive experience throughout the day/evening - i don't see the harm with putting her in there at night.
If she's crying to get out at night, but was ok with it throughout the day, then the whining probably isn't coming from a place of distress and i would let her cry for a few minutes until she settles down..

[hazelrunpack]

Would you be open to putting her crate in your bedroom, gbscri? That way she'd feel like she was part of the gang and would be less likely to cry.

Walks alone for your 2-yr-old are good for a number of reasons. First, as you said, it makes her feel 'special'; second, walking for more than a few moments on hard surfaces on-leash is not recommended for puppies because their joints aren't up to it. Instead, use separate walks for your older lab, and do leash-training and off-leash play sessions in grassy areas for your new pup.

As for the food, we normally replace one-quarter of each meal with the new food to start, do that for 2 or 3 days; then use a half-and-half mix for each meal for 2 or 3 days; then go to 3/4 new, 1/4 old for 2 or 3 days before switching totally over to the new. If your pup develops diarrhea during the change, allow more time for each step of the switch-over.

So now down to brass tacks--when do we get pics of your furbabies?

[breeze]

at night, my pup would stay in his crate even if he cried. I would come down stairs reassure him (no play)then go back upstairs to my room where Bree slept. ( unless I knew that it might be potty time.) then it was out do your stuff then back into the crate.
I also use the 5 min rule. if he started to cry I would wait 5 min, if there was a break with in the 5 min, I would wait an other 5 min. if it was continuous then I would go check to reassure.
During the day the pup ( Archer) would be with me most of the day, unless he was sleeping, then back into the crate he went ( I would wake him up to put him in the crate, even if it was only a couple of min).. I also used the crate for down time. When I thought Bree or humans needed some time to just rest he would then be put into his crate.

I never fed/water toys in his crate. For us the crate was only for sleep or down time.

[gbscri]

Thank you everyone for your answers!! I will have to try all this crate stuff out. right now the crate is in the spare room beside my room i don't mind her in my room but the crate is really big. The first night i put her in a box right beside me and she still cried and cried. I'll keep trying as i'm sure these things take time. As for the food part thank you for the info! I want her off the food she is on ASAP as I hate giving it to her (puppy chow) but i don't want to give her and stomach issues. I've been doing about 1/4 new right now so i'll do that for another day and then do half half. I will post some pictures tonight! They are just so beautiful! Thanks again!