Hi everyone, we brought our new German Shepherd home on Saturday 1st he is 8 weeks old and his name is Kenzie...

Here is a pic.....

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u154/polo309/?action=view&current=PICT0788.jpg


We have a room especially for Kenzie, he has a crate in the room with a blanket/toys/water etc..We leave one of the doors open on the crate, so that he can wonder round his room and not be restricted. He cant get out of the room as the crate is pushed up to the entrance.

The problem is when we go to bed and leave him alone, he whines/cries/barks etc, all night long and has done this for the past 6 days. We dont go down to him as we have been advised to just leave him and he will get used to being alone. We thought he would have settled now, but doesn't seem to be getting any better. We really dont want to encourage him to sleep in the bedroom, but we dont know what else to do as we have neighbours to consider. Can anyone please advice :help:

Sorry no advice, other than hopefully he'll grow out of it, mine did, but wow he's gorgeous! I remember when mine was such a cute little fluffball. Now he's just a big hairball! :hihi:

hi,
you can try leaving the radio on quietly, or playing relaxing music, leaving a night light on, have you placed something that smells of your scent in with the puppy to act as a comforter, wrap a small blankie/towel over your shoulders or similar for the day - really get your scent onto it, this will help. Make sure her bed is really comfortable too.

hth

emma

I'd leave some of your dirty laundry in his bed with him and leave him a radio or some music on, but I wouldn't leave a light on for him. He needs to get the message that dark means sleep and leaving a light on confuses the message somewhat.

Good luck TuttiFrutti- I hope he's settled and happy soon.

hi,
you can try leaving the radio on quietly, or playing relaxing music, leaving a night light on, have you placed something that smells of your scent in with the puppy to act as a comforter, wrap a small blankie/towel over your shoulders or similar for the day - really get your scent onto it, this will help. Make sure her bed is really comfortable too.

hth

emma

Yes, i've tried the light on and played music that did nothing..I haven't tried anything with my scent on Yet' i'll give that a try..Thanks :)

I'd leave some of your dirty laundry in his bed with him and leave him a radio or some music on, but I wouldn't leave a light on for him. He needs to get the message that dark means sleep and leaving a light on confuses the message somewhat.

Good luck TuttiFrutti- I hope he's settled and happy soon.

I agree, I did try a light and that was worse so I wont be making that mistake again :hihi: Music didn't work, but I will try leaving my scent on something. Not sure about laundry though he might start chewing my clothes up :hihi: He's already ran off with my knickers. :hihi::hihi: Thankyou

What a beautiful pup he is.I think you are doing exactly what you should be doing you just have to persevere,we went through the same thing with our GSD i know it's tireing and upsetting but they do get used to it.

I would cover his cage as well so he has a dark secure place to be. Instead of music, leave a talking station on instead. I'm never sure about this though, it is recommended when leaving a horse on it's own but some of the content may distress the animal in my opinion and they don't have the option to turn it off if they don't want it. Leaving dirty laundry is a good idea too.

If you continue to ignore him he should grow out of it. Don't forget, he is still young and has only just left his mother. 6 days isn't that long. You are right by starting as you mean to go on. Although it can be difficult to ignore a crying dog, DO. Otherwise you create a viscous circle. Dog barks for attention, you don't come, dog gets fed up, shuts up, goes to sleep. In theory that is!
Everytime you do go when he is barking partial re-enforcement occurs. For example dog is thinking bark=attention. If you leave him then give up and go and see him and give him attention, dog thinks Oh right, I need to bark for longer to get the attention, and will then get into the habit of carrying on barking.
One thing I tried which worked was sitting outside the room on the floor, everytime he shut up for a reasonable amount of time I praised him "Good boy good boy" still from outside the room, he would then start barking again, so I shut up. repeat repeat repeat (got very tired but carried on) only took a couple of nights and he learnt that he did get to see me and get attention if he was quiet, but not if he made noise. So by rewarding the good behavior in effect. I'm sure some wont agree with this but it did work for me so just sharing experience and not professional knowledge!
Good luck with him.

You might like this (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=311401) thread, its mostly for fun but it shows that you are not alone :D

I'd leave some of your dirty laundry in his bed with him and leave him a radio or some music on, but I wouldn't leave a light on for him. He needs to get the message that dark means sleep and leaving a light on confuses the message somewhat.

Good luck TuttiFrutti- I hope he's settled and happy soon.

Me too- he is gorgeous by the way. Ailsa whined but leaving her in her crate, putting a sheet over it so it was dark and putting something familiar in with her did help. If you give in now, he'll always be clingy or you'll end up taking upstairs with you...

I should add/confess though, when Ailsa was about 2 we had some building work done and we took her upstairs away from the dust...She never went back to the crate and now hogs the end of our bed...

He's beautiful!

You could try actually shutting him in the crate and covering it - the idea of the crate isn't only to keep them out of trouble but also to make them feel more secure.
Other ways of making him feel more secure is to get him a donut bed with soft sides that he can cuddle up to, leave a ticking clock with him, try a DAP diffuser as this mimics the reassuring pheromone that the mother would give off and leave your clothes with him (careful he doesn't shred/suck them!)

I'd be dubious about the radio simply because he could get used to it. I always leave the radio on when I go out but not at nighttime - depends if you want to be able to switch it off!

If you do use any of these things (especially with the radio) be careful that you make these things available during the day when you're there as well or when you pop out for 5 minutes. What you don't want is your dog to panic when he hears the radio because it only ever happens when you're leaving him for a long time.

Hi everyone, we brought our new German Shepherd home on Saturday 1st he is 8 weeks old and his name is Kenzie...

Here is a pic.....

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u154/polo309/?action=view&current=PICT0788.jpg


I can't comment on the training thing as the only advice I could give has already been given.

I will comment on the pic though - soooo soft and fluffy, I want one :love:

sorry no advice really, just love to say he his lovely, i love the pic one ear up one ear down. lol bless

good luck things will settle down

Thankyou to everyone so far, at least i've got a few more idea's to be going on with now..I've just got back from taking him for his first injections and the vet has said the same as everyone on here. At least in 4 more weeks when he can go out we can tire him out..:)

He's beautiful!

You could try actually shutting him in the crate and covering it - the idea of the crate isn't only to keep them out of trouble but also to make them feel more secure.
Other ways of making him feel more secure is to get him a donut bed with soft sides that he can cuddle up to, leave a ticking clock with him, try a DAP diffuser as this mimics the reassuring pheromone that the mother would give off and leave your clothes with him (careful he doesn't shred/suck them!)

I'd be dubious about the radio simply because he could get used to it. I always leave the radio on when I go out but not at nighttime - depends if you want to be able to switch it off!

If you do use any of these things (especially with the radio) be careful that you make these things available during the day when you're there as well or when you pop out for 5 minutes. What you don't want is your dog to panic when he hears the radio because it only ever happens when you're leaving him for a long time.

We still keep the radio on low for 'nellie' during the day when we're out and she goes straight to sleep, bless her.

all the advice given above is good, so I'll not repeat it, but I will ask:
do you let him lie on your knee during the day? and where does he usually sleep during the day (as we all know pups sleep a heck of a lot)

if you're trying to make him sleep in the crate just at night, this could be the problem - he's demanding to sleep in his favourite bed - be that your lap, or the sofa or wherever

all the advice given above is good, so I'll not repeat it, but I will ask:
do you let him lie on your knee during the day? and where does he usually sleep during the day (as we all know pups sleep a heck of a lot)

if you're trying to make him sleep in the crate just at night, this could be the problem - he's demanding to sleep in his favourite bed - be that your lap, or the sofa or wherever


We dont allow him on the furniture, when we give him attention we tend to go onto the floor with him to play and cuddle. He does usually sleep on a mat in the front room or under our legs which he prefers to do.

I did wonder whether only having him in the crate at night is the cause of the problem but we're not sure how to solve this problem. Should we put him in the crate during the day for short periods to get him used to sleeping in there? :)

he should learn that sleeping takes place in the crate - until he gets used to it, then you can relax the rule a little ;)

of course the beauty of a crate is that it's movable, so you can put the crate in the living room with you during the day