nonstop crying at night!

[Canis-Lupess]

The problem with having a dog spend all of it's time with you and have it follow you all over the house is that when a time comes for it to be left because you can't take it with you or whatever, that dog is much less likely to be able to cope with being left because it simply is not used to it and such dogs are most likely to fret and suffer anxiety when left alone.
We never had any of our pups follow us all over the house and we haven't had any problems from not being able to see them every second of the day. In fact, sometimes dogs will only act in a certain undesirable ways when there are people there for them to get the attention of. I knew somebody who's pups started to delibertaly chew the table just to get attention. Obviously, she didn't do this when they weren't around. When they were, she'd do it just to get a reaction out of them and when they went to tell her off, she'd just move around the other side of the table and carry on doing it....obviously too used to getting too much attention and didn't like it when they took their attention of her for even a second...like when they watched TV or talked on the phone. With my advice, they managed to correct it and she no longer does this.

The reason I disagreed is because having CIAO have the pup sleep in the bedroom with them could just make this problem worse, not better. In many cases it does make the problem worse and I know people who fell for this same thing and it only got worse and I told them why. The only way a dog can be used to spending time alone is if it gets to spend time alone...not constantly under the owners feet or on their lap.
Obviously, if top dog behaviourists like John Fisher and Peter Neville, and these are who most of the behaviourists in the U.S learnt their stuff from, are saying what I am, I'll go by them rather than somebody who says you should give in to the dog and let it sleep in your bedroom with you because it's the easier option in the short term.

CAIO - I don't think there is any set amount of time to have her in her fenced off area. I think the main time would be times when she is naturally tired and needs to rest but I suppose she'll also need to go in there to keep her out of the way when the house needs tidying or maybe when visitors come etc.... If she is really tired and sleeps in there without problem as a result, she'll gradually get used to spending a bit more time in there even when she's awake but always still with plenty of opportunities to be let out and explore, run about and play etc...
As others have stated, provide her with things to do in her fenced off area. Also, instead of her seeing her fenced off area as a prison, teach her to view it as a safe haven. Somewhere she can retire to when she's tired or had enough. Let her still have access to it even when she's free. If she knows it is somewhere thats not just a prison, she'll start to enjoy it more in there. Thats why people often leave crate doors open for dogs to use even when they are allowed to free roam the house and the dogs are encouraged to use it as a bed before they are taught to be closed inside it so they already view it as a haven beforehand.

[d_ciao]

yep, we've already decided that she will not be sleeping upstairs with us. because first of all, she doesn't know how to use the stairs. second of all, she still goes pee at night, so we wouldn't want her to pee all over my room, or in her own doggy bed for that matter.

we have tried putting her in when she appears to be tired - however, as soon as we put her in, she all of a sudden musters up some more energy to stay awake and scratch at the gate, attempt to jump over it, and cry a whole lot - even if she knows we're there.

the gate does have a small pet door that she can fit through. i've taught her to go in and out of it, and she's gone in there occasionally on her own. however, i still think she views it as a place we put her for punishment - which is clearly not what we're trying to convey it as. we leave the pet door open whenever she's free to roam about the house. she's gone in there to drink water and whatnot, since her water bowl is there. her toys are usually in there as well, unless she carries them out herself. her bed is also in there, with puppy pads for potty in an opposite corner.

she peed and pood on the puppy pad earlier today, but when brought out, she made a huge accident on the floor a couple of hours later. i don't think she knows yet to go back to the puppy pad when she needs to go potty. would there be any strategies for this? usually when she has an accident, we carry her in ourselves to tell her to pee on the puppy pad, but should we be letting her enter herself through the pet door, and then telling her?

i'm assuming it wouldn't be a good idea to put her in there directly after she makes an accident on the floor, otherwise she'll begin to associate her fenced off area as an area of punishment. do you think it'd be okay to put her in there after walks? she tends to be really tired after walks, so perhaps putting her in there will help. but she does stay up and begin to cry, so i'm not sure what we can really do with regards to that.

[Catty1]

Okay, so she is in a fenced-off area, NOT a crate.

If you could borrow a right-size kennel, she would feel more protected, like she is in her 'little house'. It would be HER space.

JMO - a 'fenced off area' will not do the job.

My ex BF has a Bichon, who got really used to his carrier(the dog did!) while a new house was being built, and thinks of that as his little condo...he comes out to eat and stuff...and also has a tiny leash keeping him in that area, unless he is let free in the house and yard, which he often is.

This link will show you a few examples of proper dog cages and crates. Many people even use a correctly-sized pet carrier....the correct size is important.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/searc...=1186683884581

[d_ciao]

well, we do have a crate. we put her in it one time... she was shaking and peed all over inside... it wasn't pretty. so we kinda ruled that out.

[Canis-Lupess]

Ah, shutting the crate on a dog that isn't used to being inside it isn't a good idea.

The best thing to do to stop her from seeing these areas as a place for punishment is for her to only be fed in these places. All good things happen in these places but NOWHERE else. If she wants to eat, she has to go to her little area. All her toys should be in that area. Put food stuffed kongs in there but make sure the food is not in addition to her daily rations.
You can also do this with the crate. Leave the door open and put her food in in there so she has to go in to eat it but don't close the door.
Also, don't allow her to sleep in other places....the only place she's going to get some peace and quiet when she wants it is her own little area. As you've realised about her maybe thinking it's a punishment area, never ever send her there as punishment for anything.
When you put her in, don't make a fuss but if she's good, even for a few seconds, go back and make the greeting a warm one.

Also, if she has an accident, don't worry and never get angry or show it in the slightest possible way. All dogs learn to relieve themselves further and further away from the den as they grow up. This is a natural instinct. You can speed it up simply by reinforcing whats desired such as praising her when she does it in the right spot and she's more likely to do it there in future.
Also, dogs are good at learning a word to associate with relieving themselves and can be told to do their business. You just need to figure out when she's most likely going to need to go and then encourage her with your chosen command and then praise her as soon as she does. Pups need to go most on waking up, after being fed etc...definitely after waking from a long sleep. She'll soon associate the word with the action of relieving herself and then you can specifically take her to a desired place to do it and, being creatures of habit, she'll learn to want to always do it in that same spot when she gets older.
Remember that with seperation anxiety, this can cause loss of bowel control and so the dog can't help it if it does it in undesirable places if left and unable to cope so reducing the anxiety would help with this on it's own.