9 weeks old don’t wanna sleep alone during day

[zzareyan]

Hi all,

4 days ago we got our little puppy of 9.5 weeks old (miniature dachshund). We love him a lot, and overall he is doing very well. However, we can’t leave him alone for even a couple of seconds. Wherever I go, he goes as well which means that he even starts crying during my toilet break and is waiting in front of the door.

He has a crate and his own little sofa, and even though he is taking his toys and everything with him to those places he doesn’t want to sleep there. He is always searching for me, and prefers to sleep on my lap. The last 2 days I tried to guide him to his own place and decided to sit next to him. Most of the time he still tries to get my attention (starts playing, biting in sock etc) and sometimes he falls asleep. However, when he is sleeping and I am leaving his side, he wakes up & is searching for me.

Of course I understand that he needs to get used to his new house & situation, however I am afraid that if we continu like this it will become extremely difficult to leave him alone in the future.

Who has some tips?? Thanks in advance.

 

[westtmd]

@zzareyan That's pretty much standard puppy behavior, check the Wiki of this sub for tips/guidance about Separation Anxiety and general stuff!

He is indeed getting used to everything so have realistic expectations. As Susan Garret says "our dogs are doing the absolute best they can, with the education we have given them in the environment that we are asking them to perform".

Your puppy doesn't understand where it's his "own place". It's been 4 days, keep increasing positive association to the crate by giving him food in there and play (not just leave toys inside). If possible, have a pen attached to the crate to train and encourage physical distance. Have a proper sleep/play/potty routine. Ensure he has peed/pooped prior to nap time and then let him cry himself to sleep, as in, ignore him when he's searching for you. I know it will break your heart but I promise it will only take a couple of minutes for him to fall asleep.

 

[jonowebb]

@zzareyan This situation/question pops up all the time. I get it. I had the same concern with my first pup all these years ago.
I had never had a dog then and I was shocked at the neediness for a lack of better word haha.

But. The good news is…it’s absolutely normal.
It is slightly breed and personally dependent of course but every pup does this.

I just commented on someone else yesterday explaining the steps we always take to teach a pup to be alone but we don’t do any of that for the first weeks and give pup the chance to become a bit more confident in its new life.

 

[tonyzy]

@zzareyan I understand that everything is exciting, you're tired and so on. But you've brought home a literal baby. A baby that was, for the past 9 weeks, never alone and always surrounded by mom and siblings. All cuddling, a lot of body contact and safety.

And then you took him from his safety. And worry that he can't be alone and are stressed by that. Patience is the key word. Try to let him get to know you, his new living space. And start to leave him alone for short (2 minutes tops and then you can do longer gradually) amounts of time.

 

[onceawaretwiceempowered]

@zzareyan Separation time has to be trained up to start with. I never left mine alone for longer than I knew he could handle. I took him with me for bathroom breaks.

I started on day two or three or so, after he had all his needs met and was about to nap, and left the room and came back immediately. I kept repeating that like it was the most natural thing in the world for a few times through the day. (And I never did it when he slept. I was warned leaving when they sleep is traumatizing when they wake up. Or, can be.)

And then I started upping the time. 5 seconds , the returned. Next time, 10 seconds. Next time after that 15 seconds (I was extra special careful I guess.) etc, and I worked my way up to 4 hours over the course of a few weeks. Once a day. I didn't start using the bathroom alone before he had gotten to 10 minutes alone time. Showers after 20 minutes alone time.

If he had cried at any point during this process, I'd have to shorten the time next time I trained it. And if he had cried, I'd have had to try distract him by making a sound or something, and after 10 seconds of silence, return, to try avoid teaching that crying = gets what he wants. (Though if he's freaking out, instructions said to obviously return to calm the pup down.) He never did cry, thankfully, so it wasn't ever a problem.

Best of luck!

 

[debbieh]

@zzareyan Dachshunds are the best little loving dogs, but are stubborn as hell. I grew up with one, and now have my next mini doxie, actually 9 weeks old today! They also love to be with their person, my current girl wants to be touching me 24/7. So you have to teach them that's its ok to be alone, it's ok to be in their space. Others already mentioned that they're also literally a baby, they've never even been alone before. And 4 days is just barely getting over the initial 3-day adjustment to his new surroundings.

I've had a week with my current pup, so these strategies may work now and may need changing later. But maybe they will help you! I got a Snuggle Puppy. It's a plush with a heartbeat in it, and warmers you can put inside. This helps them not feel alone. It's hit or miss if mine snuggles with it or wants to chew it's ears off, but the warmth helps. Mine in particular seems indifferent to the heartbeat, so I'm leaving it out for now.

Today I was struggling to get her down for a nap, and had success in her play pen, covered with a blankie, minimal items in there, and puppy anxiety music on the TV. I'm currently hanging out in my bedroom so she sleeps, leaving the room is what finally helped.

I did have to make the pen more enticing by feeding her in there, dropping treats in there, throwing toys in there. I've been sitting on the floor by the pen first thing in the morning while I have my coffee, while she hangs out in there. Reward every instance of settling/calm behavior. Ignore cries by shifting my body and turning away. Only look back when quiet. It's tricky at first, you've got to catch the quiet moments.

Stuff kong, chew toys, lick mats, do not keep her attention, she'd rather have my attention. So I really attribute her settling down to that rewarding every quiet moment. Also, outside her crate or pen, if I catch her being calm, I mark and reward. In general, teaching calm quiet behavior will help. Dachshunds are vocal dogs so I want to encourage quietness at any moment!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@zzareyan He’s just a baybay! He will be following you around everywhere for a while until the teenage years, then you get the middle finger (claw?). Enjoy it while it lasts.