Puppy Anxiety

[donevemar]

Hey guys,

I just discovered this sub and tried to find something that fit, but couldn't. We adopted 2 standard poodle brothers 2 weeks ago at 8 weeks old.

1 would be the easiest dog ever to train that I've experienced, let's call him H. H does not whine or cry and is basically crate trained and is submissive unless play fighting with his brother. He just needs to be house, name, everything else trained. He is not the problem.

J is the problem. J is much much better at telling us when he needs to pee or poop. However. He has a constant need for love and attention and may be giving some signs of isolation stress, even when hes with his brother. He is not crate trained and has just started sleeping in the crate during midday puppy naps. During the day, I'll take his brother outside and he whines and cries till I get back in and, if someone is not sleeping right beside him, a human, then he whines and cries all night.

We will be signing them up for a doggie boot camp that will basically complete their training with professionals, but that's at least 2 weeks away. Is there any advice or suggestions we could try?

PS: a little background, we put our 16 year old miniature poodle back in July after he was diagnosed with shortly, dog dementia. We are pouring out our hearts as much as we can for these pups, but Js insecurities have driven us a little crazy

 

[allaloneuk]

@donevemar First, google and read up on littermate syndrome. You will need to make a concerted effort to separate the puppies for feeding, naps, and training on a regular basis. If you don't, you could easily end up with two dogs that are more bonded to each other than to you and more difficult to train, and this leads to all sorts of behavioral issues.

Second, try not to compare the puppies to each other. Provide the support that J needs in order to feel secure at this very young age. It's pretty common for such young puppies to be upset when separated from their new owners. It's probably less common to have a puppy like H, who is fine being left alone right away. Puppies have no base of security in a brand new environment, so any tendency to anxiety is going to show up. If he needs to sleep right next to your bed in his crate, then that's where he should be sleeping (and receiving support so that he doesn't need to cry and whine all night). It's so very important to meet the puppy's needs now so that he doesn't become more anxious about being separated from you.

When you say "boot camp", do you mean sending them to stay somewhere for two weeks, as in a "board and train" place? Personally, I would never do that to a young puppy (and would be very, very choosy about where I'd send an older puppy - horror stories abound about dogs being mistreated with punishment). This is the time for you to be bonding with the puppies and training them, not giving them to someone else for two weeks. And this kind of boot camp means taking a puppy that is very insecure about leaving his original home, having him at your house for a few weeks, and then just as he is settling in, he gets sent off to another new and strange place with lots of other dogs around and a bunch of strangers.

If what you meant was just a daily program of training, and then the puppies come back home at the end of the day to your house, that's better but you'll still need to be cautious. Ensure that the trainers will use very positive training methods and will also take special care with J in order to give him whatever extra support he needs to feel confident. And at 10-12 weeks of age, your puppies will need a ton of naptime (like, awake for an hour, napping for two hours, throughout the day), so that should be a part of the daily schedule.

One of the problems with this type of training is that owners are unable to maintain the training because they weren't actively involved in the process to begin with. (And certainly they will still be far, far from having "basically completed their training" after the boot camp.) One of the biggest goals in normal puppy classes is that the owner learns how to train and interact with the puppy.