New puppy

barbiegirl

Hi guys,
We got a new 8 week old mixed breed puppy on Sunday. She sleeps outside in a kennel, feeds outside and has the run of the garden. During the day she can come and go in the downstairs, when we are there, and has a bed inside as well.
Sunday night she whined a little and then settled in and slept. Last night she whined and scratched at the door until 4am. I'm sure the neighbours are loving it. We are being strict, when she is out, she's out. She has toys outside as well as a toy dog, that I left with the litter in her final week with them so she had the scent to cuddle to. She likes that.
Has anyone any suggestions for making this easier?

leelee_m

well its going to take time for her to adjust to her new home. she's only a baby and doesn't have her brothers and sisters anymore so its going to take time for her to settle. My advice would be to spend lots of time with her and play with her before bedtime to tire her out. Good luck with her and be patient, its all new for her!

barbiegirl

Doing our best on the spending time bit. I'm working from home, between meetings. Leaving for short periods of time and coming back. When I'm away she's in the garden. Tomorrow I have a meeting that will take me away for 4 hours which is the longest she's been on her own other than during the night.
We try to play with her lots, but as she only had her first set of injections yesterday I can't walk her yet. I'm hoping in three weeks that that will help her hugely.
She is a dote and I do have patience, thankfully. It's just her I pity.
With the neighbours when she settles down I'll drop them a bottle of wine to each house and a thank you for your patience card :-)

jen_23

Hi Barbiegirl,

It'l just take a while for her to settle in. I have my guy almost two weeks and he has settled outside just fine. He has a 13ft x 7.5ft run and a kennel in it.
He won't settle in his crate at night though. (I crate him indoors at night for house training purposes) - I'm beginning to think thought that he prefers the outdoors to being indoors!

Anyway my point was it took him about 3 days to get used to his pen outside. Even last night I put him out in it at 3amish... as he wouldn't settle in doors but he settled in under 5 mins outside.

So just give it a few days and she'l get used to it!!

star-pants

Aye as others have said it can take a while for them to settle - our pup was learning to stay in the kitchen and she might be ok some nights but others if twas particularly stormy or if it was a full moon/bright moon (cuz it's so bright) she'd cry etc.

Just hold out and it'll pay off

barbiegirl

She was so well behaved last night :-) Settled fine. We tired her out in advance and played football with her. Plus she didn't spend as much time inside last night as she had previous night. Hopefully she's settled a bit now :-)
Thanks everyone

laceyl

Hiya, glad shes settling down, if shes having trouble when it comes to night time, try putting a ticking clock in with her, it often comforts puppies as it is a soothing sound to them since its very similar to there mothers heartbeat.

Molberts

congrats on your new puppy

8 weeks is very young to be outside already though, could you keep her confined to the kitchen for a few weeks? at least till she has all her shots, her immune system is still developing.

barbiegirl

Hi Molberts,
She was always kept outside, was never an indoor dog, so she has no issue outside, the garden is fully enclosed so no contact with other dogs, and no evidence of foxes ever getting in here. Both the vet and pet shop said she was fine outside at night. Get her used to the rules here straight away. In fairness though we bought her a lovely kennel, and it's lined with Vet mat which is very warm and dries quickly if it gets wet.
Right now she's asleep in her indoor bed. Thankfully she has settled well, last night she was fine again. :-)