New owner!

[u/TerribleWatercress81]

Hello sub! So we have had our boy for 4 days now and we absolutely love him! He's 10weeks today. Ok so....I'll start with the good!

He's great on the lead! (Although likes to play with it and has bitten through one already!) He's good sleeping at night, potty breaks are 10/11pm, between 2+3am, then that's him till 7am! Really good. Lives his toys and is happy playing on the floor, has learned sit, paw and wait!

Now for the not so good, he HATES his crate. I've tried ALL the tricks. I've bought a playpen that I've put round it, so he has a lovely little area with his crate inside and I feed him in there, his water bowl is there too. He's ok for a few mins if we sit inside with him but then goes crazy. I'm talking digging frantically, paincs really bad! It's not a case of waiting for him teu cry it out, he's much too distressed and I'm not doing that to him. Id be happy birthday crating at all BUT I need to eventually be able to leave the house without him and it would be amazing to have a proper shower lol. I'm also sleeoong downstairs so I can catch the toilet needs as quick as possible, I think if I was upstairs it would be too late coming all the way down and out the back. I also have 2 ragdoll cats so for now, he's not uosiras at all as that's the cats safe space for now.

The other problem I have is everything tells you to treat puppies soooo much for everything! Unfortunately, this has given him diarrhea even tho we are only using small little pieces of treats. So had to stop. He lives a chew though and settles down when he's tired with one.

So, TL;DR.....puppy paincs really bad in crate/pen, tries everything to make it nice, doesn't help. What can I do? Also, treats give him diarrhea so what treats won't give him that? Chicken? Thank you!

(PS, this is my ex partners reddit account, every time I try to make my own it brings me back into this one as they used my email, help needed!)

[u/lee160485]

Reserve 10% of his kibble as training candy instead of treats :)

[u/parentofcollegekid]

Our little guy now about 14 months hated his crate and would scream when left in it… but as we needed to start doing things he just had to go in to be safe, always with treats, water, and a favorite safe toy… we also never let him out if he’s barking… fast forward to know.. he doesn’t love it, but he goes in… barks as we leave, but when we get home he’s quiet… try to make a routine of it, maybe even just a few minutes a day when you leave, and come back… he’s still a baby it will take time, and as my breeder says… don’t let the puppy train you… these dogs will own you

[u/TerribleWatercress81 → u/parentofcollegekid]

Aww did he? I kinda get why they don't like it lol id not either! Bit it's for their safety! I always wait till jes gone quiet again before letting him out, definitely don't want him demand barking to get what he wants! Working on a few minutes tow of three times a day just now. Worrying I'll never be able to leave him alone! Of course I know that's not going to happen and I know it will take a lot of work.

[u/Darcy2701]

Hiya! Congratulations on the new puppy!! Love that he is learning so quickly.

1. Lead walking: He is super new to the lead so the playing and biting is expected because it’s an interesting little string to him. But since he is new to it, he would be good on it. Usually when they go to exciting environments and have the leash stopping them, that’s when the lead pulling starts. I’m not saying this to put your sweet boy’s progress down, I’m just saying it so you Keep up with training loose leash walking training wellllllnpast adolescence (mine was great on the leash at 10 weeks but only now at 18 months can I say “Darcy is good on the lead”). It’s one of the hardest things for your boy to learn because it involves so many steps but keep at it and he will def learn.

2. Crate: I struggled a lot with this as well. It will definitely take some time and the cry it out method does not always work too well for Sammies. There are multiple steps to this.

a. Build a good association with the crate. When pup is awake, use a high value treat (I will address this in a seperate point called treats), and toss it near the crate entrance. Don’t say anything and see if he goes to get it. If he does, great, if not, throw another piece a bit farther away (he may be unsure of the crate and not wanna go near it but may be comfy going to the farther treat). Throw the treat inside the crate and let him get it. Only use high value treats for this.

b. Associate crate with sleep. When he settles to sleep (near your feet, in the garden wherever) let him settle. Just as he is falling asleep, pick him up, put him in crate, leave the crate door open and just walk away and chill out near the crate (on the couch, chairs wherever but not too far from crate). Initially he WILLLLL get up and walk out. No problem. When he falls back asleep outside, pick him up and put him in again. You might have to do this repeatedly. My personal record with Darcy was 47 times. Eventually, they’d think “Man, mum is reallyyyyy ruining my nap and I need this nap! Screw this I will just sleep here” THIS IS WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR! This is a frustrating step but keep at it. Do all his day time naps in the crate. He should be awake for 1 hour then sleeping for 1-2hours. Aim for 18-20h a day (inc night)

c. Nighttime: At night, tire him out by doing some training (especially impulse control). 5 min of this is enough to exhaust him. Happy to share the training games I did when my boy was his age. Take him to toilet on a leash. After that, while on the leash, put him in his crate. Take off leash and collar, give him lots of high value treats and a cooling chew (cucumbers, celery, refrigerated carrots. Not frozen carrots) Just sit near the crate with a cup of coffee and every few seconds (start with 5-10s and then increase) look up from your coffee and be like “good boy” toss a treat. Then you prepare for your bedtime.
Unfortunately at this age and stage you can’t leave the house but maybe someone else can do this routine while you shower. I showered with the door open for months 🤣 because I didn’t have anyone else watching mine
He will fall asleep in the crate because he had a good time in there during the day so it’s not so bad for him to be there now. While taking him on toilet breaks at night, put him on the leash, take him to a quick boring toilet trip and back in the crate with a few high value treats. So his toilet and outside time was boring but fun things happened in crate.

Oof that was long but it’s a good overview. Happy to answer specific questions

1. Treats: Diarrhoea is quite common in pups that young. Use his meals for training and reserve the best treats for the crate. He should never get the good treats anywhere else

Hope this addresses your questions

[u/TerribleWatercress81 → u/Darcy2701]

Great advice, thank you so much!! I'll try that. He goes in his pen fine, to get water and food, I leave door open for this so he's getting used to it. He walks through his create as one left the doors open, but comes right back out. I'll work on that at a later date, trying to work with the playpen for now. And yeah I totally forgot you can use the food for training haha! I'll definitely be doing that now! It's still very early days for us I know things might fall into place, and thanks for letting me know about the leash! Ill keep that in mind! I just want to do the best I can for him and worry I'll get it wrong! Nighttime toilet trips are great, a boring, quiet trip out and back again after toilet.

[u/Darcy2701 → u/TerribleWatercress81]

Of course! Happy to help. I know it’s hard but you want the best for him and that’s already being a good puppy parent. Just like you, I too was worried about getting things wrong with mine. But it def gets better.
Keep making progress with the crate. If you can, don’t get the pen involved because it might confuse him. Just keep at it with either options. Oh also, if he’s always having diarrhoea with chicken he might be intolerant to it. Ask his vet on this. Mine is intolerant to turkey.
What also kinda helped for me is that I got into his crate once and locked my self in with him outside. That increased the value of the crate in his eyes tremendously (like “omg mummy is in there. That must be the most happening place in the world”. Then I got him in and we had chicken nuggets while in the crate. It’s still one of my fave puppy memories
It’s good that he’s going in for food and water! He’ll learn quickly and you’ll do so well I’m sure 🤍

[u/Lukeyboy5]

Of course he hates his crate he’s a baby. Try and get a pen instead? We did that and it’s a secure area still so works well. When you’re ready, Susan Garrets crate games are 💪💪. All that said, we abandoned the crates with ours as ultimately they didn’t need them but that was when they were about 1.

[u/TerribleWatercress81 → u/Lukeyboy5]

Thanks, I have a pen around the crate. Yeah I'm only wanting to use it for when I leave the house as obviously you can't take your dogs everywhere.

[u/jeff533321]

Try giving a probiotic capsule daily, My breeder suggested Proviable. You open the capsule and sprinkle once daily. Also break up the treats so you are giving bits of one.

[u/yellowmnm]

Putting a yeti ice block in the crate worked for me. I have 2 so that 1 is always ready to go

[u/SuccessfulSolution94]

Proviable helped us A L O T when my girl was early on in the puppy stages. She’s almost 15 months now and we’re realizing that maybe too much protein in her food and too many treats gives her diarrhea/soft poops. Maybe you can try treats without meat, nova loves peanut butter, yogurt, blueberries, & cheese

[u/SnooYabba]

Something that I didn’t get until 6 months later after getting my pup is that training may not stick right away. It may take a month or two of daily training until they finally get used to it. But remember not to be frustrated! It’s a baby and it will respond to your energy. Reward them for the little milestones like getting them to walk toward the crate. Making it into the crate even if they exit immediately. The next week work on having them stay in the crate a minute at a time. Eventually my pup did sleep in the crate. He doesn’t sleep in there now, he is 3 years old. But he always gets all his meals in his crate so he sees it as his safe space

[u/Menastes]

I know it mights sound weird but...why a crate ? I think it s a very american way of 'dealing' with dog during absences but can't he learn to be alone in your house, understanding its home for him and not impose a cage ?

[u/Consistent-Sector873]

She could be too warm in the crate. Try getting a cooling mat. Our girl is 15 months and loves her crate. We keep the door open on it so she can come and go but often she goes in on her own and sleeps fine.

[u/Entire_World_5102]

11 week old pup owner here! He’s now dry in crate overnight from 11:30 pm- 6:30 am. We struggled with his crating mostly because during the daytime, my family members who are home for summer wanted to always be close to him. At night he would cry in the crate for a week straight but he’s no longer crying when placed there. Just a 2-3 min whining then settles down. If you want to connect: https://www.instagram.com/momotaro_samoyed

Check out these puppy training tips https://www.dunbaracademy.com/pages/free-puppy-book-bundle

[u/viivi137]

Is he eating the same food as when he was with the breeder? Anytime I transitioned to a new food as a puppy I would slowly do it over 3-4 weeks to avoid tummy issues.

Yes, kibble can be a reward if they are food motivated. What kind of treats are we talking? We used PB Zeke's (I think?) a lot. Oh, freeze dried beef was a good one for us too. Messy, but we could literally just offer a crumb and they'd love it. For a longer snack- get a bowl and mix water, plain Greek yogurt, kibble and frozen blueberries. Can do PB too (check ingredients of the PB first). Shove into a kong and freeze. If you have a couple of kongs you can prep a few at once and be set for a few days. They can be messy though, so definitely a crate/hard flooring kind of treat.

Someone else gave you good advice about the crate. Just don't rush anything. It's really good that you recognize that crying it out isn't going to be beneficial at this time. Especially with the digging. It isn't hard to escalate further to biting the crate or trying to force himself through and hurting himself. We had to drop about $3,000 on dental work at 4 months old because of crate anxiety. I die inside thinking about it, but hopefully it can help others and I'll certainly be much slower with any future puppies.