Hi everyone, my family just got our first english bulldog, she is 9 weeks old and the cutest thing I have ever seen. I have had dogs growing up but my wife has never. We have had her for 3 days thus far.
I want to crate train the puppy (never done that before) but from day 1 she absolutely hates going near the crate. Every time I want her to go in, she resists and ends up crying. I ignore the crying because I do not want to give any attention to bad behavior. The crying lasts about 15minutes and she doesn't cry again until she hears me coming down to let her out. I also lay next to the crate for 10minutes to try to calm her down, that is hit or miss, sometimes she will actually sleep while I am there but other times she is lunging at the crate trying to get out.
In the middle of night, I set my alarm clock for 3 1/2 hours to let her out before she has accidents and she comes out and does her business but at this point it is very hard to get her back in the crate. I end up playing with her for 15minutes before putting her back in but she resists the most.
I feel bad because I am forcing her into the crate and I feel this waya she will never be comfortable in there.
Is this normal? Will this go away? Am I doing something wrong?
My next question is, I feel she has separation anxiety (which is related to the crate question), she will not stop following me around and when I stop walking she stops and just stares at me, I am trying to build up her confidence slowly so she can explore on her own but that is a slow process. She won't even eat unless I sit by her bowl of food. Any hints or ideas on this?
I will try to post a picture soon
I want to crate train the puppy (never done that before) but from day 1 she absolutely hates going near the crate. Every time I want her to go in, she resists and ends up crying. I ignore the crying because I do not want to give any attention to bad behavior. The crying lasts about 15minutes and she doesn't cry again until she hears me coming down to let her out. I also lay next to the crate for 10minutes to try to calm her down, that is hit or miss, sometimes she will actually sleep while I am there but other times she is lunging at the crate trying to get out.
In the middle of night, I set my alarm clock for 3 1/2 hours to let her out before she has accidents and she comes out and does her business but at this point it is very hard to get her back in the crate. I end up playing with her for 15minutes before putting her back in but she resists the most.
I feel bad because I am forcing her into the crate and I feel this waya she will never be comfortable in there.
Is this normal? Will this go away? Am I doing something wrong?
My next question is, I feel she has separation anxiety (which is related to the crate question), she will not stop following me around and when I stop walking she stops and just stares at me, I am trying to build up her confidence slowly so she can explore on her own but that is a slow process. She won't even eat unless I sit by her bowl of food. Any hints or ideas on this?
I will try to post a picture soon