Originally Posted by sportschick  Hi guys, I do have an ex pen that I put her in. It is made of plastic and I am afraid she is going to be able to jump out of it because she jumps on it constantly, no matter what I do to try and stop her.
I made it too big at first. The breeder had told me to NOT get the extra panels, but of course I went ahead and go them. Anyway, I made the pen smaller. She hates it.
I have begun walking her. Yesterday in the a.m. for about 40 minutes, 20 minutes when I came home for lunch and at least 30 minutes of freakin JOGGING when I got home from work. I mean this dog was running and down the street on her little legs!! She DID pee outside yesterday a.m.
She never seems to go at the same time, even though I feed her and give her water at the same time. When I came home from work, she had pooed and peed in the pen and it was EVERYWHERE. Luckily her poo is firm so it was easy to pick up, but she had stepped on it and in the pee and moved flipped her bed. She hates the pen. I can't leave her outside of the pen when I am not watching her. Even when I AM watching her, she does a freakin pee in 1 second. I am still trying to get a schedule down with her. She sleeps in a crate beside my bed at night. We go to bed around 10:00 (I AM SO EXHAUSTED ALL THE TIME FROM HER). She cries to pee around 5:00, I take her to pen, she pees on papers (can't use pads, she ripped them to shreds), the she goes back in crate and we both go to sleep till around 7:30. I sit on floor and hug her and pat her and talk to her and she licks every available bit of me.
I sit in front of the pen, so she has to go in to do her business. She went in almost right away and pooed (now yesterday a.m., she DIDN'T poo), but I got up and away from pen and she freakin peed RIGHT in front of it. Oh God, I feel like she is never going to stop doing this.
Anyway, I feed her at 8:00, put her in pen - she goes NUTS. Jumping on it, whining, etc. She hates being in it when I am home. But I have to get ready for work and I can't leave her running around the kitchen when I can't watch her. And yes, I have tried giving her a bone to chew on, etc., etc., nothing works. Then I take her out to walk for about 30 minutes.
The problem is, I live in the Northeast, and the weather has decided NOW to get cold and we are going to have snow. So there goes my walking "schedule".
The thing I am now concerned about is, even though I walked her SO much yesterday, when I put her in pen after her night time walk so that I could do my things and eat some food, she went nuts in the pen. How the heck can she have that kind of energy after running for 30 minutes? And she CONSTANTLY whines when I leave the kitchen. She used to cry all day when I left for work (my landlords/friends) told me they could hear her. Now she is better about that and is worse when I get home.
I am afraid she is having separation anxiety. Has anyone else had these problems?
I know I have only had her for a couple of weeks, and she is SUCH a good, sweet, affectionate little doggie, and I feel like we have made some good strides, and I am having patience, but there are many, many times that I feel like I might have made a mistake and maybe it isn't right to leave her home alone, and that she will NEVER just go where she is supposed to go potty.
I guess it would be so much easier if it were warm, then I could take her out more and maybe she would go outside. I am afraid the longer I have to wait to get her outside, then she will never learn to go out.
Thanks for reading this missive!!!! |