I pit my puppy.

Here’s the deal. I’ve got the place to myself for a couple weeks. At first, I thought “Great! Time alone to get some serious studying done for the GRE!” I soon realized that this was not to be.

The dogs, separated now from 4 members of the family, have gone nuts. It’s been hardest on the puppy, a Boston Terror, who’s been my constant shadow the entire time so far. Our older dog, an Akbash, has resorted to barking at anything and everything. I expected all this, of course, but not to this extent.

See, the puppy thinks there are only three things to do while awake: play, pee, and eat (Ordered by frequency). So every five minutes, I’m greeted with this at my feet. Seriously, who can resist that? The problem is, she does this even when it’s a bad time. Like, right after she’s eaten (gives her an upset stomach and things have to be cleaned up…), or when I’m trying to take a timed practice test. Or sometimes, she’ll try playing with a toy she shouldn’t play with, like her Baby. The Baby is a stuffed Boston plushie that she carries everywhere and she can’t go to sleep without it. Playing with it would mean its utter demise within minutes, which would mean getting her a new Baby. She’s a fussy one, and I’m not about to deal with the trauma of a dismembered Baby.

–Hang on, she’s eating something she shouldn’t be… Ah, a dead millipede. Where does she find this stuff??–

After all the playing, it’s time for her to go sleep. Peace and quiet, right? I can get back to my studying? No. She’ll still sit there and whine at me, because I have to go nap with her! Being 10 feet away is apparently too much for her separation anxiety to handle, so she needs me to snuggle up against until she falls asleep. (Yes, she often does sleep in my lap, but not lately. Don’t know why). Once asleep, I get some free time until the other dog starts barking, which wakes up the puppy, who then can’t go back to sleep because I’m across the room. Arg!

–Hey! Hey! Quit chewing on my chair!–

Even better is when she sits there whining for no particular reason at all. Doesn’t want to play, doesn’t want to sleep, not time to eat, and she’s already been outside. She just misses her mommy. But she seems to think I can fix this, so she’ll continue whining and pouting (I swear I never thought dogs could actually pout before now) and staring at me with those sad puppy eyes. It’s maddening! I’ll never get anything done until there are more people in the house again. (example: this post alone took me well over an hour to write. I would get about 30 seconds of writing time before she reminded me that I’m not done playing with her yet)

sigh I still love her though. I just wish she could entertain herself sometimes.

So, anyone else got stories of puppy frustration? I know there’s another person here with not one, but two Boston Terrors! I’m sure he/she can sympathize with most of what I’ve written.

Quote:

“Even better is when she sits there whining for no particular reason at all. Doesn’t want to play, doesn’t want to sleep, not time to eat, and she’s already been outside. She just misses her mommy. But she seems to think I can fix this, so she’ll continue whining and pouting…”
I’ve got two of these! But mine have opposable thumbs. :eek:

You should know that your baby with her Baby have made it to my desktop.

Crate.

Study.

Remove from crate and give attention.

Repeat. :slight_smile:

oooooooh, look at the puppy!

I’m sorry, did you say something?

Oh man, I hope you’re joking. If she were stuck in the crate, she’d whine and howl like nobody’s business. I’d have to put her at the far end of the house. And this kind of separation would completely devastate her. Simply yelling at her makes her slink around apologetically for the rest of the day; I can’t imagine what crating her would do.

Besides, that damn monkey-puzzle of a contraption is currently dismantled in the basement, and I’m too clumsy/stupid to get it back together anyway. :stuck_out_tongue:

Don’t give up on crate training before you’ve tried it. If she’s a puppy, she’ll likely adapt pretty quickly. Crates are wonderful ways to keep the dogs out of your hair when you need peace.

She’ll likely whine the first couple times. Stuff cotton in your ears. The dog will live. You can make it more pleasant by giving her a Kong stuffed with goodies or other treat that she only gets in her crate. Keep the time in the crate short at first and increase gradually. Also, put something nice and smelly in the crate as bedding. I used dirty sheets.

My dogs don’t mind their crates at all. In fact, they’ll go in there for a quick nap or when they just want to get away from it all. I will say that it’s wrong to use a crate in order to ignore the poor dog. They still need attention and exercise. But it’s wonderful to be able to put the dog in a safe, secure place when you need to work, when repairmen come over, when you’re painting a room, etc.

I am pretty sure the solution is for you to get a much larger puppy to play with your baby. Baby’s behaviour might not improve, but it will seem so relative to your new plus sized puppy.
Problem solved.

Been there, done that. There’s no cure, give up now.

I feel you. I have a puppy (well she was a puppy a coupla years ago) and when I got her I started working at home. I still work at home and she still “bugs” me all day but much much less than she used to.

Now, however, she barks at me if I’m not away from the computer by 5 PM. BARKS!!!

The only way I got her to chill out and give me some time during the day is to just ignore her as much as possible. And she also had to age 2 years. You’re lucky, at least your dog’s snoot can’t reach your hands on the keyboard :slight_smile:

Amen. When my golden retriever decides it’s time to pet him, PLOP! goes the head on the keyboard. Or he just rams the keyboard tray, shoving it in and out of his way, so he can get right in close to me. Or just shoves his head up under my hands.

And because he has severe anxiety problems, he simply cannot be crated. Even the experts agree.

I have no solutions to offer, only sympathy.

Considering the fact that my cat is upstairs meowing at the dishwasher, after having been down here walking across this keyboard, the monitor, the ashtray and (for poops and giggles) the printer…
I have nothing to add but my sympathy.

Hahahaha… You’d think that she, being such a small terrier, would not be able to interfere with my computer-usage. But you’d be wrong. She has a habbit of standing up on her hind legs and shoving my arm with her head, causing the mouse to go flying. She’s a lot stronger than she looks.

Also, for a little clarification: she’s 3 and half years old… So I guess she’s technically not a puppy anymore, but we still call her one anyway. She’s usually not as bad as in my OP; it’s just because I’m the only one in the house for these couple weeks. Things’ll get better when my parents get back.

And crating is really not an option. After our dogs outgrew the need for it (housebreaking and the like), it became a kind of punishment. A “Go to your room!” kind of thing. She’s really not doing anything wrong; she just really misses her mommy. And I can forgive her for that. It’s just a little aggravating to deal with sometimes.

Who’s a good doggy?

Who’s a good doggy?

You are!

Yes, you are!

Yes, you are!

Our new puppy, Jake, was spayed last Friday (yes, Jake was spayed–yes, a girl named Jake–yes, just like a boy named Sue). We’re supposed to be making her take it easy. It’s impossible! She’s a golden retriever who needs love, love, love, and love = playing.

Our 11-year old dog, Shane, can’t always keep up; she has arthritis (yes, she–see above) and the puppy wears her right out. But Shane is Jake’s hero and us people aren’t good enough to play with unless Shane is playing too, and all playing involves tugging, which Jake’s not supposed to do until her stitches come out. I finally had to put them in their yard where Shane can retreat to her side of the dog house and Jake can tear up the grass, roll in the dirt, spill the water dish and make mud, etc. Of course, Jake can’t be bathed until her stitches come out, so I’m making my life more difficult with this solution, but I can’t take anymore.

I have no solutions, just sympathy.