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New ACD owner! HELP!

   
Lexie

1058625		 
 
Barked: Sun Oct 25, '09 3:21pm PST 
Hi all,

I need some advice on how to raise my ACD. On Friday my partner and I became the lucky owners of a beautiful 8 week old blue cattle dog named Lexie.

She's a lot of fun! Very energetic as we expected and loves to socialise and spend time out in the yard.

We are having problems at the moment however where she cries and yelps if we leave her by herself. We can't even go to the toilet without her yelping down the house. We have tried a number of things including putting her in the yard with all her favourite toys and walking away and pretending we aren't home however we are aware that ACD's are loyal to their owners and we don't want this to seem like a form of punishment to her. We have also tried the "crate method" of putting her in a box with a clock underneath blankets and with her teddy and leaving her there by herself. We had minimal success last night with her falling asleep for 2 hours but then waking up and crying non stop for another 2.

We have contemplated putting her into puppy day care however we feel this is not dealing with the problem as she needs to learn that its ok to have a play without us being in the room all the time.

Does anyone have any advice on how to help our Lexie?

Thanks!
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Ogie

"A dog wags its- tail with its- heart"		 
 
Barked: Tue Oct 27, '09 6:58am PST 
When my boyfriend and I first got our heeler and put him in the crate on the first night, he screamed bloody murder for about 45 minutes and then eventually dozed off, waking up every few hours to scream for another 15 minutes. We would also hear him from outside our home crying if we had put him in the crate to go out for a few minutes. On night 2, he did the same and by night 3 both of us were so fed up with sleepless nights that we took a chance and just brought the entire crate into our bedroom right at the foot of our bed, hoping hat the sound of our breathing would lull him to sleep. From then on he did not cry at night, and eventually became comfortable in his crate for us to leave it open and he would sleep in it at his own will. I'm not sure if it was because our scent was so comforting to him that it helped him overcome the crate fear or if just our presence in the room with him the first few nights allowed him to ease into his new way of life but it definitely worked for us!
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Koda

700763		 
 
Barked: Tue Oct 27, '09 9:27am PST 
I never really used a crate with my ACD. I used to use a pop up kennel when I would stay at other peoples houses with her. She would whine and bark and usually have that kennel all over the room. She would only relax and go to sleep if I had the kennel in the same room that I was in, and close to the bed. I got her when she was 6 weeks, she used to whine when I would leave her in a room, or when I would go out to check the mail. It lasted for about the first 2 months. I just tried to ignore it and walk back in the house, or a room, and just walk past her and do something else until she stopped.
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Gravy

1065321		 
 
Barked: Sat Nov 7, '09 5:16pm PST 
I am also a new ACD owner. We have had our 8 month old puppy for about 2 months.

He was crate-trained at the rescue and when we would be in pet stores he would run into crates and sit down. When we finally got one, we were really surprised because he hates being in there! He will yelp, whine, and howl no matter what we do. We tried giving him his favorite bones and toys, but it doesn't work. After almost an hour he will fall asleep, but is up again after 30 minutes doing the same thing.

We never figured out what to do and had to get a barking collar. We live in an apartment building so we couldn't keep allowing him to bark. My friend also has an ACD and hers hates being in his kennel.

I think ACDs just hate being trapped, because he doesn't act the same when the door isn't shut. I will also love to hear some advice about what to do!
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Bailey

The queen of- herders		 
 
Barked: Sun Nov 15, '09 7:20pm PST 
The same thing with me, what I did that worked was went to the dog park and then on a run, after the dog is completly tired than head back to your place, after a day of doing this my dog stoped barking and crying her head off. snoopy
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Remington

I'm not just a- pet, I'm an- ATHLETE.		 
 
Barked: Tue Nov 17, '09 5:08pm PST 
Well first, your puppy should be crying through out the night.. your pup is not even 3 months old yet, and therefore can only hold their bladder for 3-4 hours at the very most. So the pup will need to go out to go potty. As for crate training, your puppy needs to just be left in there and ignored. Try during the day puting the pup in there, and wait until they quite down, and then open the door. Also, cattle dogs need SO much exercise. Before you go to put'em in there, tire'em out completely. To tire my dogs out, (3 cattle dogs) they require 4+ hours of exercise. But usually 2 hours will do it.

Exercise and patience is key!
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