# 12 Week old Maltipoo, I need help!



## jhrubetz (Oct 24, 2012)

I got my first indoor puppy, a Maltipoo we named Nala, about a week ago. She's about 12 weeks old, and was raised in a kennel for the first part of her life. I've never had a puppy before and do no know the first thing about housebreaksing, so I've read a lot of articles and got advice from my friends who have dogs. So far it's going terribly! I have heard so many conflicting words of advice that it's starting to drive me crazy!! 

Here's my situation...

My roommate and I are nurses, both working 12 hour shifts. We alternate shifts for the most part, so Nala really hasn't been alone for more than 4 hours. However, there are some days where we over lap and can be gone from the home for up to 8 hours (hasn't happened yet, but it will in the coming weeks). My biggest question is what to do with Nala when neither of us are home for that long of a time period? 

W have only had her a week and we dont have a very good routine down since we were your typical exicted first time puppy "mommies" and all we wanted to do was play and cuddle with her. Big mistake we are now finding out!! ARgh!

Everyone keeps telling me to crate train which I would relaly like to do, but I'm not sure how to fit it in to my lifestyle. What do I do with Nala on the days when she will home alone for 8 hours (that is with me coming home on my supper break to let her out)? I know 8 hours is too long to put her in a small crate, so I'm trying to find alternatives, such as putting her in a play pen (which is what we have tried so far, and it's failing miserablly, continue reading). We have also had friends come over to let her out, but I don't want to have to rely on them forever either.

We have a 3 foot x 3 foot play pen that we've set up in the guest room, which is upstairs and close to the main living space of the house. We have her bed, water dish, a few toys and newspaper down in there, which is where we put her when we leave the house, are not supervising her and at night to sleep. The first two days/nights she slept fine, played/hung out in there and didn't make a peep. But the last few days, she cries, whines, and howls the entire time she is in there! I've tried sleeping in the guest bed next to her pen, we have a night light on, tried a radio, and a fan for soothing noise....nothing works. I always take her out and play/potty before bed and she will usually go to sleep for the first hour, but then will wake up and scream ALL night!! It's killing me! What should we do to stop this??

Pottying and treats....She has only pottied in her play pen a couple of times and for the most part does go when we take her outside. BUT she doesn't like treats. We've tried all kinds of puppy training treats (bacon bits, the peanut butter ones, steak, chicken, etc) and she just sniffs them and turns her head. Any suggestions on other types of treats we can try? Someone said try raw hotdogs or honey nut cherrios??

So to re-cap, my biggest questions are...
1) What to do with Nala when both my roommate and I are not home? Especially for longer periods of time? Is the play pen an okay idea, or should I try to put her in her small crate and have friends/dog sitters come over every 3-4 hours to let her out? 
2) If having friends/dog sitter come over is what is best, how long do we have to do this?? Until she is 4-5 months? I feel like it's a lot to ask of my friends for a long length of time...
3) What can I try to get her to sleep during the night and will stop her whining?? 
4) What kind of treats should I try since she wont take your typical puppy treats?

That should pretty much wrap it up for now! Thanks for all the help! I'm so stressed and TIRED...


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## blenderpie (Oct 5, 2012)

Nothing is more enforcing than real meat and real cheese. Though, she'll tell you what she likes best. She might be toy motivated and playing with a squeaky toy is better than any food she cab dream of, etc.

As a small dog at 12 weeks, I highly doubt that she cab hold it even the 4 hours, but she should be close. When you are home, she should be going out every hour to hour and a half still. Because you are gone so long, having her have a potty area in her pen is the way to go. It'll take longer to house break, but she will most likely continue to only go on the puppy pads in the house because shes been reinforced to go there before.

I'd either ask friends or hire someone to come over once or twice on the days she will be left for 8 hrs. Or, if you can afford it, a doggy day care on just those days. That way she'll meet new people and have doggy friends to play with.

And, she probably keeps whining because you keep catering to her to get her to stop. Go kn YouTube and look up kikopup. She has a video titled something like "how to train your dog to like being left alone." That will be helpful to you. She's a fabulous trainer with lots of free videos.


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