Hi everyone, I brought home my 9-week-old English Cocker Spaniel yesterday and I’m honestly feeling really defeated and could use some advice or reassurance.
We flew home late last night, and since he hadn’t eaten since that morning, I fed him a bit in his crate right away to start building a positive association. After that, I took him out to the real grass patch on my balcony and he actually went, which felt like a great start.
The night, however, was really tough. He was waking up about every hour to hour and a half crying and yelping. Since it was his first night, I didn’t feel right letting him cry it out, so I kept the crate covered and would stick my fingers in just to comfort him (without letting him see me) until he settled, then repeated that pretty much all night.
Today has been a bit of a struggle. I have him set up in a pen with his crate and haven’t given him access to the rest of the apartment yet. I play with him in the pen, and when I take him out for potty, I put on his harness and leash and carry him straight to the balcony. Sometimes he goes, but other times he just sits there. When that happens, I bring him back in, put him in the crate for about 10 minutes, and then try again. Despite that, he’s had a couple pee accidents in the pen.
Naps and crate training have also been hard. I’ve been crating him for naps with the crate covered and white noise on, and I’ll sit there with my hand in the crate until he settles. But he wakes up every 30 minutes crying unless I go back to him. I’ve thought about letting him cry it out, but it’s only day one and I also live in an apartment, so I’m really unsure what the right approach is.
The hardest part of today happened after one of his naps. He woke up, we played a bit, and I gave him a lick mat with a few mashed blueberries, a small amount of unsweetened applesauce, and a bit of pumpkin. He had some water after that, and then I took him out for about 20–30 minutes trying to get him to go, but he wouldn’t. I assumed he was overtired, so I put him in the crate and stepped away for a few minutes to breathe. When I came back about 10 minutes later, he had diarrhea all over himself and the crate. I had to bathe him and clean everything, and honestly I just completely broke down after that.
For context, he’s been on the same food as the breeder (NOW! Puppy), and the only new things I’ve introduced are some Crumps beef liver and chicken treats, plus that lick mat.
I guess I’m just trying to figure out if I’m doing things the right way. I’m not sure how to handle potty training in this setup, especially since I’m carrying him out every time and don’t know how he’s supposed to signal that he needs to go. I also don’t know if the diarrhea was from too many treats, the lick mat, stress, or some combination of everything.
I’m really trying to do everything “right” — feeding in the crate, building positive associations, keeping a routine — but today just felt like a lot and I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed.
Any advice or reassurance would really mean a lot right now.
Oh and for his bed… do I wash it? Toss it? What’s the best course of action here.