Poodle Nights: Dogs in Apartments, New Home Anxiety

One of the main reasons I wanted a small dog is so that I could more easily manage him in an apartment. While I do love big dogs, I don't plan on having one until I'm living in the penthouse suite, lol :/ (Though the other dog owners in my building have big dogs.)

My little Huxie poo had a little separation anxiety his first few nights in his new forever home

Anywho on my second night with little Huxtable things went awry. In the middle of the night around 4am, my new poodle decided his crate wasn't suitable and that sleeping alone wasn't either.  So he started barking and whining, I did the same thing I did the night before: ignore... and he stopped. Then he started again, this time I figured I'd check to see if he needed to use the bathroom, and he didn't so I put him away and went back to sleep. Then he started yet again, getting louder and louder with each bark, and he was even shaking the cage! After what seemed like an hour (probably more like 6-7 minutes) he stopped. I swear between 4am and 5am is THE most quiet time of the day. That seems like the only hour where there is literally no noise coming from anywhere-- this all made it worse and I began to really worry about my neighbors. I mean, who wants to be the neighbor with the annoying barking dogs? No one does, especially when people are trying to sleep. Finally after the fourth time of his insane barking, I quickly went to get him when he stopped. I've read it's really important not to give them attention when they're barking, otherwise they'll think that's an acceptable way to get your attention.

I'll definitely say he worked my nerves, I began rethinking if I was really ready to be a "mom". I can be patient, but this barking at 4am was not something I planned on getting used to. At that moment I really thought I was in over my head, I even started to look for non-harmful devices to keep your dog from barking... the collars seemed a bit extreme, but I was on the verge of ordering a K-Ii Pet-Agree Dog Training Aid Ultrasonic. Thankfully that was the last time he barked like that at night, and the only other time he's ever barked continuously (and annoyingly) was when I left him in a tub to try and go potty (on his pee pad) when we were at my sister's house.

The first few days and nights of having a new puppy can be tough, but I realized you just have to hang in there and things will go smooth sooner than you realize.