Originally Posted by
jobar57
I just got a female shih tzu 10 days ago, she will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. I work all day so I keep her in a crate while I'm away with a towel underneath and a wee wee pad in half the crate and some toys. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to make the time I'm away easier for her (and for me!) I do have a neighbor come in once during the day to check on her, feed her, and let her run around a little (and change her pad if necessary). She cries so much when I leave. I hope she doesn't do that all day! Sometimes I come home and find her wee wee pad all wadded up to one side, she obviously must get restless in there. I don't make a big production when I leave I just figure that will make it worse. But I hear her cry down the hall when I leave in the morning, and she is sometimes crying when I get to the door at night. I leave a radio on so she can hear human voices, but don't know what else I can do. I used to watch my friend's shih tzu in the summers, I could leave him alone all day, free run of the house, and he was fine (of course he was over a year old when I first started watching him, not as young as mine). She is so energetic and rambunctious it must be hard for her in that crate all day and she goes wild with play at night when I let her out! Also although she has some accidents most of the time she will not to go to the bathroom anywhere else but her crate even though I leave pads out when I'm home, she will run to the crate anyway and do her stuff (sometimes she misses the pad too, has a tendency to pee on the edges and on the towel). I've also read some horrible posts here about people's puppies dying of diseases and I wouldn't even know how to tell she is sick! She already got two parvo/distemper shots at the breeders before I took her home and I will be getting her another one this weekend. This is all kind of long but I wonder if it will always be this tough for her (and for me) to leave her alone. Will she always cry and fuss and bark like this? Do they calm down once they get older? It's been a long time since I had a dog!
