I'm not sure, in your situation, I would leave the dog outside until he made the decision to come in. It almost sounds as if the dog had bad experiences inside at the previous home and outside was the only place he could stay or maybe was forced to stay; anyway you now have to counteract all that.
All the good points have been made by others, now you have to put them all together.
Do not let the dog outside without a long lead (long closthesline or whatever); when you say come reel in the lead and treat and praise. You have to be consistent too; use the same word, treat immediately, etc. Also I don't think I would leave the dog loose outside until this is overcome. If possible I would also take the time to be outside with your dog (still on the lead) and play with him and praising and treating for any good interaction he does.
Also you might want to have a special treat just for the come command and for entering the house. He does not get this treat until he comes and/or he enters the house - but make it something really special that is not given except for this purpose.
Night time problems!
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why can't she sleep in the bed?
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Dallas was a crate screamer when we were training him to sleep there at night. It just took a while for him to realize that his screams weren't getting him anywhere.
Although, if there was a way to get the crate next to your bed, you'd probably have quicker results. We would move Dallas' crate into the bedroom at bedtime so he could see us. That also helped in house training because he would wake up at usually around 3-4 AM, needing to pee, & I could easily take him out because I'd hear him start to move around in his crate.
It just takes some time, patience & ear plugs. :p
Oh I will mention though that now Dallas sleeps in bed with me because he is crated during the day.
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It sounds like you are crating her while you are at work and crating at night, is that right? That is a lot of crating and with the crate being in the kitchen so there is the added element of separation at night also, it all adds up to a lonely puppy. Dogs are social animals that really need to know they are part of the pack. If you could find a way for the crate to be in the bedroom so she is not separated from you at night that might help.
Is there are reason you don't want her sleeping in bed? If you are going to crate during the day, then I wouldn't recommend also crating at night. You may want to look into getting her a nice dog bed that you can train her to sleep on.
If you scroll down to Go To Mat this is one method for getting her started on learning to sleep on her own bed, http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Levels/ByLevel/2Level.html
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I don't mind her sleeping in bed with me, for the most part. She's a neck and face cuddler tho, so sometimes she doesn't realize her claws hurt my face.
I do feel bad crating her at night, but my girlfriend said that once a puppy gets used to the bed she will absolutely refuse to sleep anywhere else.. I figured that might be a bad trend to start.
But it makes sense… plus the help with house training will be nice..
I will try to let her sleep in bed with me for awhile and maybe I can gradually switch her to a blanket on the floor next to my bed?
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If you want her to sleep next to the bed then you need to start that now not try to switch later. But she may be much more willing to accept sleeping in her own dog bed in your room then alone in kitchen.
There is another thread right now about beds with some good recommendations for some that you could get.
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Just because the sleep in your bed doesn't mean they won't sleep anywhere else but it is harder to retrain a new behavior than it is to just start with the one you want.
My male has always been a bed dog but there many nights he prefers to sleep in my computer chair.
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It does all depend on the dog itself. Medjai will sleep easily in my bed or his crate. Even though his crate is next to my bed, he was comfortable when his crate was out in the living room as well.
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So last night I let her sleep in the bed with me and my girlfriend..
And it went pretty well.. she woke up at 2am and I took her out to pee real quick, and then she went back to sleep. The only real problem is she loves to pounce on Aly's hair and start gnawing on it, but other than that… no howling and I was able to get a decent nights sleep.
And the best part was no messes to clean up this morning - she definitely didn't want to go potty on my bed (Thank yooooooou) haha
thank you guys for the help
hopefully she stays this wonderful -
Dallas would try to knaw on my hair when he was a puppy too. Something about the texture they love? Haha. Anyway, just give her a strong NO when she does it, & move her away from the hair. Sometimes it is also a good idea to have something you can redirect her chewing to after doing this, like one of her toys. When she starts to chew on the toy vs. your girlfriend's hair, praise her big time. She'll get it in no time.
Oh & welcome to the world of bed hoggery. Hah. You will learn quickly how basenjis have this amazing talent of taking up the ENTIRE bed, with only one of them sleeping in it. Your girlfriend and you will be cuddled up to one side of the bed in no time :p
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I think the hair eating is texture and smell because Medjai still can't resist some of my friends hair when they sit on the couch where Medjai can get to it.
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I think the hair eating is texture and smell because Medjai still can't resist some of my friends hair when they sit on the couch where Medjai can get to it.
Yes that is a B thing… hair... I remember when I met Leighton's boy Ruka... he just loved freshly washed hair.... and loved to try and roll in it.... ggg
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Oh, I was talking about dry hair. There is NOthing that can keep Medjai from wet hair. He will climb on my shoulders and lick my head for 15 minutes if I let him.
