bit of advise walking & seperation

Well we picked Poppy up on Friday & she is a total honey!

a couple of questions i wanted to ask though.

Poppy has not been walked very much at all, she is petrified of her lead & hides under Thors legs or in any corner she thinks that you can not get to her, i have left the lead lying around so that she gets used to it, but i have to literally pick her up and she shakes & calm her & put the lead on, once on she constantly spins making it very dificult to walk her, she is fantastic off the lead - we went on an enclosed field and she stays close and stops the spinning. she has walked fine once she forgets about the lead & then will suddenly start spinning again?

She also does not like being left - at all, she crys constantly, even through the night.

i dont want to keep her with the other two as they are so much bigger and whilst im confident no harm would come to her off my two, i would feel better if she was seperated at night time & whilst we were out, just as a precaution as my other two are so big - i know its early days, but so far she has only been quiet one night, and i think she was just so shattered she flaked!

i just worry she isnt happy & is obviously fretting

I'm sure Poppy will settle in time. It's still only early days. Have you tried feeding her little treats when she has the lead on and as she walks by you? She might then relate the lead to food rewards? I'm sure she will eventually realise that the lead means going somewhere good to have fun. Are you using a crate at night? Perhaps you could crate Poppy with your other dogs so that she's in the same room but can't come to any harm. She might not feel lonely then. I am no expert so I hope others can give you some good advice. Good luck and let us know how you get on with Poppy.

I agree with shippers. You can get your pup used to it by giving a treat whenever she is around it. My cav hated going on a lead, but after some walks he was fine!

i am doing the treat bit! but she keeps jumping up for more at my legs! - i am starting her in puppy & socialisation training next week so hopefuly that will help too.

we have a baby gate up at the kitchen door, she constantly scrabbles at it to get out, i think i am going to go down the crate route, may be that way she can be safe & still feel part of the family while we are out!

thanks for your help - i will keep you posted!

Have you tried just leaving the leash on the floor so she can "check it out" and then after you do that a few days, attach the leash to her collar or harness and just let her walk around the house with it on. (Just be sure to keep her in sight in case she gets caught on something!)

The crying in her crate will get better. It will take a few days.

Could you leave Poppy's crate in a place where she can see your other dogs when she has to be in the crate? Oz was fine in his crate as long as he was in the room with my other three. Where do your big guys sleep at night? Could you put Poppy's crate close by them? Then she could hear their breathing and movements and know she's not alone. I agree though that she's too young to be left with them out of a crate and unsupervised, no matter how gentle Thor seems to be with her (and probably you other one too). I love how you describe how she has been so taken with Thor. Also regarding the lead, you could get a harness (I use step-in ones since one of my dogs has SM and another has the malformation and I don't want to pull anything over their heads - other dogs have no problem with it) and leave it on her during the day and then periodically attach the leash and let her trail it around the house like Chloe suggested. Make sure you are with her though when you do this. Accidents happen fast! And I know you've heard it before, but the crying and whining will stop. Have fun. I love looking at her pictures with Thor.

Thank you every one!

we are going to get a crate for her, at the moment she is in the kitchen, we have a dog gate up but she seemed better with the door shut closed, last night & today i left her with just the baby gate & the neighbours said she was fine, my mum checks on her & sits with her if we are out for an hour or more.

i really dont think any of my two would harm her, but accidents do happen & if they get a little over excited they are big clumsy dogs & i wont risk anything!
It amazes me just how aware they are & gentle! i knew they would be but i did expect a couple of hairy moments in the first few weeks - so far fingers crossed nothing! she is right in there in the middle when they are playing and rolls underneath on her back stops them mid play so she can have some fun too!

Thor is best with her, Freya doesnt seem to know what to do, he gently butts her and she chews on him! she has also had a piggy back off Freya when she jumped from sofa to her back when they were coming through for food!

we have left her lead hanging about so she gets used to it just being there & this morning walk she didnt even shy away - still span around though!