Hello

By way of introduction I have six dogs. A litter of four Catahoula mix puppies who are now just turned 14 weeks and two adults, a neutered male Catahoula mix and a spayed female Australian shepherd/lab.

I am trying to find homes for the puppies and hope to have two of them in new homes this weekend.

I have decided to keep one of the pups. I have read Ed's articles and have his Puppy 8 weeks to 8 months video.

I work in rescue and have personally seen and worked with dogs who match Ed's description of "Doggy" and I wish to raise my puppy so that he is not doggy. To that end I will follow Ed's advice and keep him separate from the adult dogs until he is over a year old.

I have three dog crates in my living room. My adult female has run of the house 24/7 but sleeps in her open crate at night. My male is crated when not being supervised. I had planned to put my puppy in the living room in the third crate. The crates are wire crates that I cannot cover with blankets because both the male and the puppy will chew the blanket and pull it into the crate.

My question is, if the puppy is in his crate but can see the other dogs 24/7, does it count as separating him, or should I put his crate in another room? Will being in the room with the other dogs all the time create separation anxiety if he is ever left alone, because he did not get used to it as a pup?

Currently I am keeping the puppies together in pairs in pens in my basement (they go outside to play, supervised, 5 to 6 times a day). I realize this is not the ideal scenario having them all together but I am not a breeder and I do not have the facilities to separate them now. When I get homes for at least two of them, (hopefully this weekend!) that is when I will bring my puppy and his littermate upstairs and start crating them.

Thank you for your advice.

I forget, Angela: How old are they now?

Puppies: 14 weeks (second sentence of last post - born Aug 29.)
Adults: male is approximately 1.5 years and he is a foster, female is around 4 years and is my adopted rescue.

It isn't took late to properly bond with the pups, but I would suggest the puppy crate be in a seperate room, or his focus and attention will still be on the other dogs more than it is on you. If he can see the other dogs, and the female can have contact with him while loose and he is in his crate, then he is not really seperated from them, he is simply not able to play with them. He will still be part of the pack as long as he can see them and they are in the same room.

Duke was almost 13 weeks when I got him, and unlike your pups had NO human contact prior to that, he was as doggy as doggy gets for his age, and he is currently very bonded with myself and my brother, and still has regular access to other dogs (though not constant) He has not "reverted back" to being overly doggy. Groundwork and establishing yourself as the calm assertive leader so that all the dogs will follow you calmly is important, as doggy or not you would be respected as the alpha and part of the pack.

I suggest seperating the pup from the other dogs completely until a strong bond is developed between you and the pup. Wait until that bond and you can start to allow some interaction between him and the other dogs again without that small amount of interaction being better than time spent with you. You have to be more important and more pleasant and more fun than other dogs.

Thanks for the great reply. Should I put the crate in my bedroom or another room (like the dining room for instance). I don't normally allow any dogs in my room and I also don't want to foster any separation anxiety. But I do want a good bond with the puppy.

Angela,

Are these pups from a different litter than before? I was thinking you had another litter that was older as well? Or, did you place all of those?