My young puppy cries in crate, eats poop. How can I help her?

Question

I adopted what I thought was an 8 week old labraheeler, after taking her to my vet today, I was told there's no way she's older than 6 weeks, possibly even 5 weeks. I know it's imperative she be with her mother but the lady I got her from gave her family away. No matter what I do, she won't stop crying, especially in her crate. I don't know what to do. Apart from that, the vet said she was too young to train, and she constantly tries to eat her poop. Help? Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Female | unspayed | 2 lbs

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA · Accepted Answer

Poor Opal! You're right that it's best for puppies to stay with their mother and littermates until at least 8 weeks of age, but sometimes this can't be helped. Fortunately, there are definitely some things you can do to help her. If she cries in her crate, I would recommend making sure that she has something tasty to eat or chew on every time you put her in the crate - a Kong toy stuffed with peanut butter is a good option, or even something like a bully stick or pig's ear. At night, I would suggest placing her crate right beside your bed - you can even put it on a low table or ottoman if you have one handy, so that she's at eye level with you and feels like she's right beside you. This can be very helpful for young puppies, since they're often very anxious about being alone at night. You can certainly go ahead and start housetraining her - she probably won't have very reliable bladder control yet, but there's no reason you can't start teaching her to potty outside. Here is an article that discusses how to do this in more detail: https://www.petcoach.co/article/7-rules-for-effective-housetraining/0

My young puppy cries in crate, eats poop. How can I help her?

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