My Puppy Has seperation anxiety Any Tips To Help Him?

Pinkdebster

Hiya

Again, congratulations on the new pup!! We got our puppy this time last year - he was eight and a half weeks old and cried for consistently for the whole of the first night. I thought I'd been so clever before we got him - I read all the right books, bought all the recommended bedding etc - took home a blanket from his "mum", put a hot water bottle in his bed........but nothing prepared me for that pitiful wail. It broke my heart. I don't think I slept for the first three days that we had him and I felt worse than when the children were babies!!

Anyway, someone suggested I got a crate - I'd been SOOOO against it - but I was desperate. I put it up in our bedroom, padded it out nicely and left the door open - from that day on, he slept like a baby at night!! He LOVED that crate and I can only assume he felt "safe" in it.

The peeing and pooing issue was only for a few days - initially I'd planned on paper training him but it just seemed so pointless as I would then have to train him to go outside.............so I put up with the accidents and just spent most of my time going in and outside. Within two weeks, he was completely dry indoors.

And finally the separation anxiety - I had exactly the same with the wailing and parading in his mess. It got to the point where I honestly thought I was never going to be able to leave him. So I started with just leaving him whilst I went out to the bin. Then I sat outside on the step for twenty seconds, building it up gradually and over a period of time. Again, I had to persevere and it was really hard, hearing him cry. I think within a month he was okay with us leaving him - I bought him a kong and used to fill it with peanut butter which he loved. I used to make it the night before so it was frozen and it would take him a while to get it out. He loved it and came to associate us leaving him with getting his special toy. I never used it for anything else.

There were days during those first weeks when I used to sit and cry because I felt so useless and because I was just so tired. I lost count of the number of times that I questioned my reasoning for getting a dog!

Turn the clock on a year and I have a very well-behaved, loving labrador. The crate has gone and he usually just crashes on the floor by the bed - it's a small price to pay!! When we go out I just give him a little treat and he wanders off to eat it and sleeps until we get back.

You just have to be patient and I promise it does come good at the end!!

Debbie

little_miss_muppet_face

Another one promoting the crate.. my pup is now 6 months old, had the crate from the first night, however she cried and cried, got round it by leaving the crate door open but closing the kitchen door, padded the crate out with vet bed, a water bowl and a toy, she now sleeps in the crate but can roam the kitchen freely, had a few accidents on the kitchen floor but everything has went relatively smoothly for us...:)

jm2k

also, get feed balls where you can put small treats, and the pup will have to move it around the floor to get the treat out, great distraction device. (make sure its low-cal treats or if using her normal diet, to remember that you are feeding in the ball and reduce the feed in the dishes)

Beckyy

Can I just add to this thread that although crates can be great I don't think they're a necessity. I've always been constantly told by various dog trainers that we MUST GET A CRATE, but never have. The first few nights we had our current pup we were sleeping downstairs anyway as we were having new carpets fitted upstairs. From then on we were upstairs and pup was downstairs, I was going downstairs during the night to take him out until he was old enough to hold it. He now takes himself to has favourite spot on the sofa at about 9pm, has to be woken up for a pee before bed, then curls back up and doesn't budge until you wake him up to go out in the morning. He's free to get up, move about, go between his bed and sofa etc. and he's quite happy with that set up.

I know lots of people have mentioned it, but if you don't want your dog sleeping in your bedroom when it's older don't let it now. Start as you mean to go on. If you need to be with him to settle him then stay downstairs with him instead of taking him somewhere 'out of bounds'. Obviously if you're happy having him sleep in your bedroom as an adult then you don't have to worry about it.