We rehomed our puppy from one of my partners work colleagues at the start of December. He is now almost 9 months old. He was used to being left alone in his previous home, but had a dog flap so he could take himself outside etc.
When we first bought him home I took a couple of days off work to help him settle in and then we started leaving him at home whilst both myself and my partner went to work. We have a dog walker come in halfway through the day. We have used stair gates to shut him in the kitchen and have got cameras set up to keep an eye on him. He cried for around half an hour after we left but then settled down and slept for the rest of the day.
Our arrangements had to change over the Christmas period as the dog walker had some time off so we had a few days off work and then puppy went to my mums during the daytime for a few days too. Now the Christmas period is over we need to go back leaving him whilst we’re at work. This means that puppy has only been left alone since living with us for just under 2 weeks, and then has been around people constantly for 2 weeks also.
On Sunday we popped to do the food shop and he sounded much more distressed than he did when we left him before Christmas but he did settle down within half an hour or so. Yesterday when both myself and my partner went to work he again sounded distressed (crying, whining, barking, howling) and managed to jump over the extra tall stair gates! The rest of the house isn’t dog proofed enough for him to be there whilst we’re out so I came home from work. When I got home he had settled down and was just laying by the porch door.
I tried to get him used to being left alone again by initially shutting him in the kitchen and sitting by the gate so he could still see and smell me. He cried and tried to jump over the gate but settled within 5 minutes or so. a few hours later I tried shutting him in the kitchen again (this time with the glass doors shut rather than the gates) whilst I was in the living room so he could still see me, he settled within 5 minutes or so again. A few hours later I shut him in the kitchen again and went upstairs. After 45 minutes he was still alternating between crying and whining and howling and barking. He’d seem to quieten down a bit but was still whining before howling and trying to jump the gates again.
Does anyone have any advice for getting a puppy used to being left alone? Any information I’ve found online says to give them a toy such as a Kong filled with kibble to keep them entertained whilst you’re gone, and to build up the time left alone for in stages. Our puppy will happily play with the Kong if we give it to him whilst we’re eating dinner or something, but if we give him the Kong when leaving him alone he shows little to no interest in it. Puppy also follows me up to the bathroom and then sits outside crying so even struggles if left for a small amount of time.