Separation Anxiety or ??? -Help

[twofaceshenanigans]

This will proberbly 'out' me.

We have adopted a 7 month old Staff X from the kennels, we brought her home last night and we are unable to leave the room without her howling and barking.

DH ended up sleeping downstairs last night because we both have work (I'm working from home until Tuesday) and the DC have school so needed to get some sleep.

The dog has only ever known the kennels so I know she will be so so confusedand possibly lonely.

She will only ever be left for 3 hours max at a time on her own and not until Tuesday.

How can we help her settle in? She's still a puppy and we don't want her howling and barking all night or when we are not here. She has full run of the living room and dining room (open plan) we have a crate and leave the door open for her and she will happily lay in it whilst we are in be room.

The issues start as soon as she can't see anyone. She is full of energy! She's walked in the morning, let out at lunchtime and has a long walk in the evening.

Any tips for the howling/barking would be great. My poor neighbours!

She has lots of chew toys and bedding in her crate.

Also... We have a cat, the dog is very excitable by this, doesn't try to hurt her but obviously the cat is most unimpressed and has taken to camping out upstairs and refusing to eat.

You need to build it up in the tiniest steps, as in walk out of kitchen, close door and immediately open it again. No attention when you go back in, just get a cup or wipe a work top. Repeat all day til pup is utterly bored of this and is no longer anxious about you coming and going, then gradually increase the time to 2 secs, 4 secs, 6 secs etc. ideally when doing this you should not go back in to the dog if it is barking/whining, wait until it's quiet (so you don't reward undesirable behavoir) but if your pup has such bad anxiety you won't be able to do this at first as she will be constantly barking, just make sure you totally ignore it when you go in.

This is what we were advised when we adopted an older dog with anxiety. That first day had to be the most boring of my life but by the end of it dog was okay being left for 2 mins, and we very gradually built it up over the next few weeks.

I'm working from home today so I can do that, although I have to do the school run so will be out for 20 mins or so. Do you think I should crate her when we go out? What should we do at night?

My staffie x also howled initially. At night she slept in our room to begin wih and we gradually moved her bed further away as she settled in. Eventually she would stay downstairs all night. Then we decided we preferred her on our room

During the day we did as neeps suggests and now she can be left for 4 hours with no problem (although in practice she is rarely left that long as I work from home).

Can you not take her on the school run ?

It is probably worth getting an adaptil collar to release lovely calming pheromones whilst you go through all the advised above steps.

Might also be worth trying a thundershirt. Also my dog cant cope with seeing people leave the house so I give him a treat (like a chew stick that takes a while to eat) just as I leave so he is distracted enough and then is ok to be alone. Hes a rescue and thats what i was advised when I adopted him and its always worked well for him, but then hes an adult and very food orientated so will be a very different case. But defo go with the advice on building up really really slowly.

So an update!

I put her in her crate about 5 mins before we left and just ignored her and went, I came back 20 mins later and just came in took my coat off, put the kettle on etc and she didn't go to mad, she wasn't howling when I came back (Well I couldn't hear her anyway)

Today she has let me go upstairs to the toilet without panicking and is currently flat out sleeping.

She's so beautiful and so so loving.

I could take her on the school run but DS is in Reception so I need to take him in and really don't think leaving her at the gate is the best idea.

I've ordered her a collar now.

Thanks for all the advise, We'll just see how tonight goes!