Help, need short term puppy advice

[permaquandry]

Got permapup (8 mths) back from 3 week trip at kennels. She has to be kept in the kitchen (always was prior to kennel trip and is a large kitchen with all home comforts, toys, beds etc), however has barked non-stop when left alone since being brought home and I mean non-stop.

Do I indulge her in the the short term as she's just seems desperate for our company after being away or do we ignore from the outset? She's not being left for long periods (15 mins or so) just intermittently whilst I go about daily chores etc.

She was quite barky before (mini schnauzer) but I was hoping would be cured of this after kennels, maybe all the other dogs barking has encouraged her?

All advice appreciated, thx.

3 weeks is quite a long time for such a young animal to be away from home. She's probably feeling a bit unsure, and maybe she's just lonely. Does she never get to be in the rest of the house with the family?

If she's barking almost non stop you need to catch her when she's quiet and treat her for being quiet. Reward her with play when she's quiet, then add whatever words you want to used to stop her when she barks and reward her when she stops; not sure I've explained that very well. My dog was a terrible barker - small barky dog - but she will stop immediately I tell her now and come trotting over for her reward.

I think the answer is to teach them to bark on command and that way you can them teach them a stop command . Victoria Stilwell covered it on one of her programmes once .

She sounds stressed and anxious which is not surprising after 3 weeks in a kennels at that young age. Try Adaptil collars/diffusers they are very helpful for stressy dogs. I would also not force the issue now, just allow her to be with you until she feels more comfortable to be alone and when you do leave her give her high value chews to distract her and return to her before she gets too stressed and starts barking.

Thanks for the replies. She is kept in kitchen as she is still a chewer and will try to eat anything, so for her safety we only let her out of there when fully supervised. It is the family room as well, so we are mostly in there with her.

Thankfully, the barking has much improved today and we have been giving her lots of cuddles and fuss, she seems very happy to be home but she was well cared for in the kennels.

I have been waiting for a pause in the barking, then rewarding and that seems to be working.

Thanks again.