We got a lovely Beagle puppy just over a week ago. She is doing pretty well settling in, and we started with her crate straight away.
Initially we just left open for her and she chose to go in there herself, usually for a nap. After a couple of days I started closing the door before she fell asleep (so she knew it was closed). No issues at all with this. She seemed to really like it in there.
Then I started disappearing upstairs a few times a day, while she was in there. A couple of times she has whined and I've gone back into the living room so she can see me, but ignored until she's been quiet; then she gets let out. Eventually, I felt brave enough to go to the shop (half hour round trip at most, I was planning on using this week to build up the time I was out to about an hour and half).
Anyway, I've been really run down recently. So this morning, my partner got up with the puppy; toileted her, fed her, played with her, then got ready for work. By the time he was nearly ready to go, she had curled up to sleep in the crate. He closed the door and spent another 10 minutes in the room with her, finishing his coffee before deciding to leave her in there for half an hour so I could have a bit of a lie in as she was quiet and seemed quite happy. He came upstairs to let me know, so I wouldn't leave her too long. She must have heard the door close. Because two minutes after he left, she started howling and crying. I got up as soon as I heard it, but realistically it must have taken me ten or so minutes to get to her as I tend to be quite slow on a morning (autoimmune disease).
As soon as she heard the living room door open, she piped down. Obviously knowing that she wasn't getting out until she was quiet. But now I'm paranoid, probably rightly, that every time we've left the house she's tried to wake the dead with her howling.
Anyone have any ideas how I can deal with this? Sadly, there are always going to be some places that I need to go where she will have to stay home (hospitals, supermarkets etc). So being alone every now and again isn't negotiable. I also have to go back to work next week (part time and a lot can be done from home. My wonderful neighbor will be looking after her while I'm out when she's still so small, but the plan was to eventually be able to leave her 3 or so hours).
Thanks in advance!