Hello lovely dog owners! I would really welcome your advice please. We got our Miniature Poodle puppy in July and he is now 14 weeks. He is absolutely lovely and is doing brilliantly with his training - apart from one thing! We cannot leave him in a room on his own during the day for even a few minutes, as he starts barking and whining if the door is shut, or follows us around if it's open.
At night, he sleeps in his bed in the puppy pen in my room and is as good as gold, sleeps for 7 hours without a sound (apart from slurping his water which I always hear as I'm a very light sleeper!!). During the day, we initially intended to have him in the pen in the sitting room but he hated it and would eat any food we gave him in there then immediately start whining and barking to come out. We spent the best part of a week trying to get him to spend even tiny amounts of time in the pen or sleep in there but after a stunning lack of success, we had a rethink! Now we have set up his bed in the kitchen - which is where we intend him to be when we have to start leaving him for short periods - and put a baby gate on the kitchen door. We give him a kong with sardine in it and close the gate, and then take turns going in and out of the kitchen.
He is as happy as Larry while he's eating but as soon as he finishes, the whining starts and rapidly becomes barking if left. My daughter and I are currently coming out of the kitchen for 2 seconds, then going back in, pottering for a moment or two then coming out again. We take it in turns to do 10 trips each, for the best part of an hour twice a day, but quite honestly it's knackering! I'm happy to continue if this is the right thing to do, gradually increasing the time. and I know it won't be a quick process but would really like some advice about whether this is the right way to go? We did a lot of reading before we got him and I know he should be having all his daytime sleeps in his bed in the kitchen. The problem is that although he does sometimes eventually fall asleep in there while we are to-ing and fro-ing like a pair of lunatics - at which point we then leave the gate open for him to find us when he wakes up - the minute he does wake up (which is after no more than 15 mins max) he comes straight out. If we leave the gate closed, he starts barking and whining again.
I am slightly frazzled by this as there doesn't seem to be much improvement - I go back to work on 1st September and although my mother has offered to dog-sit for us to start with, I think if she has to be with him from 9am - 4.30pm on her own every day, the novelty will quickly wear off!!
Please tell me how I can get him used to being on his own and sleeping in his bed rather than on the sitting room floor, which is where he will choose to park himself if left to his own devices! Thank you!!!!