So we have a rescue, she’s some sort of poodle cross (we suspect ‘cavapoo’ or ‘cavapoochon’).
She’s around 18m - 2 years old, and a really clever dog, if slightly timid at times. The issue we have is that since lockdown, she’s turned into a yappy nightmare when we’re out.
She’s crate trained and her crate is in the kitchen, at the back of the house, we’ve always made a huge effort to ensure she’s in her crate before we start our going out routine (shoes on, coats on, keys out etc), to help avoid giving her any triggers to cotton on to. She has a walk before we leave, has a filled Kong or licki mat and several toys to keep her busy. Prior to lockdown we were out for around 6 hours per day, 5 days per week, but my husband would return home 2-3 times during this time to walk her or play with her. She was always fine.
Since lockdown, my husband’s work hours have been dramatically cut, so now she’s left alone for around 3 hours, 3 times per week. She’s fine when we leave, but the neighbour says that around 30mins to an hour after we leave, she starts yapping and continues incessantly until someone returns.
We just don’t know where to go from here, we never make a fuss when we leave or when we return, she isn’t bothered by our initial leaving (so I don’t think ‘flitting’ would help), she’s got plenty to entertain her and has a good run on the beach each morning before we leave. She’s absolutely fine overnight in her crate, and we’ve never used it as a punishment or given her any negative association with her crate, she’ll happily take herself off there for a bit of peace from the kids etc.
So what do we do? Although the neighbour is always nice when she tells us, I get the feeling she’s frustrated by it, and I don’t blame her. It’s annoying for me on the rare occasion I hear it, it’s an awful, ear piercing scream-like bark, I couldn’t stand it for 2+ hours, even through a wall. Since my husband’s hours have been cut, we can’t afford day care unfortunately, and we have no family or friends in a position to help us (those who do like animals and don’t work themselves, have dog reactive dogs of their own).
Please help, we feel really stuck here and want to help her to settle and allow our poor neighbour to enjoy her home and garden.