Separation anxiety

[sallyjuliet]

Hi all, just looking for some advice really. We have an 11 week old puppy. He’s doing really well with basic commands and sleeps well in a crate downstairs at night. We’ve been trying to get him used to being by himself for short periods during the day because in the future we will have to leave him for the odd hour or two (when he’s older). We spend most of the day downstairs in the kitchen/diner and he’s most settled here I think. It’s where his crate is. We have the radio on most of the day so I leave that on when we leave the room. We’ve tried scattering a few treats on the floor when we leave the room, leaving him with a kong, leaving him with his favourite toys. We make sure he’s had a wee/poo in the garden so he’s comfortable before we leave him, we’re making sure he has regular play and regular naps/quiet time. But every time we leave the room he whines and then starts barking. We leave him for a bit to see if he settles but normally the whining and barking just escalates. We’ve tried leaving him free in the room and also in the crate but doesn’t make any difference.
Is there anything else we can try? Or is it just early days and we’re expecting too much too soon? Any expert advice would be much appreciated :)

Julie Naismith on Facebook and her book Be Right Back helped a lot for us. We joined her group as we needed extra help with a very traumatised needy rescue. There’s games to start from getting the dog used to you walking around the house and not following to opening doors etc then building up leaving the house.

That should say we joined her paid for private group. There is a free group on Facebook with loads of useful help and lots of videos from her.

Look at Dog Training Advice and Support on Facebook. Join the group, read the units.... and look at the Flitting Game. Sounds similar to what pp has recommended.

Thank you both. I’ll take a look :) I don’t really use Facebook so never think to check there! Thank you :)

@happypuppymummy

Look at Dog Training Advice and Support on Facebook. Join the group, read the units.... and look at the Flitting Game. Sounds similar to what pp has recommended.

Second this. I joined this group in anticipation of our rescue arriving in a few weeks. It’s been incredibly helpful and I’ve learned lots from it.

I would say not to expect too much of an 11 week old puppy. He's only been away from his mum and siblings for a couple of weeks and so needs to know that he is safe and around the people he know (i.e. you). People often over emphasise the need to get a tiny puppy used to being away from you when really the best thing you can do in these early weeks is focus on letting him settle in and become comfortable in his new surroundings. You have plenty of time to practice him getting used to time alone.

The DTAS group say that there is no such thing as separation anxiety in a puppy under 9 months as this is just a puppy being a puppy. On my limited experience of owning one dog who is now 1 i would agree with this. Dogs like to be around you and will inevitably always prefer to be with you when you're around. This doesn't mean that you'll never be able to go out and leave him when he's a bit older.

Try not to worry and focus on enjoying (i use that word lightly as he's a puppy after all!) your new arrival!

In Defence of Dogs by John Bradshaw also has brilliant advice on SA.

@LBee2020 thank you. That’s really reassuring. He’s such a lovely puppy. I just didn’t want to be doing the wrong thing and getting him into bad habits which would be harder to break in the future. Makes perfect sense though to keep him at happy and settled as possible in the early days. He’s settled in so well overall and we’re so happy he sleeps well overnight. I carried my children around in slings for months when they were babies and they’re lovely independent children now. Maybe I need to keep that in mind 😊

Look up the the flitting game and the relaxation protocol. We are still doing it with our 12 week old so I don’t know if it works but that’s the advice we have had.

When he's a bit older start leaving him for short spells and build it up gradually. I never leave my dogs more than 3 hours alone. Also before you leave him make sure he's had a good long walk.