Working up to home alone...

[DumbledoresWand]

I have a 2yr old show type cocker, who i feel I sort of rescued from a covid breeder - think he was the puppy she couldn't sell... I've had him 6mths, he's house trained, great in the car and on walks, but literally follows me everywhere.i WFH part time, and he goes to day care I day each week, where he is great with other dogs.
I am trying to work up to being able to leave him at home for a couple of hours. I'm in a bungalow, have a baby gate on the inside kitchen door and at the moment he will stay in the kitchen while I potter or nip outside, but if I'm out of sight he cries.... should I be doing things differently, or just gradually increase the time he is in the kitchen until he gets used to it? A friend said to get him a lickimat so going to get one of those tomorrow - anyone got anymore ideas, or things that have worked for them?

We are still working on this with our cocker, they are velcro dogs! Have a look at the Dog Training Advice and Support group on Facebook. It's run by dog trainers and behaviourists and they give great (free!) advice, and have guides you can read. I was told by my family to let my pup cry it out and she would eventually get used to it, but this causes them to shut down (learned helplessness) and can actually trigger separation anxiety so I've just gone at her pace.

@slugHell thanks for that, I'll have a look at the Facebook group.
He's the first dog I've not had from a pup, my other spaniels were always crate trained from day one, but he was really stressed when I tried him in a crate when I got him home as an 18mth old, so trying the baby gate route :)

Both Steve Mann and the DTAS group have great guides on this. You have to make yourself and what you are doing boring, to a point, whilst increasing their confidence alone. It is a case of very slowly and avoiding forced separation (gates etc) as much as you can until the dog is choosing not to bother following anyway.

Julie Naismith is also very good. It’s about sub threshold training as stressed dogs don’t learn.

Get a good book or lookup a recommended trainer.

From memory you have to do the separation in very small increments. At first it may be just a minute out of sight, then go from there.