[Hurley'sMommy]

Hurley is just over 6 months old & our first puppy together. Boy, was it an eye opener about 2 days into being a dog owner! Yowzers! haha!

We have found that he just adores us & tries so hard to please us at any given moment. Unfortunately, that has turned him into a barking & crying pup everytime we leave & he absolutely dreads us leaving him. We recently have been letting him have more space in our house & not putting him in the kennel everytime we leave. We always gate off the basement area, shut both upstairs bathroom doors & shut the mudroom door (leads to the garage) everytime we leave. There are times when it's very nice outside, we will put him in the back yard (fenced in) while we are away. If we leave him outside, we are usually gone no more than 30 minutes. If we leave him in the house, we're gone from 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

Everytime we leave, he barks & barks....then barks & cries at the doors or gates. There are times when I put him outside while I'm working out in our basement & the entire time, he's crying & barking obnoxiously at the door. I really feel sorry for our neighbors who have to listen to it!

So.....my question is....how do I get him to stop barking like this? He doesn't bark when he's around us....only when he's seperated. I feel bad for the lil guy but he really needs to be more independant. I just don't know how to do that without driving the neighbors & ourselves nuts.

Thanks!

 

[Jo Ellen]

Just keep doing what you're doing. I remember Daisy being just like this when she was that young. She did outgrow it. Sometime around 1 year, she stopped being such a spazz about it. Now she's perfect

Just give him time, he'll get it.

 

[Oaklys Dad]

It sounds like a pretty normal puppy thing to me too. A crate with a sheet may help also. Puppies like a small den like area more than an open space.

 

[zephyr]

Oscar is always crated when we are away, so maybe that makes them feel more comfortable then being out in an open space... but we haven't tried leaving him in a room or anything yet, so I'm not really sure.

But in the beginning, he would be really unhappy to be left in the crate during the day, and would bark and cry forEVER. So what worked for us was to make sure that he had sufficient exercise and play BEFORE going in the crate, so he was always tired when he went in there and would be more likely to just fall asleep (or, wait til he fell asleep, and then stick him in the crate for "practice" throughout the day, even when we were home). Also, we always give him treats in the crate, so he actually runs in there on his own now.

Is Hurley sleeping a lot during the day when you are around? maybe he is just wired and ready to play by the time he is left by himself? (my guess this would be worsened if he is already prone to being nervous or having separation anxiety when you are gone.)

Maybe try giving him a "time out" treat like a kong stuffed with peanut butter & frozen.. Oscar can easily spend 30+ minutes DETERMINED to get every last lick of peanut butter out of it, which is a great "babysitter" when he isn't sleepy! there are other things you can stick in there too if your dog doesn't do well with PB, but frozen is great because they just go at it forever!

Best of luck to you your pup is a cutie!!!!