Puppy Pie
December 8th, 2004, 03:52 PM
Hi - I have a new puppy (almost 10 weeks old), and he doesn't like being left alone. Both my boyfriend and I work all day, but we've arranged for him to be let out once during the morning, and then a dog walker comes over in the afternoon. However, in between visits he cries and howls when he's left alone. We've had him for 3 weeks now, and it's still continuing. We've done crate training...we say "Oliver Crate" and he runs in and sits until we give him a treat. But as soon as we close the door, he howls. My vet said to wait until he's quite for a couple of seconds then let him out so he learns that he's released only when quiet. The problem is that he can't seem to get past a few seconds without howling. We've also tried keeping him in the kitchen, but the same occurs. I know this can take a while, but we have to go to work and can't be with him 24/7. He's sleeping in his crate at night, and does whine to go in when he's tired. But if he's awake, he has no interest in being there. Another issue is that he does have to go out to be a good boy once during the night which is fine, but once he's done his business he wants to play for a while as opposed to going into his crate and back to sleep. If I put him in his crate and shut the door before he's asleep he cries. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and if so, what does one do. I should note that his crate is in our bedroom - should we be moving it into the living room?
Thanks
PS. The crate did work for house training - he's going outside about 90% of the time (and telling us when he has to go too!)
Thanks
PS. The crate did work for house training - he's going outside about 90% of the time (and telling us when he has to go too!)