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Old November 18th, 2005, 04:37 PM
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Question Mild Separation Anxiety & Location of Night Time Crate

I need your opinions on something.
My 10 month old pup has manageable separation anxiety. He isn’t destructive, or messy, he doesn’t hurt himself in his crate, his only thing is barking/whining. He is currently ok with me going to work in the morning and is less and less frantic when I get home. His safety cue is Cheerio and I leave the radio tuned to a talk new station.
He only mildly whines when I leave for groceries and errands on the week-end or in the car while I get gas or something. He completely panics if left alone in the back yard.
He also cries himself to sleep at night (he’s actually whining but does so curled up at the very back of his crate) and that takes about 20 minutes or so. His night-time crate is in the kitchen with a view down the hall to where the bedrooms are. Would it be counter productive at this point to move his crate into my bedroom (i.e. make the whining worse when I'm gone somewhere other than work)? I had him in the kitchen because he’s always been very dependant and I was trying to avoid making it worse but it kills me to hear him cry every night.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel, should I just tough it out or is this as good as its going to get and leaving him alone in the night might actually be making it worse?! Any thoughts or opinions are welcome.
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Old November 19th, 2005, 09:59 PM
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when you leave your puppy what is your general routine? I learnt that if you don't make a big deal out of leaving and coming home it's not so bad. with Dory I don't do too much with her, I'll give her her kong toy filled with some peanutbutter so she has something to do in her crate while I'm out. And I just don't fuss about it, because I noticed that when I would fuss, she would get nervous and make noise for longer when I would leave so I stopped that. and when she's good I just let her know that I've noticed by telling her how great and wonderful she is, this really helped her confidence when she was being left alone.
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Old November 19th, 2005, 10:06 PM
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The leaving routine is the same. I turn on tha radio, get out a carrot, ask him to go in his pen, give him the carrot once he's in. I then put on my coat, take out my car keys and say Cheerio and leave. Its what comes before that routine that lets him know something is up, i.e. no shower and make-up on the week-end. At night he has the same leaving routine, minus the radio (and I leave a night light on in the hall (more for me than him, but its there).
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Old November 19th, 2005, 10:26 PM
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mine whines too, but she stops once she thinks I can't hear her anymore, (I've listened from downstairs).
I think if you stick with it he'll be just fine, he'll grow out of it especially if you stick to the same thing like you've been doing, he'll start to know that you're always going to come back and stop worrying about it so much. I wonder if moving the crate won't let him think that he can get what he wants if he cries enough. I think you're right to tough it out. It can be heartbreaking to listen to, but I'm sure with the way you're training him he'll get over it soon enough.
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Old November 20th, 2005, 06:33 PM
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Difference between SA and Dependancy

Quote:
Originally Posted by papillonmama
mine whines too, but she stops once she thinks I can't hear her anymore, (I've listened from downstairs).
I think you're right to tough it out. It can be heartbreaking to listen to, but I'm sure with the way you're training him he'll get over it soon enough.
I'm starting to think its almost something other than separation anxiety, the only thing is the whine which he does whether or not he thinks I'm stilll there (I drove around the block and walked home today to test it and he was crying away at the back of his crate)

I have the book called 'The dog that loved too much' on hold for me and I'm picking it up tomorrow. Is there a difference between a dog with SA and one that has 'dependancy issues'? Or is it just two different names?
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