I don't want to be trapped in my own house!

[ZaroPack]

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Hi,

Another question. After an initial difficult patch, our 3 month old Labradoodle is now pretty good at nights. We give him a treat and he settles down in his basket till we get up (we get up early, while he is still quiet). There is the odd puddle on the floor, but at this age that is understandable (I can't get through the nights either).

However, during the day, if we leave him alone he creates an absolute racket. We have been slowly building up the time that we leave him alone both of us going upstairs for a while and closing the stair gate; but from the off he whines and quickly builds up to howling.

My wife will be working abroad for the first couple of weeks of January, which means that I'll be alone with the dog. I work from home, so that isn't too much of a problem. However, I will need to nip out for the odd pint of milk and as a distance runner, I'd also like to get out for the odd hour or two stretching my legs once or twice a week. However, my concern is that if the pup is going to howl the neighourhood down every time he is left alone, I'm going to be trapped in my house till the boss gets back in the middle of the month.

Today, we left Zaro alone for fifteen minutes and went out to the local shop (we gave him the same treat we give at night time as we left). When we returned, the pup wasn't howling.

My theory is that when we are both upstairs he can hear us and so howls to get attention, but at night when the lights are out and we are quiet, he just settles down to sleep. Likewise, when we went to the shops, he couldn't hear us around, so he didn't bother shouting and screaming and just settled down to eat a pair of socks that we had forgotten to remove from the drying rack. Perhaps he had a good howl when he first noticed we had gone, but when we got back he was quiet.

Does this theory make sense?

Is it ok to leave a three month old pup on his own for an hour or two every couple of days?

Thanks for taking time to read these ramblings and for any thoughts or advice you can throw my way.

 

[gypsysmum2]

Yes it is fine to leave them and it is good for them to learn to be independent.

You need to work on your pup's independence. Do not respond to attention seeking behaviour like howling and wanting to be touched all the time. Look for more independent behaviour and then pay attention to your pup. Do not allow him to follow you around. Just leave the room and come back with not attention to the pup. Try to wait for a lull in the howling before returning if you can.

If you work form home try putting a post it note on your screen to remind you to go and fuss your pup whenever he is playing independently.

Play games like pretending to go out and not going. Remember to put the right shoes on then sit down and have a drink. Get ready to go again etc. This stops the pup anticipating being left alone and getting wound up before you have even left the house. Pop outside and back in again regularly so that your pup thinks you will be back any second. Build up to the odd five minutes, ten minutes etc. All this is designed to increase his confidence in being left. Make no big deal about going or coming back.

Dogs rarely have separation problems when owners leave them in the car to pop to the shop. This is because it is all done very matter of factly with no emotional goodbyes nor emotional hellos.

 

[Ginnybelle16]

Ive been leaving my pup regularly since getting her. She's about to turn 4 months now. I leave her when I go to work at 7.30. A dog walker comes at mid day and then Im home around 4. When we had her she would yelp and howl if we left her in the kitchen (the kitchen is her 'playpen' )and went upstairs. It sounds horrible but we ignored it. She soon learnt that making noise got no interest from anyone. She was rewarded with affection and praise when she had settled. Maybe try leaving him downstairs or in another room alone. If he makes any noise, no matter how loud- ignore it. When he has a spell of quiet- go back in and reward.