Howling When Left Alone In Run

[Red Fox]

Last week our new run arrived.

Kei, our 5 and a half month old ridgie, loves the run and will choose to lay in there during the day and play with his toys or roll around in the grass and sleep in the sun.

However, if I shut the door and pretend to leave the house he will alternate between pacing, wimpering and howling with the occasional bark.

Today I put Kei in the run with a filled Kong and pretended to leave the house so that I could observe his behaviour. The plan was to watch and see if he would settle down or whether the barking/howling/wimpering would escalate.

Kei sat at the gate and wimpered, sat in his clam pool and wimpered, searched around for another way out, howled, barked, paced etc. While he didn't appear to be overly distressed he didn't settle either. Ignored the Kong and toys too.

This went on for the entire hour (with me peeking through the window )

Is it separation anxiety? and how do I approach this situation Should I just leave him in there for short periods until he gets used to it?

I should also add that the run is very safe and secure, sheltered etc. so that's not an issue, but I dont want him barking the neighbourhood down every time I leave the house

Does any-one have any advice?

[huski]

Daisy would do this when she was a pup (and sometimes she still does if she has to be confined when she really, really doesn't want to be ).

Sometimes it is separation anxiety and sometimes they are just being whingers - Daisy never had SA, she just wanted out and was whinging to get her own way. She wasn't distressed at all.

Definitely try leaving him for shorter periods and work your way up, I also found leaving her a bone to chew on and simply saying "bye bye" with absolutely no fuss helped too.. it made me leaving a positive experience and gave her something to occupy her.

[Just Midol]

If you leave without locking him in the run what does he do?

[Red Fox]

If you leave without locking him in the run what does he do?

If left alone in the yard (with the door to the run open) he tends to play in the run with his toys otherwise he will lay on the grass or on his mat by the door. Doesn't seem to be too bothered by it either.

The wimpering will only start if the run door is closed and I go inside. If I'm outside, and he can see me, he is more than happy to be in the run.

Although we have a fully fenced yard, there have been two purebreed puppies stolen recently in our area and there were also several cases of dogs being poisoned last year.

For these two reasons I will only leave Kei either in his run or inside (in the puppy pen) when I leave the house. When I'm home he has free access to the house, yard and run the majority of the time.

I should also add that Kei has been whimpering a lot lately eg. when the cat wont play with him, when he wakes up and wants to be let out of his crate, when I am taking my time preparing his food etc. so I wonder if it's also an attention seeking behaviour??

[Dogsfevr]

Be patient & stick with it but i would certainly do it in smaller doses with the gate shut.

I would suggest when ever you go in the run always shut the gate even if you sit there for a few minutes.Dogs learn to hear the sound that means something different & some can react quickly to "that noise means im being left here"

Feed him in there whilst you go about doing nothing with the gate shut & when opening dont make any fuss at all.

Yes his age can be a factor ,i tend to find this age is one of understanding more & also understanding sounds & reactions.If you pander too much they will take you for a ride but you also need to not let them turn it into a habit

Edited March 11, 2009 by settrlvr

[Just Midol]

I'm not a behaviourist, but if it was seperation anxiety I would have suspected that he would have had symptoms when you leave even if he is in the main yard.

Try posting in the training forum, but imo, this is not sep anxiety. I believe he is attention seeking. Have you ever let him out of the run while he is whimpering or given any attention? I don't mind if my dog jumps around and vocalises as I approach the run but if he is barking or whining and I am inside, I won't even move to where he can see me till he has settled down (so really, a minimum of 5-10 minutes of quietness).

Edited March 10, 2009 by Just Midol

[Red Fox]

I'm not a behaviourist, but if it was seperation anxiety I would have suspected that he would have had symptoms when you leave even if he is in the main yard.

Try posting in the training forum, but imo, this is not sep anxiety. I believe he is attention seeking. Have you ever let him out of the run while he is whimpering or given any attention? I don't mind if my dog jumps around and vocalises as I approach the run but if he is barking or whining and I am inside, I won't even move to where he can see me till he has settled down (so really, a minimum of 5-10 minutes of quietness).

Hmm.... I am inclined to think that it's attention seeking too. No, I dont let him out while he is wimpering. We have a policy that no doors get opened (whether it's the crate, pen, back door etc.) unless Kei is sitting quietly. This has worked well for us as it means he will sit automatically when I approach rather than jumping up and down

Yesterday I quietly shut him in the run while he was playing with his biscuit ball, left him there and went inside. After about 10 mins he realised he was alone and paced a little then layed down on his bed. After about 5 minutes of laying down quietly I went outside and rewarded him with a Kong and then closed the door again and left for another 1/2 hour. This seemed to work well and Kei was a lot quieter.

Hopefully it's all just a phase while he gets used to being in there. We have neighbours that will complain about everything so I want to be sure that any wimpering doesn't develop into full on barking.