Puppy Seperation Anxiety

[deltoid]

I have a 13 week old Silky Terrier. When we go out we put him in a small pen inside our house. He also sleeps in this pen and we put him in there when we need him away from our feet. When we leave for work in the morning we try and not make a big deal of it. We generally will setup his pen for the day (and lock him out of it so he is keen to get in there and find his treats). Then we take him out to pee and drop him in the pen. Then we leave about a minute or two later. When we get home we ignore him for the first few minutes while we get changed, unpack our bags, etc. Then we get him to settle before we let him out of his pen and take him out to go to the toilet.

Up until this last week he was always pretty good when we put him in there, he wouldn't cry and would settle pretty quickly. However, this past week has been crying more when we first put him in there and jumping on the pen. I also notice around 4pm each day he starts to cry / jump on the pen for around 5-10 minutes. I suspect the problem is that my wife has just returned to full time work (she was only working a couple of days here and there for the first few weeks we had him). During the time my wife had off she'd put him in his pen alone for long periods of the day while she was home to try and get him used to the idea.

I have a webcam setup so I can keep an eye on him, this morning he has torn apart his puppy mat. I haven't seen him crying or jumping on the pen but I think generally shredding things is a sign of anxiety isn't it? (That said he has shredded his pad once before when we were home and his pen door was open).

Anyway, my question is what can I do to help him along? So we go back to the start and do the whole leave and come back thing slowly increasing the interval we are gone? Generally we are gone between 10-12 hours each day for work. I have a good 30-45minute play/train with him before we leave for work and then do the same when I get home. Then he just hangs out with us the rest of the night usually.

My wife is kind of using this as ammo in support of getting a second puppy (we have always planned to get one, just waiting for the right time. She wants to get another in April while we have a couple of weeks off and to be honest I'm starting to think it might not be such a bad idea to keep him company when we are not home but it can introduce other problems.)

Edited February 24, 2011 by deltoid

[poodlefan]

I haven't seen him crying or jumping on the pen but I think generally shredding things is a sign of anxiety isn't it?

Or boredom. What else has he got to do?

[deltoid]

I haven't seen him crying or jumping on the pen but I think generally shredding things is a sign of anxiety isn't it?

Or boredom. What else has he got to do?

Today I left him with:

* 2 x Toilet Rolls with ends collapsed and filled with his breakfast kibble rations as well as 1 or two treats mixed in. Generally these take him a little while to figure out and once he gets into them he will eat the kibble.

* Stuffed Monkey (his current favorite wrestling toy)

* A Rawhide

* Puppy Kong with the end stuffed with beef and the rest containing the rest of his breakfast kibble rations.

* Kong Bone with 1 liver treat in each end.

* He also seems big on chewing this week so left him with his rope and bone chew toys to give him some teething relief.

From the looks of it, he hasn't touched either Kong toy. Not sure about the rest.

To be honest, the shredding the puppy pad could just be that he was playing with it and not a sign of anxiety. He is fast asleep now.

Edited February 24, 2011 by deltoid

[persephone]

Puppy needs some brainwork what training are you doing, and how many times a day?

[deltoid]

Puppy needs some brainwork what training are you doing, and how many times a day?

Doing basic obedience training 2-3 times a day. At the moment a usual training session consists of teaching 'sit', 'stand', 'down', 'give', 'come', eye contact, walking close to me, fetch and playtime thrown into the mix to break the training up (most of those commands he actually already knows but I'm reaffirming them with him / not giving treats everytime for them anymore).

I do this once in the morning, once when I get home and then depending on puppy's mood another time later in the evening every day.

That said, I didn't get a chance to do it last night or this morning due to a late finish/early start, which could explain the shredding this morning? I did however play with him this morning and last night. Just didn't have time for structured training.

Edited February 24, 2011 by deltoid

[persephone]

Playing isn't 'work'

4 or 5 5 minute sessions a day will give him a good work out !

Remove any shreddable bedding .. don't need it to become a habit use newspaper during the times he is alone, perhaps?

he doesn't appear anxious from your postings- just a puppy getting older, and bored. I would put his kibble meals into a size/age appropriate treat ball .. so he works for his food.

being such a little flea .. If he were mine, he would be also provided with a whole lamb shank with some meat on ! lots of chewing to get eat off ..but no chance of choking!

[deltoid]

Playing isn't 'work'

4 or 5 5 minute sessions a day will give him a good work out !

Remove any shreddable bedding .. don't need it to become a habit use newspaper during the times he is alone, perhaps?

he doesn't appear anxious from your postings- just a puppy getting older, and bored. I would put his kibble meals into a size/age appropriate treat ball .. so he works for his food.

being such a little flea .. If he were mine, he would be also provided with a whole lamb shank with some meat on ! lots of chewing to get eat off ..but no chance of choking!

We will try and break the training sessions up to do shorter sessions but more often (generally training takes about 15 minutes each session at the moment as I break it up with play)

Thanks for the advice. We usually feed him at least half of his daily kibble using a kong or toilet roll tubes. It generally takes him a bit of working to figure them out.

I will try the newspaper idea or maybe even putting the chew off spray on the corners.

[sas]

Don't get a 2nd puppy!

Most puppies have to adjust to being a single pup and alone. You'll get there!

Exercise/Mental Exercise before going into the pen is food.

DAP Spray could be beneficial.

It also doesn't matter what time you get home from work, if you want a puppy you have to play and train that puppy even when you're tired and can't be bothered

[kirst_goldens]

i second no second pup yet... it will change ur relationship with him... and puppy needs to learn to be alone this is VERY important that a dog does NOT become relient on u or another dog

We get this alot at the kennels and u take one out for a bath or what not and the other screams the house down!

When u and the puppy are finally ready for another puppy then u need to leave ur guy home adn take puppy out without him and visa versa so they both get time with u alone and also more importantly away from each other - god forbid something happen to one or the other they woudlnt know how to function alone.

Very important to let pup grow before a new addition is considered IMHO... this is the reason we tell epople not to get littermates...

[deltoid]

Thanks for the advice. The little guy was playing with his mat again on the weekend even when he was not locked in his pen so I think he might have just realised it was fun to do.

I've tried the no bite spray (two different brands) but they don't seem to work on him. Any other suggestions? Say he is chewing my thongs. I'll put the spray on it, he will let it go, sneeze a couple of times then go for it again and this time not let up. I assume he doesn't mind the taste that much.

Regarding the second puppy. I agree it is important for them to learn to be alone and we intend on doing things both together with the puppies and with them separated. We've have also talked about putting them in separate pens some days while we are at work so they get used to not being together all the time.

Edited February 28, 2011 by deltoid

[sas]

How about pick your thongs up and put them elsewhere.

Pick up anything you don't want the puppy touching.

There are 101 reasons not to get a 2nd puppy, I really reccomend you don't.

[deltoid]

How about pick your thongs up and put them elsewhere.

Pick up anything you don't want the puppy touching.

There are 101 reasons not to get a 2nd puppy, I really reccomend you don't.

Usually we leave our thongs in a basket where he can't get to them. I was just using them as a test of the no-bite as I know he likes to chew them if ever I don't put them in the basket.

I'll talk to the wife and explain the reasons not getting the second puppy. Thanks.

[sheena]

Second puppy....double the trouble. Getting a second pup is not going to stop your pup chewing things up...it just means that you will have two pups chewing things up. Chewing is not seperation anxiety or loneliness. To a pup, it is lots of fun to chew things up, especially things that make fun noises or a lot of mess, like beds & blankets & they love to chew, cause that's what pups do....they NEED to chew. My BC when she was a pup, chewed up everything....several lots of her bedding (great fun), furniture, the bottom out the mattress on my bed, the electrical wiring from under the trailer...even chewed the external walls on my timber house...never touched shoes. Loved pillows, newspapers & those puppy pad things. :D This went on for at least 12 months & it certainly wasn't seperation anxiety or loneliness as we were either home with her all the time or she would be out with us. I will certainly know better with my second pup...simple...don't let it get the opportunity to destroy. Strange...I never had a problem with my two previous BC's :D

[deltoid]

Chewing is not seperation anxiety or loneliness. To a pup, it is lots of fun to chew things up, especially things that make fun noises or a lot of mess, like beds & blankets & they love to chew, cause that's what pups do....they NEED to chew.

Thanks. I don't think it was separation anxiety now considering he did it a couple of times on the weekend as well when we were home with him and had the door to his pen open. He just realised that it was a alot of fun to tear it up. On the plus side, I expected to come home to a mess but he still managed to do all his bathroom duties on the tiny bit of pad which was not yet torn up.

On the whole he is pretty good with chewing. He generally will stick to chewing his chew toys. If we leave socks or footwear where he can get to them he will give them a chew too but usually we have them where he can't get to them and we don't make a big deal of it when he does chew our stuff as we know we shouldn't have left them where he could get his paws on them.

I was just a bit concerned at the time as my parents had a dog with separation anxiety issues so it has made me really aware of it and as a result paranoid about it happening with our dog.

[persephone]

How about pick your thongs up and put them elsewhere.

Pick up anything you don't want the puppy touching.

There are 101 reasons not to get a 2nd puppy, I really reccomend you don't.

Sorry, but having problems coping with one pup's minor chewing/training is NOT at all a good reason for getting another pup.

learn from this pup.... research, practice, practice, research .Discipline YOURSELVES to puppy proof the house, learn all you can do about how dogs think/learn/develop and learn to think DOG ..they do not see life as we do.

Leaving thongs out as a 'test' ?Yep. Now puppy KNOWS that thongs are great to chew

puppies do fret if their pack is gone - especially if they have been given lots of freedoms and attention when they first came to their owners.....one day all that sweet talk/cuddling/closeness/guidance is gone...and if a pup has not been taught to be a bit independent ...then they may take a while to learn it .

Chewing is how pups learn about their world!! it is an essential part of growing up. puppies NEED to chew bones,toys,dirt,grass...all sorts of tastes/textures. It is how they learn about what is in their environment.

babies can do exactly the same using sensitive fingers/toes (and their mouths).

Puppies only have mouths .

[Shazzapug]

Did you tell the breeder when you bought him that he would be home alone?

[sas]

Did you tell the breeder when you bought him that he would be home alone?

Not the topic of conversation.

If you want to start that topic start a new one, it's been done to death.

[deltoid]

We've been waking up that little bit earlier each day so far this week and trying to mentally tire him out a bit more. We've also bought him another puzzle toy. We now leave him his breakfast in a kong, a puzzle ball and a toilet roll which I fold the ends up with in different ways each day. I also hide a tiny liver treat or two in a few different spots in his pen.

As a result when we leave for the day now he doesn't notice us leaving as he is busy trying to find where I've hidden the treats and then he moves on to trying to get at his breakfast. By the end of that he usually goes to sleep.

We've also been increasing the number of training sessions (multiple shorter ones rather than less frequent longer ones). Also, have been giving him more alone time at night (usually if we are in the lounge room, we have him in there with us with a door to stop him wandering around the house). He seems to be enjoying his alone time and spends it sleeping or playing with his toys.

Not sure if it is related to the changes we've been making or not but he seems much more settled when in his pen. He no longer cries when we put him in his pen and is calmer when we get home/let him out.

As for the no-bite on the thongs. He is a puppy, I'm pretty sure whether I did a test or not he was going to know that footwear = good eating. I didn't need to teach him that one.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on something to discourage him gnawing on things? At times he like to chew/carry his lead in his mouth when I'm doing lead training. The instructor at puppy preschool said to try no-bite but I've tried two different brands with no luck.