Help!! my doodle won't stop crying!!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

My doodle has been crying barking and howling for over an hour. She's been doing this for a few weeks now but this is the worst. It appears to be separation anxiety. As soon as I leave it starts. I'm sitting out in the hallway waiting for her to settle down so I can go back in. I already went back in once thinking maybe she needs to potty again, so I took her out, but trhat did,kt help. I'm already an hour late for work and my boss just said that I can work from home today, thank goodness!

Why did this start all of a sidden and how do I fix it? She used to bee so quiet when I was away. My next door neighbour issued a complaint about the dog who lives upstairs and I'm worried she will do the same for me.

My heart is breaking as I sit here listening to her cry... :-(

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

I think I will give it a try.  My Bailey is 12 wks...I know I need to stop her barking and whining now before it gets worse..

 

We'll see what happens : )

[Jennifer and Jack]

That is what I was told as well

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Who knows for sure, but I think it's possible that during your vacation her routine was changed.  You were spending more time with her than normal, and you were taking her with you more than normal (probably).  I think also leaving her out of the crate was an additional change in her routine.  I really think getting back into a normal routine will help her to become less anxious.  I would also start crating her and leaving the room regularly throughout the day.  I would just put her in the crate and walk away.  When you come back into the room (when she's quiet and calm), I would not look at her or speak to her....just let her out of the crate.  She will need to relearn that she's not getting out of the crate when she's in that anxious state....only when she's calm.  Part of the challenge is not letting her see that you're upset by her crying or howling.  I really believe that she will be able to sense that and will feed off of it.  Adina's suggestion is a slightly different approach that may work for you.  I would probably have a tough time with it for a dog who is already anxious, but that's probably my own "hangup".  Good luck.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Here is my advice. DO THESE THINGS NOW while she is a puppy, now that you recognize the problem and before it escalates.  

We have a 7 1/2 year old Springer Spaniel with whom we did NOT recognize separation anxiety when he was a pup.  We did consult a trainer about his behaviors when we were gone and got terrible advice (just leave him outside for the next two years) which we didn't take.  We didn't do anything else either though because we didn't recognize it for what it was (we thought it was puppy destructiveness) and we thought he outgrew it. We had another dog and Gordie was okay when left with him, again we didn't realize it was separation anxiety.  That dog has now died and, while Gordie is fine at home with our current dogs, he is not fine in our RV  (even with our current dogs) if we are gone more than a few hours! And leaving him alone is absolutely out of the question - the poor sad boy howls until his whole face is slobbery.  We tried the pheromone collar and it didn't work for him either.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

awe, poor Gordie!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

so my boss asked me to come in to the office around 1pm so I had to leave. I distracted her and dashed out before the crying could get to me. I haven't had the chance to use Adina's method but I will try this week-end. i really hope this doesn't get worse.

 

In other disturbing news, my dog walker, who normally shows up at 11:30 or noon (so she says) hadn't shown up by the time I left at 1pm. I hope she came by at some point. I'm going to have to give her a call tonight. Good help is hard to find!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

I'm wondering if the snuggle puppy or thunder shirt might help...any thoughts? I'm wondering if, at 7 months, she's too old for the snuggle puppy...

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I swore by that Snuggle puppy when they were new to the crate. Our dogs de-stuff everything now, so that would be my only concern. How about a frozen kong filled with all kinds of good stuff?

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

She doesn't like frozen kongs-won't touch them until they are room temperature. I give her peanut butter kongs at regular temperature and she never finishes them. I always have to clean the peanut butter out - yuck! i have some interactive toys but that doesn't really do it. It's really not the distractions, there's nothing that interests her more than her mommy :o) I went to take out the garbage this evening and could here her barking all the way down the other end of the hallway in my apartment building. When I came back in she was still at it, so I told her "NO BARK" and ignored her for a bit, but I don't know if that did anything. I'll have to keep trying it.

My neighbour downstairs LOVES Sophie, thank goodness! But the one beside me is not at all keen on dogs, and issued a complaint with the city once against the yellow lab upstairs. Three complaints and you get evicted, so I don't want any! I might try the thunder shirt, because I feel like she's over the snuggle puppy stage. Although... the more I think of it hte more I realize Adina's advice might be spot on. She's not really that anxious, just wants attention, so maybe the corrective approach would  do the trick. Perhaps I'll get the thundershirt if the corrections don't work by the end of the week...

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

sorry for the ramble. I was thinking outloud here..:)

[Adina P]

I don't think the snuggle puppy would make a difference at this age.  I think it works better for brand new pups but she's not looking for a puppy to snuggle with she's looking for you.

 

As far as the correction and implementation.  A key factor is setting up 10-15 minutes to catch her right away in her barking/yipping/crying and sticking with the correction until she quits for that session.  So for example, while taking out the garbage if you could hear her all the way down the other end of the hall she got to bark too long. 

 

The other key factor is timing.  It's impossible to give the crate shake immediately because you're not near the crate.  So that's why you mark it as soon as possible with the deep, growly, powerful, gutteral verbal correction first.   Then you march in as though you mean business (but not emotionally) and shake or bang on her crate. It's the banging/shaking that is the unpleasant consequence.  Your verbal "QUIET" or "NO BARK" is merely marking the moment she went wrong so she knows that it's THAT you want her to quit doing and it's THAT that is leading to the crate quake. 

 

So you would leave her presence (as far/near as necessary to trigger her to start yipping), give the verbal correction from where you are standing, march in and bang on her crate, then go back to where you were and wait for the yipping to start again.  Rinse and repeat until you get 5 minutes of quiet while you are away from her presence.  But you need to repeat this so it is FOR SURE in her mind what the action and consequence is.

 

If you only randomly correct the yipping it won't make it go away.  To her your marching in and banging on her crate will seem random.  It's that close connection with EACH time she does this that will help her understand what controls the crate quakes.  And if you are consistent then she will learn that she CAN control it by simply keeping quiet.  If you are random in when you correct and when you ignore and when you let her go on for a while and when you correct right away, then she won't necessarily understand she has control over it and it will seem random and thus it will be ineffective.  Not to mention it won't help her feel better when she doesn't fully understand the rules.