Ten month Doodle may have separation anxiety

[Audrey Alegre]

Hello, 

Otis all of a sudden started to hate his crate during the day. He cries for about 5 minutes after he is done with his Kong. He'll start to dig and bite his crate. We know this because we have a dropcam. 

The thing is, his schedule hasn't changed. He gets a walk or play date in the morning, another walk in the afternoon and a long walk after my husband and I go to work. He gets a pretty good amount of exercise.

We think this may be a case of separation anxiety as he doesn't like when we leave him in his crate during the weekends and he follows us around the house all the time. 

If anyone can give any advice or share experiences with crating, anxiet, etc,  that would be most helpful! As we are expecting a baby in a few weeks and Otis has been a little harder to deal with as he's getting older. 

Thank you! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Most doodles need more exercise than walking alone affords. Does he get a chance to really run, chase a ball, that kind of thing? 

Most dogs of all breeds and all ages follow their people around the house and want to be near them. That's perfectly normal. It doesn't mean that the dog has separation anxiety. Most dogs would also prefer that their people stayed home with them all day every day, lol.

All of my dogs have had full-time free-run of the house well before the age of 10 months. Have you tried giving Otis more freedom, i.e. leaving him out of the crate for a short period of time when nobody is home? 

[Audrey Alegre]

He definitely gets to run around on his play date. They run in the yard. Sometimes that doesn't happen until the afternoon.
I'm afraid I don't trust Otis that much leaving him free in the house. He's mischievous

[Audrey Alegre]

Oops I didn't finish.

He's not destructive but eats everything in sight. Do you think leaving him in the kitchen may be better than the crate? Should I try to leave him for a short length of time first?

Your help is much appreciated. Thank you!

[Christy&Riley]

After months of doing just fine, Riley all of a sudden started tearing up the towels in her crate. We took them out and she managed to somehow get the tip of the towel that the crate was sitting on. She shredded that too...Twice. She also started flipping her water bowl. We finally held our breath and gave her free roam when we were gone. She was great so we put the crate away. Maybe he's just ready for the next phase of freedom?

I can also attest to Karen's suggestion on good play times to wear them out. We found that walks weren't enough. We definitely saw behavior improvements after more exercise.

[Audrey Alegre]

Thank you for the advice! I really appreciate it.

We don't fully trust Otis yet as he is pretty mischievous and eats everything in sight. I may try the kitchen and see how he does.

How else do you exercise Riley? We do take him to the dog park at times but he's gotten sick there so we stopped for a little.

[Christy&Riley]

Riley has always loved to fetch. Although it took a lot of work to get her to drop it so I could throw again. I did that by having two toys. I wouldn't throw the second one until she dropped the first one. Now at two, she will drop it quickly so she can beat the next throw. In her hurry she often drops short so we make her "bring it" closer before throwing again. Funny to see her frantically picking it up and almost throwing it at us so we throw the next one.

As a puppy, my husband would run laps around our house and Riley loved to try to catch him. That tired both of them out. LOL

To tire her out mentally we started making her go into a down stay, would hide a toy then she would run around the house searching for it. It's amazing how smart they are! We've taught her the difference between ball colors and have her find the green ball or blue one. I also did little training sessions to tire her out. Working on drop it then getting a treat. I also had her sit in the kitchen and rang the doorbell. Every time she stayed and did not bark, she got a treat. While it seems simple to us, it really makes their mind work.

We went to a dog park once and that was it. I'm too scared of the ther dogs. :-(

[Christy&Riley]

Oh, another fun one. Hide and seek in the house. :-)

[Audrey Alegre]

That is great! Thanks for all the recommendations! I'm going to try to do more mental stimulation.

[Christine & Shelby]

I'd also suggest experimenting with freedom from the crate. My doodle was out of the crate at night by 6 months and then with house freedom beginning at about 10 months. My Shelby never grew to love her crate like some dogs. He may just be ready to have some freedom.... Try it out with a quick run to the grocery store and gradually start increasing the time. I'd also consider a consistent good bye routine and treat that you only use when leaving. Shelby knows that when she gets her special treat that I am leaving... She eats them and jumps up on the couch for a nap... Doesn't follow me to the door or anything. At all other times - she follows me everywhere!!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I agree that trying him outside the crate when you leave may solve the problem.  It really depends on whether he's destructive.  We only used a crate for a short time and then we started gating our dogs in one room which was "dog proofed" so they couldn't get into trouble. 

[Jennifer Tramell]

In addition to the excellent advice already given, Otis is a teenager.  This is often the time when a puppy tests their limits and boundaries.  You may notice that you have to re-train certain behaviors.  After being able to sleep all night for months, each of my dogs have gone through a stage when suddenly they need to go outside to potty - usually around 2AM.  After a couple nights, it becomes clear that they don't really need to go potty - they are just bored and lonely. 

If you can expand his "safe" area with confidence (you don't want to be nervous and worried about what he'll do when you leave him - that WILL cause him anxiety), I would have some really good toys/chews that you put out before you leave.  Don't make a big deal about it, just put him in his area before you leave, give him his treasures, wait till he's happy and leave.  You can even practice just going outside for 10 minutes or so.  I don't think that dogs have a good concept of time so whether he's happy in his area for 10 minutes or 2 hours, the point is to have him content and peaceful :-)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And to this good advice, I would also add, be very matter-of-fact and subdued about saying goodbye when you leave, and saying hello when you return. Many behaviorists actually suggest completely ignoring the dog when you return home, for several minutes, until the dog is completely calm.