10 week old cries in crate if we leave the room

[Kat and Winston]

We've had Winston home for almost two weeks. He had a few digestive issues that seem to be resolving, but I may have babied him a little bit because of it last week. 

We take him outside, play ball and exercise him, play with his ropes inside and then when it's time for him to go in his crate he's totally fine, as long as we stay in the room. He wanders in and out of his crate easily when we are in the room if it's open, so it's not about being afraid of the crate.

If we all leave the room he starts to bark and whine. He can even be asleep but he will hear me get up and then start to cry. I'll leave him to cry for a bit but he doesn't stop, so I'll usually wait for a short break come back and then take him out. I know not to get him out when crying.  I mean eventually we are going to want to leave the house as a family to go to church or the store for a couple of hours and I don't want him to cry the whole time. 

Any tips or suggestions. I tried shaking the soda can with a few pennies when he barks as the one trainer suggests, but it didn't have any effect or make him stop.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

How long have you tried to let him cry it out for?

[Kat and Winston]

Maybe 20-25 minutes is  the longest. You can hear him outside and we live in an area where people are always walking by so I feel like one of those horrible pet parents when you hear him yipping from outside.

I've tried just getting up and just walking around the room, and sitting back down so he wouldn't associate every time I get up with me leaving, but it's not done much and he still will wake up most of the time if I leave the room even if he seems fast asleep.

If it's just a stage that he will outgrow, I'm OK with that, but I just want to know I'm not setting ourselves up for never being able to leave him without him crying for the entire time we are gone.

[Cameron Crow]

I know how stressful this can be! It happened for the first two weeks after I got mine. I was miserable and borderline desperate. haha 

I told my vet about my issues when we were in for shots. He said it's important to make a disturbing noise that the puppy won't connect with you directly (because they love getting attention from their masters, even if it's a "NO!!"). Sounds like you're onto this with the soda can and pennies. For us, we slammed two books together as hard as possible. It was magic!!! It only took a few rounds of my puppy crying and me slamming the books, and he shut up! And then he learned really quick after that to stop altogether. It was a miracle. 

[Kat and Winston]

It is that overwhelming thought of "will he always be like this"...lol.

I guess I'll continue to try some different sounds. I'm glad it worked for you, that gives me hope:-)

[Doodle & Hound]

Get in touch with me anytime. We can console each other

[Kat and Winston]

Lol. Sounds like you are going through similar. Hopefully it will all be a thing of the past for both of us sometime in the near future.

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

I am far from an expert. But what if you practice gradually increasing your distance until you find that threshold where he starts freaking out. Stay close to that threshold just before he starts freaking out. Give hime a treat when he is quiet. Slowly increase the distance. If he starts crying stay put until he is quite for about 10 seconds and then give him a really great treat as a reward. Slowly build the time and distance until he understands that being quiet is what you want. I know, like other plans it's a lot of work, and always sounds better on paper.

I was very lucky with my dog. As a puppy I did what people said not to do, She didn't want to go into the crate and whined when I put her there. But I cuddled her on the sofa until she was sleepy and then I put her in the crate and it was a non-issue. I did move the crate from room to room, and she slept in the crate right beside my bed for the first couple months.

[Kat and Winston]

Thanks that sounds like something that may work. At present I still have to be careful of giving treats because of his GI issues but maybe some boiled chicken would work.

We are fortunate that he is wonderful in the crate at night, as we have one near our bed so no problems there.

Just the daytime when we leave him is the issue.

[Carol Vernon]

Kat, what a frustrating & worrisome situation with your (beautiful!) new pup!  It sounds to me like you are doing many things right:  not responding when Winston is actively crying (but waiting for a brief lull), exercising him, taking him out, etc. Still, the crying is stressful on everyone concerned!

We've had our 8-week old pup for six weeks now and what really helped me with this issue (and many others) was a free online resource at www.Dogmantics.com. If you decide to check it out, go there and click "Free Videos" and then "Puppy Training."  Look for the one called "How to Train your Dog to be Left Alone."  This is just one of 34 short, free videos on Puppy Training.  This trainer uses a clicker but you could simply use "yes!" instead of a click.  You will get the same results.  This trainer does not believe in physical or psychological intimidation in training dogs - I love her approach.  She is also on YouTube:  search on Kikopup.  

We used this approach with our Dash, and we can now be out of sight within the house, outside in the yard, or totally gone from the house and she is fine in her ex pen / crate.  Current limit is about 2 hours but we are building on this.  There are still times when she fusses (maybe once or twice a week) but these times only last for about half a minute.  

Here's a few other things I learned over the last six weeks with our new pup:  Don't underestimate the power of a stuffed kong (with something Winston tolerates well), yak snak, or similar safe chew toy!  Boiled chicken is perfect as a training reward.  Do the training after you've exercised the pup.  Go slow & be patient.  

I wish you success in finding a solution.  Even though it might feel overwhelming now, you can definitely train your pup to be absolutely calm and comfy when you leave the room or the house.  Winston is adorable!  I bet he is smart, too.  If you feel like it, please let me know how it goes.  I'd love to stay in touch with you - we can maybe help each other navigate the first weeks & months with a puppy.  Good luck!  Carol

 

[Kat and Winston]

Thank you! I'm going to watch that video. I watched one of hers before on "leave it" and was in awe of how her dogs would not touch the human plate of food she left on the floor even when she left the room.

Yes, let's keep in touch. The support is much appreciated.

[Doodle & Hound]

Any news on Winston's progress!? Oliver is still screaming hysterically. We left him for an hour last night, I heard whimpering when I was at front door. Today he squealed for 20 minutes while I showered. Everyone tells me you just have to leave him, etc. could I be too bonded with him? I do most of his love and care. He is super smart at puppy class, minds me. I'm not one to punish, it's my belief system, and I don't judge others. I watched some videos on dogmatics and she really impressed me.

[Kat and Winston]

Oh but look how cute Oliver is. He looks like he knows it too in that picture. Hard to resist such a sweet face.

We have two crates, one in our sunroom and one in our bedroom. Usually in the day I leave him in the sunroom one, but it is more open to the home and he hears everything and goes nuts when we all leave that room.

So yesterday I decided to try putting him in our bedroom one for a bit. He has bionic hearing and even if I sat on the far side of the room, he was fine and you'd think he fell asleep, but the second I left the room the howling started. So then I decided to sit on the floor and slowly back out of the way a little at a time. Whenever he was laying quietly I'd tell him "nice crate" in a happy voice. I slowly made my way backwards and out of the room telling him this and even kept saying "nice crate" from out of the room then came in and out a few times saying it. When I finally left for good, he was good for about 10 minutes and then the howling started again. So baby steps. It's clearly going to take some work. He's very attached to me as well. I think it's because I feed him...HAHA. This puppy loves to eat, even if the food doesn't always love him.