Alvin
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- Jan 16, 2019
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Hello,
My wife and I picked up our 9 week old, male Frenchie last week, and we've noticed that he's got really bad separation anxiety, especially in his pen/crate area. At night, he will bark and whine for 30-45 minutes, sleep for maybe an hour or two, then he's right back at it again, all throughout the night. He will also do the same thing throughout the day in his pen while my wife and I are gone at work. Since my wife works so close to our house, she has been dropping by for lunch to feed him and play with him a bit, but once she leaves, he's howling, barking, biting at the gate, jumping into it, etc. We're almost wondering if the visits are counter-productive, as he will calm down in the morning and sleep once we leave, but the visits spark the rowdy behavior.
I get that he is bored in there, but we have made a pretty great overall setup, equip with a "chew-proof" bed inside the crate (door always open), thick towels on the ground to keep him warm, 3 different toys (kong bone, kong with peanut butter smeared on the inside, and a chuck-it ball). He even has a view from the windows out back. The pen itself is large enough for a Lab, so maybe it's too big?
He is also very accustomed to his crate and seems to really enjoy being in it. When we are at home, he'll often choose to nap and/or hang out in his crate while we're watching tv. When we're home, we leave the door open to the pen that's attached to his crate to let him know he can come out as he pleases. We also feed him and play with him in the pen.
Whenever we get home, we do several different separation anxiety training sessions, including leaving the room for 10 seconds, and rewarding him when he's quiet, then adding additional time to the clock after a couple successful rounds. We also keep him with us and play with him before bedtime, so we aren't neglecting him, outside of when we can't be there in person.
I've done a lot of reading on here, and tried many of the suggestions, but he just doesn't seem to be getting any better. Any advice would be much appreciate!
Thanks!
My wife and I picked up our 9 week old, male Frenchie last week, and we've noticed that he's got really bad separation anxiety, especially in his pen/crate area. At night, he will bark and whine for 30-45 minutes, sleep for maybe an hour or two, then he's right back at it again, all throughout the night. He will also do the same thing throughout the day in his pen while my wife and I are gone at work. Since my wife works so close to our house, she has been dropping by for lunch to feed him and play with him a bit, but once she leaves, he's howling, barking, biting at the gate, jumping into it, etc. We're almost wondering if the visits are counter-productive, as he will calm down in the morning and sleep once we leave, but the visits spark the rowdy behavior.
I get that he is bored in there, but we have made a pretty great overall setup, equip with a "chew-proof" bed inside the crate (door always open), thick towels on the ground to keep him warm, 3 different toys (kong bone, kong with peanut butter smeared on the inside, and a chuck-it ball). He even has a view from the windows out back. The pen itself is large enough for a Lab, so maybe it's too big?
He is also very accustomed to his crate and seems to really enjoy being in it. When we are at home, he'll often choose to nap and/or hang out in his crate while we're watching tv. When we're home, we leave the door open to the pen that's attached to his crate to let him know he can come out as he pleases. We also feed him and play with him in the pen.
Whenever we get home, we do several different separation anxiety training sessions, including leaving the room for 10 seconds, and rewarding him when he's quiet, then adding additional time to the clock after a couple successful rounds. We also keep him with us and play with him before bedtime, so we aren't neglecting him, outside of when we can't be there in person.
I've done a lot of reading on here, and tried many of the suggestions, but he just doesn't seem to be getting any better. Any advice would be much appreciate!
Thanks!
