Separation anxiety!? Help!
 

Hi everyone!
My boyfriend and I brought home our first GSD pup, Vinnie, about a month ago. He is ten weeks now. He was blown us away with how smart and generally well behaved he is so far! We were wondering if it was to good to be true, turns out he does have a flaw haha. The problem is when we leave him alone in his crate. The longest he has ever been alone is ONCE for four hours. before then and since its never been more than an hour or two. one of us is always home. But when we cant be because of overlapping work schedules, He screams and cries. He has managed to move the entire under trey out from beneath him and clearly thrashes the blankets around. We know he screams the whole time because our neighbors upstairs have informed us! We feel terrible for them and also for the pup! We are afraid he is going to hurt himself. I am feeling like its a separation issue because he loves his crate otherwise! He falls asleep in there often by himself when tired and he sleeps locked in every single night next to our bed with zero issues unless he needs to go out. Please help us with suggestions on how to comfort him when we are unable to be home. We need to address this issue and correct it right away!
Thanks so much!
Kate & josh (and Vinnie!)

The problem could be that Vinnie is left in his crate too long when you both have overlapping work schedules. If there is a puppy day care in your area, you may want to enroll him. If not, I suggest you set up a puppy proof room or get an x-pen. Put the crate open in one corner, put food and water bowl in another, put puppy piddle pads in another, also put toys and a puppy kong by the open crate. Leave the TV or radio low on so he can hear voices and sound. Other things you may also want to consider is to get a cat (one used to dogs) for company for Vinnie also if a neighbor or if there is a pet sitting service, for someone to come and take Vinnie for a walk and give him attention when you both are gone.

Is the crate too big? I have my pup in a crate with divider- no toys or blankets. Also, teach him quiet (hard to do- I just said quiet after Max barked and was quiet.. But it was hard) and then teach your pup quiet in crate. I'm going to go against some ideas and maybe have your pup crated longer- when you are home- so he can get used to it? When you leave- don't make a big deal - just go about like pup isn't there and when you come home ignore him for a few minutes- till he settles down- you could say quiet- if needed.
My only other thought- Max likes one kind on crate and I put it away from family room- his space. Last idea- maybe get a trainer to come to your home for a consult and some ideas? I hope he settles down soon.

Great suggestions and thanks for the responses! We have been looking into trainers and classes, waiting for his second set of shots, so we will defiantly be doing that. Also his crate has a divider with just enough room to move around. We also have a cat, but he taunts him in the carte so we lock him out of the room. Maybe it's that we are gone too long, but like I said before its usually never more than an hour or two and never more than once a day and a couple times a week. We could try leaving him "fenced" with his crate. That is not a bad suggestion. We will try that and keep you posted! Thanks so much. This forum is great and I really enjoy being able to share our experiences, good and bad!
-Kate