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Death by separation?

3K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  Thecowboysgirl 
#1 ·
Is it normal for a 12-week old puppy to whine and yelp at 130 dB whenever I leave the room or put him in the crate to brush my teeth, do laundry, use the restroom, etc.? I have been fortunate enough to spend basically the whole time with him for the last two weeks, but that will be ending as I start working more (pretty flexible schedule, but still). It really sounds like the pup thinks he's dying when I leave the room. Is this separation anxiety or some normal kind of thing? Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Yup. Lol. My 5month old velcro puppy would howl like someone was murdering her if I tried to shower with the door closed. What worked for me was 1) crate training. We can leave her alone now and trust her to be quiet. 2) Leaving the house 50 times and coming back. I would walk out and come right back in before she had a chance to cry. Our trainer suggested it and it was really effective. It got old real fast when you have to walk out 50 times. ? but it was really effective.
 
#6 ·
I think it is normal. I had one who just screamed bloody murder when I left him alone. I think it is best to start teaching them right off the bat that they will be left and it's okay. I think it is totally normal for a baby to try and alert its caretaker that it thinks iit has been forgotten. They don't know any better.

They learn by repetition of being left and us coming back but if they scream the whole time then they think their screaming brought you back. So you do have to wait them out, which is hard. My one was tough but we got through it and he is a totally balanced adult now who is fine to be alone loose, crated, kenneled, in the home, the truck, wherever.

Had I not worked through this with him when he was teeny I dread to think how awful he could be now that he is a 90lb dog. I remember him grabbing his crate bars and biting and pulling but he did not have the strength to do anything, now imagine if he still had that behavior as a 90lb adult? Persevere!
 
#7 ·
Someone is asking whether it is normal for a GSD to whine and yelp because (insert your favorite reason)? LOL!

OMG, yes. They talk about everything and they will follow you from room to room and feel deprived if you leave their sight for even a moment. Your best bet is just to count on staying within arm's reach of your GSD 24/7, and some sort of physical contact such as their paw on your foot while they sleep may be required.

You know that word "shepherd" in their name? That's their life. Seriously. That GSD will probably follow you around and take notes on everything you do just to make sure you are safe.
 
#8 ·
I dont find this behavior normal but more of a created behavior. If the pup is sick,hungry thirsty or needs to go potty etc then I can see howling. Other then that nope not normal. This is most likely created and he learned he screams u come running u may not be doing that now but in the first week I’m sure you did. Pups are smart so imo if he not sick, hungry etc then ignore completely till he stops as soon as he goes let him out and give treat or give treat while still in crate.
 
#9 ·
I know this will sound like heresy to some but that reaction is one reason I have never crated any of my puppies. For example, I had one GSD that I could teach everything instantly. If I did something twice the same way, we were done with the training. No treats or praise were even required.

There was one exception to that. He would refuse to do any command such as "stay" or "fetch" that required him to be more than a few feet away from me. He viewed those commands as punishment and sat there crying wondering what he had done that I would treat him so cruelly as to make him stay fifteen feet away. When I finally called him, he came to my feet and wept and begged forgiveness for whatever he had done that caused this great trouble in our friendship that I didn't want to be touching him.

I got the same reaction from crating him. He didn't regard the crate as "secure". He regarded it as "punishment." I got the same reaction from my current two puppies. They prefer to be with me, whatever. They don't know what that crate is about. As others have said, get them used to your absence in small increments.

Mine do not have pathological separation anxiety when I am gone. Just be careful what "toys" you leave lying around when you go. A "toy" is anything that weighs less than 50 pounds.
 
#11 ·
This is exactly why the whole "begin as you mean to continue" thing is important.

You removed a baby puppy from all things familiar and taught him that you were the whole world, and now you have the audacity to prevent him from orbiting his sun! :grin2:

Shadow sobbed, yes sobbed, when I was out of sight. And was capable of, and willing to, scream the roof down if someone removed her from my immediate vicinity. The poor vet tech didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Now that he has trained you to come running this will take longer. Unless there is a risk of actual harm put him in his crate with a stuffed kong or some other distraction that is safe and WALK AWAY! It's pretty normal for them to voice their displeasure. If you feel a need crank up the tunes to drown out the sound.
Dogs view pretty much anything that stops them from being completely self serving as some form of punishment. Bud always seemed pretty bummed that I would put a stop to rolling in decaying animals. Sabi was a bit disgusted that I decided when and how much she should eat. Lex was horribly upset that I turned off the TV at night. Aside from needing to be separate from me, I also don't allow eating road kill on my furniture or the eating of feces. We need dogs to do all sorts of things that go against their nature to make them tolerable house mates.
Before you buy into the "crates are cruel and unnecessary" ( not saying you would)I caution you to think this through and then decide.
If your pup is ever seriously injured or ill he will need to be crated.
If you are ever injured or ill he may need to be crated.
If he ever gets lost and picked up he will be kenneled or crated.
If you have to travel with or board him he will be kenneled or crated.

All of these scenarios are stressful enough. And yes if you don't put a stop to this behavior you could be heading toward separation anxiety.
 
#13 ·
What worked for me was crate training. With that, I kind of taught her the kennel is her "safe space" by putting her in the kennel a few times throughout the day for her to take naps. She's 12 months now and she prefers to sleep in it. Like I'll have her up on the bed, then if I get close to her she'll look at me like "really?", then hops off the bed and goes in her kennel and plops down lol.

Crate training.
 
#16 ·
My puppy screamed like a banshee if I was out of sight and it took a few months to overcome it. He came to me as a Velcro dog and he remains a Velcro dog at almost 2 years of age. And not because I deprived him of alone time. I worked full time since the day I got him.

I’ve had puppies before...this wasn’t my first rodeo...but I’ve never had one before where I couldn’t even be out of his sight without him screaming like I was lighting his body on fire.

And, before anyone asks, I crate trained him, I never came running when he cried, I never opened his crate while he was crying, I left the house for work every day while he was alone a few hours at a time...but if he knew I was home and out of his sight, holy heck. He has a VERY high pack drive.

He was fine in his crate if he could look directly at me. He was even fine with me leaving the house after a couple of weeks in his crate alone. His issue was me being in the house in a different room than him. That was rough. Although, I’m happy to say he’s fine now. But those first few months? Ugh.
 
#22 ·
Thanks for all the discussion and insight. As far as update, Jupiter did better today--He was in there a few hours (but my wife took him out to pee at some point), and was quiet when I got home, at least. In terms of our daily life, he does sleep in the crate during the night and only raised a fuss for the first few days. After that, he seemed to accept it. However, I do take him out when he whines to go outside, and so it does feel like we had another baby. I think only once or twice have I taken him outside and he didn't need to #1 or #2. So that seems satisfactory to me.

It's more when I'm in the house or leaving during the day that he raises such a huge ruckus. Today I threw a Kong with food in there, so maybe that accounted for him doing better.

This isn't my first dog, and I don't respond to whining or yelping, and I don't make any kind of big deal about putting him in or taking him out. It's all business. I'm just surprised by how tortured he acts when I have to put him up! I did not realize GSDs were such velcro dogs.
 
#25 ·
My one that was such a screamer slept fine in his crate when we were in the room with him too, he slept in his crate from day 1. What I figured out was our problem, was that I was with him TOO much. I had to make a point of putting him in the crate many times per day for short positive things, and make a point of leaving him even if I didn't have a legitimate reason to leave him. I think at some point you said you'd been with him all the time for a bit and that was also the case with mine.

Sounds like you are doing fine and it will work out fine, and not to worry about your little screamer :wink2:
 
#23 · (Edited)
I agree with everyone talking about how crates are beneficial. I live in southern Florida now. I had to evacuate due Irma. If I had to go to a shelter, my dog was required to be crated. I can’t imagine if my dog had to be crated for the first time at the shelter. I can’t even imagine.

As it was, I had to stay in two hotels traveling out of town. I had to crate them in the hotel room. I had a puppy who was about 6 months old. You think I’m going to leave him alone and loose in a hotel room when I had to temporarily leave the room? While I had to pack the car? I also had to stay with my cousin in Atlanta. She had two dogs as well. Sometimes my dogs needed a time out, and to be safe when I couldn’t watch them.

What if I take him to the groomers? The vet? Agility class? Take him on an airplane? What if a repairman comes over?

I have people who come over who are afraid of dogs...especially my black German Shepherd. I crate my dog for them. I crate my dog when I’m cleaning and don’t want him to drink from the mop bucket.

I also work and I live alone. While I was lucky to have family come over periodically to let him out, I’m not leaving a puppy loose in the house. It’s for his protection and to avoid any bad habits. Sure I could have left him in my bathroom. However, I didn’t want to come back to an accident, a scratched up door, or a chewed up wall (I had a foster puppy do that once!).

IMO, crating is a life skill for a dog even if you rarely have to use it. Life is unexpected, and you never know what is going to be thrown your way.
 
#24 ·
Very normal. The 1st 3 nights I brought mine home at 7 1/2 weeks, he screamed like he was bulldozed everytime he was in the crate and couldn't see me. My neighbours even knocked on my door asking if everything was okay. I had to explain to them I just brought home a tiny pup. He got over it in the 1st month, and now he loves his crate and regularly takes naps there (I leave it open).

But yeah during car trips, when I brought him home up until he was 3 months old, he could sit in the seat next to mine. But after that he had gotten too big, he had to be at the backseat, with seat belts on. Boy oh boy did he bark and whined and screamed even though I WAS IN THE SAME CAR LITERALLY 20CM AWAY FROM HIM LOL. But he got over it at 5 months-ish. But hot ****, if I gave up on him at that time, I might have a LLLOT of problems with my now 90lb big pup.....
 
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