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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Simon has a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Psychology and specialized in Canine Behaviour. He was recently the first New Zealander approved for membership to the IAABC, and he is also a member of APDT Australia. Simon founded Dog Guru in 2002. Dog Guru has helped hundreds of dogs and their owners with training and specialist problems, and is also a dog trainer for the ministry of Education. Simon lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife Michelle and two golden retrievers. Sherlock is often used as a demonstration dog in schools and retirement villages. He was also used as a demo dog in the Auckland pet expo in 2004. Training is always using positive reinforcement.
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[Edit]
3/22/2006
I just got my 8 week old male English Bulldog Thor. We are in the process of crate training him but he is left alone for approx. 4 + hours a day. I don't want to leave such a young puppy in crate for that time due to him learning to eliminate in the crate. We use a spare bathroom for a place to leave him while we are gone. The moment he is put in there he whines and barks. I timed it 1 day and it lasted approx. 20 minutes and he was quiet for 10 before I let him out. I don't know if he tires himself out and then starts back up. When I return home he is asleep. He eliminates on the puppy pads and there is nothing in the room for him to destroy. I leave him with food, water, and toys. When I return home he usually doesn't hear me enter. I put my stuff away and then let him out. He starts whining and barking the moment he wakes up. I ignore him until he calms down. Am I doing the right thing? Is this separation anxiety or just a new puppy learning the rules? He has had his vet check up and he is in good health. (menaceinc, California)
Sounds like your lovely dog is very well looked after and he is just testing the boundaries. It is very unlikely that at 8 weeks of age he has separation anxiety as it is well documented that it does not usually start until a minimum of 5 months of age and nearly all the ones I see are over 1 year. What you are dealing with is common puppy behaviour.
I am sure you hear the horror stories of people who cant sleep through the night for the first two or three weeks due to the puppy crying and it sounds like we are doing an injustice to the dog. But we are not really. It is like if I went in to check on our infant daughter in the first five minutes of crying, she would
get used to the fact that we would come every time she started crying. Not fun I am sure.
But that is no consolation, so how do we stop it? The chances are from what you were saying that it will not stop. There are a few options.
The first is to purchase a sounds sociable cd which are available here from Pfizer medical company and are available from people like me but not sure about California. Your local vet may be able to help you out here. Basically we have got the dog home and there were lots of sounds, places to run, dogs to annoy and now we have nothing. This cd mimics all these noises and gives the dog some good background music.
The next thing to do is like the treatment for separation anxiety but without any drugs. Put the dog in the room where he is going to stay and go in and play with the dog. Make this a fun room to be in. Feed the dog in here sometimes, give him some new toys to play with etc. This way it is not considered a punishment to stay in the room.
The next step is to put the dog in for about 30 seconds with the door shut and then go back in and let your dog out. I am making the assumption here that your dog may be quiet for that long. If he is too noisy after 30 seconds start again but make the time shorter.
Don't worry about it being 20 minutes whining, that is not too bad, but what we don't want is for the times to get longer. Don't get into the habit of going in and telling him everything is alright otherwise he will get into that habit of whining and getting attention.
It sounds like you are doing a great job and are having fun with the dog, but from the sounds of it is just a puppy being a puppy doing all the normal things that a puppy does.
Simon Goodall is now a member of IAABC (International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants). This means the information you receive is the most up to date.
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