Puppy help

[Magicspaniel]

Hello,
Our new cocker pup came home on friday and he's a lovely beast. Only problem is he does not like being left alone on bit, he howls, crus, whines and yelps at the top of his little lungs.
We have tried to close him in the kitchen at night with his crate, favourite cushion and dog toys along with some water but he goes out of his mind. We were advised to leave him to it but it doesn't seem right, I know we need to let him work through it but I am concerned as I am a self employed tutor who works from home and a howling pup is not good for business. I've tried letting him settle in my work room but the moment my attention is diverted he starts up again, I have ordered an adaptil diffuser to hopefully ease him into some time alone.
Does anyone have any advice for us?

[elaine.e]

Could you try letting him sleep in his crate or a pen next to your bed at night? That way if he starts to cry you can put a reassuring hand out to him, without having to put lights on or anything, and hopefully he'll feel less anxious and will settle. It doesn't have to be forever, just until he gains enough confidence to be able to settle and sleep.

[supergirl]

Could you try letting him sleep in his crate or a pen next to your bed at night? That way if he starts to cry you can put a reassuring hand out to him, without having to put lights on or anything, and hopefully he'll feel less anxious and will settle. It doesn't have to be forever, just until he gains enough confidence to be able to settle and sleep.

This is what I did too, then after a week I moved the pup downstairs.  Through that week I worked on leaving the pup for short periods starting from a few seconds, gradually increasing the time.  Not easy in the beginning, but it should get easier.

[MillicentWight]

Puppy Willow came to live with us eight weeks ago and life changed for us beyond our wildest imaginations.
Night time is not a problem though, and in fact I look forward to it as she sleeps in her crate beside my bed from 10pm until 6:30 in the morning, and there is not a peep from her! Not so easy for us the rest of the day though.
Hope you find a solution.

[Magicspaniel]

Thanks for all the advice guys, my only problem at the moment is my two cats as the bedroom has become their safe zone while Baxter settles in. He eventually settled down last night after half an hour but am trying him with the adaptil plugin for a few days see how we go. He's only tiny so I don't blame him for being spooked

[*MaryG*]

we had a similar set up when we had our puppy. the cat had upsatirs as her place of retreat and still does. i actually slept down stairs in the next room for a few weeks. every time pepper howled i wold let him out to wee. no chatting or playing, he was much happier, i realised he really did not want to toilet inside. it was very tiring.i suppose i was taking him out about three times a night. but it did work. we had very little problem with toliet training during the day and he sleeps through down stairs very well. your puppy is very young and i completely  agree that it is not right to just leave yuour puppy to cry and get on with it. we were told that and we did it for one night. i rang a behaviourist the next day who told me it was a very dated idea. we didn't want pepper in our room so this was our solution and it worked for us, good luck.