Leaving pup at home

[jonnytrabant]

Its me again.

Right we've had Harry a week and in that week I've tried to get him used to being alone. I started with a walk around the block, 5 mins, to 30 mins while I went to the shops. All the times I've come back he's been crying. I've done all the 'do's', make sure he's been to toilet, treats in his pen etc... and I've even managed to video one trip out (15mins) on my iPad and he cried most of the time.

Am I doing anything wrong?
Is it too much too soon?

Harry is just over 9 weeks

The plan today is for myself and OH to nip to the pub for about 60 mins and see where we're at.

Another note last night, he woke about 2 hours after going to sleep crying, he's been normally sleeping or at least quiet all through the night. It took a while before he went over again. Could he have had a dream, or just got a fright or something? I hope it was a one off.

[MaggieR]

You're doing the right things.... but its only been a week    He's still a baby and he's still very much getting used to his new surroundings, new people in his life, new routine etc    You're potentially looking at a good few more weeks before you have a pup who is completely happy to be left on his own for extended periods etc - can't say how long as they are all so different.  But I'd say continue with your trips out, making them varying lengths, not just getting longer, so he knows that at some point you will be back but he's not so worried that for instance it will be as long as last time, if he did struggle...
Same with the sleeping... he's still not in a routine, a lot of this week will have been down to tiredness from the stress of all the change etc...
Sounds like he's doing really well tho, but there is no prescription on how long they take to really get into a routine etc    Just keep doing what you're doing, be patient and enjoy 

[SophieBlueRoanLover]

I still haven't managed and Henry's almost 16 weeks - not sure if that'll make you feel better or worse!
If he's really fast asleep I've been able to pop out but otherwise he wakes up and barks the house down. Doesn't want to be in his cage during the day really
I've been feeding him in there for the last week and got a nice new kong-shaped bone that I fill with kibble (am awaiting Fish4Dogs salmon mousse to see if that works!), but he just doesn't want to be in there.

Do you have neighbours? The reason I ask is that if I didn't I'd just leave Henry barking (although a couple of times he wet his bed when he's been left, despite having weeed recently). He'll be at my parents house next weekend and I'm sure they'll have to leave him at some point, but they have a detached house with a deaf neighbour, so no-one to hear his barking. Don't want him to get traumatised, mind!

I'm sure you're on the right track - just keep with it (or take him to the pub )

[sazzysue]

It's still very early days yet, remember he has only just recently been taken from his mum & siblings. You need to doing this gradually, starting with a few mins and gradually increasing it.

One tip that might help is that I use to leave an old top of mine that I had worn & not washed so it had my scent on it for mine to cuddle up to, (he did have a blanket with his mum's scent on for the first few days, then once he got use to me I exchanged it with my old top)  & also left the radio on to give some background noise.


Hopefully others will be along soon to give you some more helpful tips too

[piph]

Sorry, can't help much as 15 week old Ozzy seems ok on his own - we've been out a few times, the longest for about an hour.  Our neighbour has reported not hearing anything, and he's usually asleep when we get back, or just waking up when he hears the door open.  However, he's in a play pen in the kitchen, and usually gets put in there to sleep during the day, so is used to being in a room on his own, has been from day one.  We've never heard him cry at night either so he obviously doesn't mind being alone. 

Don't be disheartened though - he's still very young.  If you aren't doing it already, though, I's suggest that you put him in the kitchen on his own for his daytime sleeps.  Hopefullly then he'll get used to it.

[**purpleprincess**]

Awww, I remember this! It just takes time, it took us a good couple of weeks before he'd let us out of his sight indoors let alone us going out!! Cue howling and crying when I was in the shower, even when he was in the bathroom with me!!!  We built up him being alone indoors with us around, so leaving the room and coming back. Leaving him nice things when we went into another room and only coming back when he was calm.

It sounds like you're doing everything right. We did lots of walking out the door and returning immediately so that he knew we were coming back. We did little amounts, building up. Lots of treats. We've had Luca for 6 weeks today and it's taken until now to be able to leave him for longer periods of time. The thing I feel that has helped us is consistency, we have left him for little periods every day. I often sit outside the front with a book and a coffee!! We also have a little routine that he now seems to recognise as he gets in his bed when he sees us getting ready to go out. Radio on, kong out, treat ball, gate shut and blanket over the gate (so the cat can't wind him up  )

You'll get there, I found in the early days that a week felt like months