Work and Separation Anxiety

[cernunnos]

Hello, i am 18 years old and currently have a 3 month old puppy. i plan to get a job very soon, so i can support her better than the small babysitting gigs. however i want to make sure i start leaving her “home alone” at an appropriate age.
keep in mind, i would hopefully have someone to stay with her when i’m gone. but i’m sure some days she will simply not have anyone available to her and i wont be able to get out of work.
her crate training isn’t great, i am working on it and currently leaving her home alone for an hour or so when i can leave (but i don’t have a car nor a licence so i cannot leave home to condition her)
i just want opinions on:
a) how long should i wait?
b) what should i look for to know she is ready for that separation and change?
c) any good tips on getting her used to being alone. she’s a barker, howls and whines and yelps when i leave her alone for too long. about five minutes and she starts barking. progress, but nonetheless very slow progress that i think could be hastened with the proper tricks and practices

 

[blackpool1985]

@cernunnos Biggest tip: time and patience. She'll larn your schedule as time goes on. The trick with training them to be alone isn't to get away as soon as she's distracted, it's making it less scary.

If she starts up the whining/barking after 5 minutes, start even smaller. Step out of the room and close your door. Offer a treat before and after you leave. Practice calm departures/returns (not making a big fuss about leaving. Don't baby talk to them a bunch right before going. When you get back, don't get overexcited and immediately offer pets. Instead, ignore them for a few minutes, let her calm down before saying hello and giving pets. This'll teach her to be calm when you leave/return and help her understand it's not a super big deal.

You also don't have to have a car to do separation anxiety training at all! Nor do you even have to really go anywhere for that matter. It can be as simple as just closing the door like I said. Once you build up more time of her being alone, leave her in the room and go do chores in another, or go take a shower. Take out the trash, etc. You can even just leave the house all together for a handful of minutes just for her to get used to the routine of you leaving and hearing the front door close. Try not to go into the room if you hear her crying/whining. Wait for her to quiet down and settle for a few moments before re-entering. This'll help teach her that there's a significant increase in the likelihood that you'll return when she's settled/quiet.

If you have the money, I'd also reccomend some type of camera that can livestream. As long as she's kept in a crate/pen/to one room, it'll be easy for you to use your phone to check up on her.

 

[cernunnos]

@blackpool1985 thank you so much for the advice!! i have been practicing a few of these but i definitely need to do it more often. do you how often i should do it in a day? i don’t want to over stress her, but i know repetition can help them adapt as well.
also, if she starts to whine again once i enter the room (if she is in her crate) should i leave the room once more? or perhaps wait to take her out of the crate until she calms and not give attention?
hoping to do whats best for my pup to learn while also not being unfair to her and her own needs.

 

[blackpool1985]

@cernunnos You're saying she barks and yelps after 5 minutes when you leave her alone? What is your definition of "alone"? Are you leaving her in the crate and ignoring her while still in the room or are you leaving the room out of her sight all together every time you put her in there? If you're leaving her sight all together, it's likely she's scared you're abandoning her and she doesn't know when you'll be back, and that's scary for her.

Additionally, it sounds like you're trying to do everything at once with crating. That can be very confusing and overwhelming for the pup, especially at so young. You gotta start way back and build a positive association with the crate for her so she knows it isn't a scary place. If you haven't already, just leave the crate door open and any positive interaction with it (sniffing it, going to rest inside, touching it, etc) reward her with a treat. You should also start feeding her her meals exclusively in the crate. Place the bowl in the far back of the crate and let her just get used to eating while in there. There also lots of crate games you can play with her. I've not really crated my girl so I can't point you to specific ones, but in sure a quick google search or even a search here on this subreddit would bring up tons of examples. You just want to make sure they're not too high energy of a game since the goal is to have her calm and make it a safe/peaceful environment for her