Seperation Anxiety?

[flally]

We brought home Harley our 3 month old Shorkie a week ago. We are crate training him and he does well unless we leave the room. He sticks to us like glue when he is not in the crate. We started trying to leave him in crate alone for 15min, then 30 min, then an hour. He whines,jumps up and cries like crazy. After we started doing this he won't stop whining at night in our bedroom. Last night we decided to put him in another room and he was going crazy. Not sure how long it took for him to calm himself down, but after 4 hours I went to take him out for potty break and he was fast asleep. Has anyone had seperation anxiety with their Shorkie? Has anyone had to move crate out of bedroom at night in order to sleep? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Ann]

Hi and welcome to shorkie talk.

I have not had the experience with crating my shorkie Toby but he does get the same way when we have left him for a while. I have found that they are not doges the like to be a way from you especially if you are actually in the house. We have Toby in our bedroom with us of a night time but he has to sleep in his own bed. He did have trouble at first and the only thing I did was to put my hand down beside him and pat him. Than he would settle down and I would take my hand away. The only thing I suggest is make your mind up with what you want him to do and just perserver. Another thing is get him a soft toy to cuddle.

[Mai Tai]

We have crated Mai tai since we brought him home at 3 months.  He never whines in his crate at night, but has major separation anxiety during the day.  If I leave him gated in the kitchen and go downstairs, he whines after about 5 minutes.  If I leave him in his crate to go out, he cries and barks for quite a while.  I tried to teach him to stay in his crate by leaving him for only 5 minutes at a time and treating him when he did not cry, then gradually increased the time.  It does not matter what I do, he still cries when we go out.  The one thing I have done though, that you might try is that I NEVER crate him in our room except at night when it is time to sleep so he does not associate the crate in the room with being left alone.  When we crate him during the day to go out, we leave him in the kitchen, with the sound of the tv on so he feels like he has company.  He always cries in the kitchen (though he must eventually stop since he is never crying when we get home), but he NEVER cries or whines in his crate at night.  Are you crating him in the room where you want him to sleep during the day?  If so, he may think you are going to leave, so he whines.  Anyway, I wish you the best of luck.  It can be tough.  I feel bad leaving the house now, but have to go shopping etc. 

[Cash]

We've had Cash for a  month now.  The first night we brought him home we tried to put him in his crate to sleep and he too cried.. I know this is something he would have stopped if we would have stuck with it as we've had other dogs we've crate trained and it works wonders.  However this time around I really didn't mind and actually wanted our little guy to sleep with us so I brought him in.  It turned out working better for us as we could feel/hear him the minute he woke up and needed to go out and he's too small to jump off the bed by himself and have an accident somewhere.  In the begining he woke up about every 3 hrs.  That only lasted for a little over a week and then he was able to sleep through the night.  He loves sleeping with us.  Curls right up by my neck.  I do have problems with leaving him during the day though as he's not used to his crate and I truly don't think he feels it is his "den".  Perhaps if he was in it more often.  I tend to take him everywhere I can with me.  This may pose to be a problem as I intend to go back to work after the summer is over.  I can only hope that he will be fully housebroken and trust worthy by then so he can have the run of the house and be with my other dog.  I hope I don't create my own separation anxiety by giving him so much attention these first couple of months.  Though again he doesn't seem to have any problems not having me around, as long as he's not in his crate.  I've had a few trials with leaving him free in the house when I left.  Once for 10 minutes, another time for 30.  I haven't really given you any answers as much as just sharing my first months experience.  Good luck, hope things work out for you.

[flally]

Thanks everyone for your input. Harley is doing much better. Still sleeping in guest bedroom, but only took 8 minutes tonight to settle down (Had been at least 60 to 90 minutes at first). My husband works from home and has been working on short stints in crate by himself every day. I think he is going to be very smart and easy to train, and already is figuring out what is expected. He is even doing better at potty break 4 hours after going to bed. I read online to not speak or excite him when I take him out, and it seems to be much easier. I just tell him to go potty, good potty and tell him I will see him in the morning as I leave the room. So glad I found this website and look forward to asking all my questions as Harley gets older. We start kindergarten training this weekend! Should be interesting! 

[lil_grammy 3]

 Our lil one , Laci, does not like it either when we leave.
I turn the TV onto the Cartoon Network and leave it on all day...
She lays on her blanket on the couch and watches tv.....
I guess it makes her think someone is there to keep her companyu 

[Ann]

I leave the radio on as there was a case here were some left their tv on all day for some reason and it caused a fire and burnt the house down. I don't mean to scare you but that is a ture story. Your puppy doesn't really care as long as they can hear noise. Yeh your right it makes them feel that there is someone there with them.

[flally]

Does anyone let their shorkie sleep in the bed with them? My husband has been in the hospital the last few days and I felt guilty about Harley staying in his crate more than normal. I had the neighbors coming over and helping with him, but it wasn't the same routine that he normally has. So I let Harley sleep with me for 2 nights because I couldn't stand putting him back in his crate. He did excellent and let me know when he had to go potty, but everything I read on the internet says this is a major NO-NO. I guess I am becoming a push over because of my guilt. Just wondering what everyone else does. My gut tells me I shouldn't start this, but he seems so much happier not in the crate.

[Mai Tai]

First of all, how is your husband?  I hope everything is ok, and nothing serious is going on.  As far as letting the dog sleep in your bed, I think you should go with your gut.  If your gut  were not bothering you, I would say let him stay in your bed.  You see, I think that some people do fine with their dog in the bed, while others do not.  I know Cesar Milan thinks it is a big no-no, as the dog needs to see you as a pack leader, and not see him or herself as one.  Also, the crate is really like a den for them and they like it.  My dog sleeps in his crate at night and is very happy to be there.  When I was a child, our dogs always slept in bed with us, and that was not a big problem either.  My point is, if it is bothering you and your instincts tell you to leave him in the crate, then you should.  If you do not always want him in your bed, he may get used to it now and you may have difficulty getting him back out.  How will your husband feel about it?  These are all things to consider.  Don't feel guilty about having to leave him while your husband is in the hospital.  Sometimes it is unavoidable.  Dog's live very much in the present and while you are feeling guilty about leaving him all day, he is just happy to have you home with him now.  Best of luck to you and let us know how it all goes.

[flally]

Thanks for your comments Mai Tai. My husband came home from hospital yesterday and is happy to be home!! We decided to crate him last night because we want him to get comfortable with the crate before we let him sleep with us. Neither of us has a problem with him sleeping with us, but he has to be crateable in the future. If we wanted to take him with us traveling there is no way we could leave him in a hotel room whining and yelping the way he does now. He only cried for 30 minutes when I put him in last night to go to sleep, and 20 minutes after our 3AM potty break. Once he is comfortable and thinks of his crate as his "den", we will decide if we want him to sleep with us then. Again thank you for your help.

[Cash]

I do let Cash sleep with us, and as you said he's so happy to be there with my husband and I.  But as Mai Tai said if you are feeling strange about it, then don't do it.  We have two dogs, my other dog is bigger about 50 lbs and he has a pillow on the floor by our bed.  But he's smart enough to know when he's invited to sleep with us, and when he's not.  I thought Cesar Millan said it's ok to have them in the bed and on the couch with you as long as they are invited up.  They will know the difference.  I do have to say though that I think Cash should spend more time in his kennel as I don't think he feels it is his den at all.  However he's only in it a couple of hours at a time a couple days a week.  Most everywhere I go (soccer games, friends house, carting the kids around, etc), he comes with so he doesn't have to be in there much at all.  I had guilty feelings about leaving him alone for too long.  However now he's been with me for over a month and I think I can break out of the house more often. 

[shorkiesrmyfav]

is Cesar Millan the dog whisperer?

[Cash]

Yes he is.  I'd love to have him come to my home for my second dog.  He is so smart and so well behaved in the house.  We can leave a garbage bag out all day and he will never dig in it, the girls can leave a plate of food on the floor and he won't touch it, he is very loyal and just so plain good with the family and in the house.. it's when he gets outside that things change.  He barks at the neighbors, sometimes get grouchy with the kids friends and will growl at them if they pet him, he seems to have anxiety.  Has anyone ever experienced this with any of their dogs?  I don't want to get rid of him, but the growling at kids has me a bit nervous.  I don't know if its owner error or if it's him.

[lil_grammy 3]

We let Laci sleep in the bed with us. She is such a cuddle bug. Most of the time she sleeps between me and my husband. She is good about waking me up if she needs down to potty. I have had dogs all my life and I can remember even as a little girl, all our dogs slept in the bed with us.   

[Mai Tai]

Hi Cash,

I think you are right about Cesar.  He says they can come up if invited.  I was mixing him up with Victoria who says it is a definite no.  As far as having a dog who is good inside and difficult outside, I have a similar problem with Mai Tai.  He never barks in the house.  He is gentle to everyone, but outside, he barks at everything that moves and goes crazy barking at other dogs.  He is getting better with age, but I think it is so strange that he is like two different dogs depending on whether he is in or out.