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Old 01-27-2014, 12:48 PM   #1
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Default Help with crying/barkibng puppy

I'm sure this question has been answered many times. I've been on the forums and have read many of the posts. I'm just not sure what I'm dealing with. There are lot's of different opinions and I'm not sure what advice is helpful and what is not.

I've had Elizabeth the yorkie since late Dec 2013. She is about six months old. She came from a breeder.

She barks and cries when I leave for work. She's really not a barker otherwise. I'm not totally sure, but I think she only barks for about an hour.

I have a web cam on her and I use Skype on my cell phone to check on her. The connection drops very often so I can't be totally sure she is stopping after an hour or my Skype call isnt connecting properly. The video and audio go out often. I have not found a better solution for checking in on her.

I leave her in an ex-pen with water, a bed, and toys. She is good with going potty on her pads. She gets a Kong stuffed with Kong brand cheese in a can. When I get home the Kong is empty of it's cheese filling. Sometime I leave her with C.E.T. chews. She will not eat these chews when I leave her home alone. In fact, I might find the chew on the potty pad. I just thought this was strange. She loves the C.E.T. chews otherwise.

I leave for work at three PM and return at eleven PM. I don't make a fuss when I leave for work and I don't make a fuss when I come back home.

Will she grow out of this barking behavior? It breaks my heart to hear her cry. Should I hire a dog trainer? I plan on taking her for classes but have not gotten to it yet. I was waiting for the weather to clear up before taking her out. She's had all her vaccinations already.

Thanks for all your help.
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Old 01-27-2014, 12:52 PM   #2
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I have used the below technique to train anxious and barking dogs how to accept being left alone without misbehaving or becoming destructive. It is long, wordy and the copy/paste from my Word program can cause some of the words to run together but you might read it over and see if it might work for your dog. It was originally posted about an adult, male dog with female owner. When enough time and repetition is used to teach this method, it has worked every time to desensitize the dog to the concept of being left alone and they learn to relax and accept this fact of their lives. But it takes a lot of dedication and repetition by the owner, working faithfully with the dog. I hope it can help your sweet dog feel less anxious when you leave her/him home alone.

Separation Anxiety

Most anxious dogs that aren't used to it get nervous and anxious when their owners leave the home. Firstly, take all emotion out of your leaving. Do not feel sad for him or tell him goodbye - just like pack leaders in the wild don't when they decide to go on a hunt or take a walk - they just walk away and nobody freaks. They are impersonal and matter-of-fact in how and what they must do. So no emotional goodbyes or hello's when arriving home. Act like a pack leader. Your dog is a pack animal and is genetically in tune with a firm but fair leader. As far as your actual leaving, just slowly desensitize him to your leaving and soon he will come to accept it. But you must desensitize him to it slowly and allow him to adjust to each step. Be patient with that baby - his anxiety can be overcome with time and patience and knowing what to do. Keep your training sessions short and impersonal, matter-of-fact. (You can reward him once each exercise is over with a big, loving play session and lots of loving hugs, kisses.)

Give him a lovely food-stuffed kong toy, sit down and watch him playing with it, take up your keys and purse and whatever else you do as if to leave home and sit back down and just watch him. Don't go anywhere. Just sit there. Now this is key: keep repeating this for a day or two on a weekend over and over, giving him different things to chew on or play with as you get ready to go but don't.

After a day or two of this, when he's playing with his kong and has accepted your getting your things together, get your keys/purse, watch him for a while then get up and without saying one word to him or looking in his direction, just like an alpha wolf who acts in its pack without question from one of his pack members, walk out of your door outside. Shut it. Stand there 10 seconds and walk back in, DO NOT NOTICE HIM AT ALL, no matter how he's dancing around your feet or whining in joy, put your things away and sit back down where you usually sit when you watch him with his kong toy. Repeat this over & over and keep increasing your times outside to let him learn slowly that though momma goes out the door, she will be back and I'm really okay. Slowly but surely as you stay out longer and longer but do come back in, he'll have grown to accept this action as inconsequential in his life and soon grow to accept your leaving without thinking a thing of it -he'll know he gets a good thing to play with and some good food, momma will be back and he'll accept it. B4 long, he will just accept your leaving without any toys or kongs or anything. After a while, include getting in the car in this training exercise, even starting it up and getting right back out and coming in the house without noticing him. Repeat repeat repeat - sitting in the car awhile with it running. Eventually, drive around the block and then back home, inside, not noticing your dog and putting your things away, coming to sit in the same place on the couch where you always sit during this training. Once you have sat there a while after each training session, now it is time to play and reward that anxious baby who is learning to be a goooood dog so now have a blast with him. Lots of love, hugs, kisses, tugowar, etc. Happy, happy rewards for his efforts are definitely in order!

If you are patient enough to do this, it works EVERY SINGLE time and turns an anxious, crying dog into one that accepts leaving as just a part of his day.They soon learn to adjust their day to sleep while we are away and be ready togo when we get home.

I would also start him on a good positive-rewards training program such as in Tamar Geller's The Loved Dog book. This will teach him to bond well with you as you develop a strong relationship that he will not question, no matter what as he knows momma is always gonna keep it fun, loving and always rewarding for him.
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Old 01-27-2014, 01:28 PM   #3
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What Yorkietalkjilly wrote really works well ! What I added with Charlie was to really drain his energy before starting to work on his anxiety. As the post above writes, it's all about desensitizing those triggers. Your dog is actually freaking out before you even leave your home. Just picking up your keys can do it. Here's a REALLY good book, or at least I thought so !
"I'll be Home Soon - How to Prevent and Treat Separation Anxiety" (by Patricia McConnell)
But, this is not something that will happen overnight. It takes time, and there will be set backs, but just keep at it !
Good luck !
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Old 01-30-2014, 01:25 PM   #4
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yorkietalkjilly,


Thank you for your response. I was hoping you could help me out just a bit more.

Elizabeth starts getting a little jumpy when she knows I'm getting ready for work. It starts when I take a shower. She seems to get more clingy when I get dressed and start getting my bag together. I make sure she's all set with fresh water and I get her wee pads all situated. Every step is a tell tale sign that I'm going out. She watches me like a hawk after the shower. She surely knows I'm leaving when she hears the keys jingle. It seems like I have this whole big ritual and she picks up on each part.

I'm unsure about what I should be doing after I give her a treat. Should I take a shower and get dressed repeatedly? Should I put on my coat and take it off repeatedly? Should I jiggle my keys while sitting there?

I understand the concept but unsure about how to put it into practice.



I'm new to dogs please excuse my ignorance.

I do appreciate your help.
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Old 01-30-2014, 09:02 PM   #5
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Give her the treat-stuffed kong or chewie, get her engaged in it and get your purse, take out the keys and sit back down, resume normal living. Repeat once or twice an hour. Another time, give her a toy to play with or the treat-filled kong and go open your closet door, take out clothes and then go sit down and resume your normal activities. Repeat a few times. Another time, take your shower or just turn on the water, take out your bathing things and then return to the room you were in with her.

Whatever activities start her getting anxious and telegraph that you are preparing to leave, do just one of those briefly and then return to what your were doing and repeat a few times that day, then move on to another step. Over time, do two or three things in a row that involve getting ready to leave and then resume what you were doing. In time and with enough repetitions and being extremely matter-of-fact while you are doing those preparations, she will start to accept that just because you do those things, life doesn't end, you don't actually leave and she will learn how to accept them without freaking out. By slowly working up to things a dog doesn't like or gets anxious about, it will slowly grow to accept and learn how to live with it. In time, you can work up to going to the door with your coat, keys, purse, opening it and coming back into the room with her, putting those things down and resuming your previous activities. Another time, go out the door and wait a few seconds and right back in, coming back to where she is and going on with what you were doing. Just slowly work up to over and over repeating getting ready to go and leaving bit by bit until she comes to accept it by degrees and in time, she will stay calm when you leave.

I'd also encourage her self-confidence by a good obedience training program where you work training her basic commands for your praise and treats and she learns that you tell her what to do and she does it for your positive reinforcement. Train her to go to her spot or bed on a command you give, such as "Go to bed" and lie quietly for a while on command and praise and treat her when she's managed to control her impulse to move or jump up. Once she's got that command down cold, you can use it in your desensitization training while you are getting into your coat or opening the door and then when she stays there for a short time, really, really, really praise and multi-treat her for the exercise. Keep repeating that and multi-treat when she stays put. She's learning to control herself when you tell her to because she knows her positive reinforcement reward for doing what you request is going to be well worth it and she'll see your pride in her when she does it, she'll get several little treats in a row as your praise her over and over and it will keep her wanting to please you time after time. This is how dogs learn.

During that time of learning to respond to your commands, she'll begin to feel less anxious and nervous and become a more self-confident dog, come to feel your pride in her. She won't be as anxious as she once was. She'll begin to learn over the many lessons and the two of you working together that if you tell her to lie down and play with her kong, she'll be happy to do it because you told her to and that when you do come back, you'll really praise her and treat her for being a good girl.
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