Separation Anxiety + Potty Training

[Mbedair]

Hello,

I have an adorable 7 months old yorkie name Sim Sim (sesame in Arabic). He's my first dog ever and unfortunately I'm having a few problems.

First of all, he seems to have severe separation anxiety. He follows me from room to room and freaks out the moment I'm out of sight. He will bark incessantly and scratch at the doors/carpet if I'm not in his direct line of vision. I thought he would eventually grow out of it, but if anything it has become worse! I can't even go to the bathroom without him barking and freaking out.

I am a student, so I need to leave him alone occasionally (usually for around 3 hours a day). However, I'm finding it near impossible to leave him at home alone unless he's in his crate and even then he finds ways of destroying things and making a mess. I've tried to buy him playpens for when I'm gone, but he has escaped every single one I have bought. He climbs over his Iris playpen and throws himself off the top.

Another issue I'm having is that he is still not fully potty trained. I spend a lot of time in my parent's home in addition to my apartment, and so I have bought him an artificial grass turf for both my apartment and my parent's home. In my apartment, the grass turf is on the balcony and he exits through a little doggie door to go to the bathroom. He's been doing fine on that because my apartment is small enough that I can close all the doors and keep him in direct supervision.

My parent's home is much bigger and I have no way of confining him to one area. I had to just put the turf in the bathroom, but he wont use it! Instead he will very quickly run to any room I'm not currently in and potty. Basically, the moment he leaves my side for one second, I know he is going to the bathroom. I have tried to intercept him and put him on the turf, but he just won't use it for #2. He'll reluctantly use it to pee though.

Any help on either issue would be much appreciated!

Thanks

[diva_vida]

How does he destroy things in his crate? Is it too big for him? I have a wire crate for my 4 month old puppy that he can only lay down and turn around in comfortably. He doesn't destroy his bedding because that's all he has to lay on. I also leave a few toys and a himalayan chew in there for him when I leave.

I know I've read a lot on here and a few books about potty training and it seems that dogs have a hard time knowing where they need to pee. So he knows that he pees on the balcony, not necessarily that he pees on the patch. That's why when he goes to your parents, he's confused even though the patch is there.

Also, do you take him to the patch at your place or does he do it himself? Maybe you need to take him to the patch at your parents every hour or 90 min so that he knows that he needs to go on the patch and make sure you always put it in the same exact place.

If you're only gone for 3 hours a day and escapes his pen all the time, then crating him may be the best option. He should be able to hold his pee for 3 hours. My puppy is 4 months and 4lbs and can hold his pee for 5 hours in the crate when I'm at work until I come home at lunch to let him out.

My puppy is also on a strict schedule. I take him out at 5:30AM to poop and pee then I feed him at 6:15 and I crate him at 6:30 and go to work. I come home at 11 and let him out again to poop and pee and then I feed him and he goes back in the crate. I then come home around 4 and he just pees and I let him play until I feed him at 6:30. When I'm at home I take him out around every hour to 90 mins maximum. I pushed it to 2 hours one time and he peed on the carpet lol. He's poops again at 7:30 and then I take him out at like 8:30 and 9:30 to pee and then he's in the crate for bed.

One more thing. I was off work for like 5 days for Thanksgiving and I was home in NJ at my parents and was basically home most of the day. When we came back to MD and I needed to leave him to go to the mall...he spazzed out! I think he had gotten used to me always being there. Now I make it a habit of leaving him alone and going out even if I'm off or if it's the weekend.

[Nikkikitty77]

I don't have much insight to share, but I'm wondering if my new pup's behavior is separation anxiety too. He seems to have bonded to me rather quickly, not so much for my boyfriend. My cats are my pets, I'm very close to them. He's not. I'd hoped Hank would be closer to him. I do think the key is getting him to interact with Hank. Maybe you can get a pet sitter or a friend to come see him for a few hours once a week while you're away?