[sarahjforrest]

We have a nearly 7 month old Yorkie called Muffin. We've had him since he was about 3 months old.

Since the day we got him we have crate trained him and he does really well with it in terms of not messing in the house anymore (apart from the odd occasion).

We have two problems though.

Firstly he hates when we leave him any time during the day. At night if you tell him to go to bed he does it without too much fuss and won't cry unless he needs to go to the toilet. But that seems to have become more frequent in the last month.

We when first got him he would last till we got up in the morning but we are often getting woken early or in the middle of the night with him crying. We tried to leave him a few times but on those occasions he would pee in his crate so now we are getting up each time. He does pee straight away outside when we take him at these times.

The other problem is that when we leave him at any point during the day we leave toys and treats in his crate but he won't touch them. When we come home and let him out he grabs them straight away and will then go and play with them.

We bought him a kong toy last week and he loved it at first but again when we put it in his crate he won't touch it.

Also he does cry a little still in his crate if we are away during the day.

Can anyone offer any advice to help us?

Thanks