[Phanatical]

Hello everyone! I am sorry if this topic has already been addressed - I've been searching the forums for days reading everything I could, but nothing seemed to address the issue I'm now having with my baby Montgomery.

Like many of us, I work a 9-5 job. Montgomery will wake up around 5:15-5:30am, meaning I get up with him, and we potty, eat, and play until about 7:45am. Around this time, I must start to get dressed and ready to leave for work by 8:30am. By this time I'm exhausted already from having chased him around non-stop for two hours, and the "terror" hasn't even begun yet.

I've tried placing Monty in his huge, extremely well-stocked ex-pen while I quickly get ready, but he barks absolutely incessantly. So, now I've turned to bringing him back up to my room with me, which is where he also sleeps in his crate. He'll wander around my room silently, but the second I step away to brush my teeth, pick out a shirt - if I even turn away from him to apply makeup while literally standing right next to him - he freaks out! It's gotten so bad that my dad and I have started taking "shower shifts" at night, where one of us stays him as the other showers. Showering in the morning is impossible unless I want him to wake up the entire neighborhood (we live in a rowhome). I should mention that he does not do this to my father at all when he is preparing to leave the house for work, errands, etc. - only to me. Carrying him around is doable, but slows me down considerably. I try to get through everything as quickly as possible so he won't bark so much, but it's getting extremely frustrating.

Also, this is about the only time when Monty acts this way! He never does this if I place him in the ex-pen so I can use the restroom on the weekends or at night (maybe a yip or five, but nothing non-stop). This is why I'm thinking it's separation anxiety. This has only been happening for four days now but I can already see it's becoming an issue for us all. My father does shift work, so he will be home in the mornings from this Thursday until September, but then I know the terror will start again. This schedule changes every two weeks (2 wks/day work, 2 wks/night work), so every other two weeks, for two weeks, Monty will, I'm sure, continue to freak out every morning. When I actually put him in his ex-pen and leave for work, though, he's as quiet as a church mouse! It's just the "getting ready" part that sends us all bonkers.

I want ALL of us to be sane, happy, and healthy. I definitely don't want my baby stressed, but I feel that he is - which is in turn stressing me out! It's quickly becoming a vicious cycle for us. What to do?!

A local dog trainer told me I need to go home and take him for a walk every three hours, but unless I want to be fired, that isn't an option. I was also told to let him "bark it out," but I feel this is very unfair to my older, retired neighbors who live on either side. I also have serious issues with letting a stranger come in to walk him every day. I suppose if worse comes to worse, my father could run home from work to take him for a mid-day walk, but won't that make the anxiety return when my father leaves him?