[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