Barking when alone...HELP!
 

Hi all,

I am a brand new yorkie owner. I got my baby boy, Hunter, yesterday and he is 10 weeks old. A true sweetie. We have been bonding and he seems to be adjusting. The only problem is he barks when left alone. We are doing confinement training to paper train him. When I leave him alone to shower or do other things in the house he barks the entire time. His first night he was actually able to sleep the entire night from 1030pm till 6am. Tonight, however, he will not stop barking. I dont want to reenforce the behavior but I am not sure what to do. And it is not only at night, it is also during the day! I dont mind having him with me all the time but I want him to learn to be ok with being alone! Also, him being with me all the time is not feasible because he is not paper trained yet! PLEASE HELP! Any advice would be appreciated.

Welcome to YT!

I think your little man is too young to be away from mom and litter. (Yorkies should not be allowed to leave mom and litter before 12 weeks of age) He could just be really lonely since he wasn't given that time to adapt. He has to learn your absence doesn't mean you've abandoned him. You could buy these stuffed animals that have a heartbeat. It'll keep him company in his pen.

EX Amazon.com: SnugglePuppie™ - Brown Mutt:...

Those snuggle puppies are so cute, I've never seen those.

My breeder told me to fill a sock with rice, then microwave it to give Princess something warm to lay against simulating mom or a sibling. Of course make sure it is sealed well & check daily for any wear & tear. She never bothered with it, other than licking it a lot.:rolleyes:

Thank you for all of your advice.

I have him in an xpen with his potty area, bed, and food bowls. Also, he has two toys with him and a blanket from the breeder I got him from that is supposed to smell like his parents and litter mates.

He is doing well over night - actually he has slept 8 straight hours 2 of the 3 nights he has been home so far, so no complaints there. I do keep a ticking clock wraped in the towel and in a cloth bag in his bed at night which seems to soothe them (he curls up and sleeps next to it).

Right now I dont have him on much of a schedule for being in the xpen, which is where I plan to have him over night and while I am at work (with two visits daily, but this won't start until three weeks from now) and when I cannot be directly observing him. Should I put him on a schedule for being in the crate with me not in the room while I am home? Would this help with him being alone? I am trying to encourage self-play when he is out of the xpen. It has only been three days since he has been home with me but he seems to have formed a close attachment to me and will follow up about wherever I go! I did visit him every 2 weeks from the time he was 3 weeks old untill he came home with me. I love this but I want him, for his sake, to be happy when he cannot be with me.

Thanks for any advice!!

Awwww, that's so sweet he sleeps next to the clock.:)
It will just take some time, he's still really young and going from his mom and litter mates to just a human is probably still a bit scarey. It takes a little while for them to build up some confidence and some independence (a little bit anyway;)). I think it would be a good idea to start a little schedual, just leave him for very short periods of time (by going into another room) then he'll see that you always come back. You can gradually increase the time away as he gets better. There's kind of a fine line because you want him to have the comfort and security of being near you at this young age and during the transition to living with you, yet at the same time you don't want him to have a hard time in 3 weeks when you go back to work. I would start by when he's in the expen, just walk kind of around the corner out of sight. If he cries, let him go and wait for a moment that he stops to go back to him because you also don't want to reinforce that him crying makes you come. He should get used to a schedual pretty quickly, dogs tend to be masters of scheduals (once they're on one they don't let you change it;)) and they figure it out pretty quickly if it's consistant.:D Good luck, can't wait to see pictures:D

This all sounds very normal. When I first got Ruger he would bark and whine when I got in the shower and closed the shower curtain. Open the curtain and he would stop. Now he just sleeps on the bathroom carpet when I shower or goes who knows where in the house.

lol Alice did the same thing when I would shower, she's used to it now though and just sits on the bath mat and waits;)

Thank you all for your help!

Hunter is actually great about sleeping the night (usually 6 hours straight)! He still barks/yips a bit when a put him in the xpen and leave the house for short trips (I record him to check on his progress, I dont want to stress my baby out!). He has been crying less and less and learning to entertain himself. He is just the most amazing and charming little fella ever.