# my vizsla hates being left alone



## ringo (Jan 22, 2012)

My lovely girl willow is now nearly 15 weeks old, i take her to work with me everyday where she stays in a crate where at first she cried and cried. Shes now good as gold at work. On my days off i like to cycle with my mates and today left her on her own for 4 hrs. I left her out of her crate thinking it better to give her more room over a long period alone.
On getting home she had pretty much trashed the room which is fine as theres nothing dangerous or valuable and i know now i should have put her in her crate.
Is this normal behaviour. There are going to be other times when i need to leave her such as taking kids out on trips a dog would not be allowed etc
How can i make it easier on her?
Here she is


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Crate her for short periods of time with you out of the house and she will get used to it. She will probably sleep most of the time your away so the crate is perfect.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Yes, ringo, this is normal puppy behavior. "They chew 'til they're two!" You can expect this kind of thing, off and on, until the second birthday. If your Willow does better than that, lucky you! If you'd rather not crate her for longer periods of time, arrange a larger area in your house where she can have more room, but still be restricted. I used to use my laundry room, with everything picked up and out of reach (except for a toy, food and water bowls, and a dog bed). Cute picture, by the way!


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## Coya (Aug 20, 2011)

You are brave to let her out of the crate so early! Coya is 8 months and is crated at all times when we are out (except for that one time when someone forgot to lock the crate and she greeted me at the front door...but that's a different story)  She loves her crate...as I'm sure your Willow will too...it just takes a little time. I'm sure you have heard the whole "the crate mimics their den" and that is the truth. It's their own little "bedroom". 

I agree with TexasRed...put her in the crate for short periods of time when you're around and she knows you're there. This way she won't associate the crate with you leaving. Give her a safe chew (kongs are great) to keep her busy while she's in there, as well as a favorite special toy and she should be fine. And again, quoting TexasRed, Willow will most likely sleep most of the time while she's in there. Just remember...it's probably going to be harder on you than it will be on her. Good luck!


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Start building time in the crate alone from small periods to longer periods. Do it slowly and reward good behaviour when you get home, just ignore the bad stuff, they won't link the two activities  Over time and as pup grows, this tends to become less and less of an issue. Astro and Ozkar both had terrible issues being left alone. Now they are well used to it and are fine. Although, I still have to lock half the house off if I don't want to come home to ripped up cushions  They just love anything soft. The leather lounge has never been a target?? Just the soft furnishings  Must taste better


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## mollys mum (Feb 3, 2012)

Hi Ringo,

Molly is 11 weeks and she has two periods of 2 hrs each day on her own. 
We are lucky enough to be able to give her her own bedroom for when we are out, in which she has her crate which she is locked in at night, plus a dog bed for the daytime periods when she's on her own, a bowl of water and some toys. 
As we leave we give her with a frozen kong and the second half of her breakfast kibble in a kong ball so it entertains her for a little while.
If she knows that we are still in the house she will bark, howl and scratch at the door. I've pretended to leave and hidden outside and she cries for a few minutes and then gives in and goes back to bed. This gives me some comfort that she's ok when we're out.

She goes to bed in her crate very willingly at about 10pm
and sleeps through til about 5am at which point she makes a noise and I get up to let her out to the toilet - all good until this point.
If I then try and put her back in her bed she goes bananas! It's not sleep time any more and she will howl and scrape and bark. 

Now the books say that you should not go back in until she is quiet because you are re-inforcing that if she barks, someone comes. I'm not sure how long you are supposed to wait, but we've managed about an hour before we really had to go to her! 

So... she gets up between 5 and 5.30, goes out to the toilet.... and then jumps in bed with us and goes back to sleep under the duvet! Oh dear, I think the expression is that we've "made a rod for our own backs". :-\


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Great advice in the above posts. There have been some other threads about being alone, so you may want to do a search. Also, being alone is a difficult skill for Vs. Savannah has to practive being alone every single day.


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## ringo (Jan 22, 2012)

^Thanks very much for the replies, i think ill just need to persevere


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