# Puppy Crying all day when we're not home



## Zhiyu (Nov 13, 2012)

Hi,

I have a almost 4 month old male Vizsla that keep crying as soon as we leave the apartment. We have him in the crate, which he is extremely good with at night. He used to cry at night, but now he is good. Now the problem is that he cries a lot during the day when we're off to work. We leave for work at 8am, and do not get back till 8pm. We have a dog walker come in at 12pm and 4pm, so Max gets his exercise, gets to do his business, and has lunch as well.

Normally, we would leave him and not worry about him crying, but we live in a Co-Op unit. We received a call from the board president saying that our neighbor upstairs has had enough with Max crying during the day. She said he cried for about 45 minutes before he stopped. I can see how much of a nuisance it can be to our upstairs neighbor, and we've gone up there to apologize before. I think she's just had enough, and at this point, if we have to go to a board meeting and they vote to have Max gone, we would be devastated!

What can I do to keep max from Crying as soon as we leave the apartment? I'm afraid he cries for 45 minutes after the dog walker comes in those 2 other times during the day too.

Thanks,
Zhiyu


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Do you leave anything in his crate for him to play with? Do you have Dog TV? This helped Miles a lot when we were crate training, and you can set it for up to 8 hours.


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Zhiyu,

Welcome to the forum. I am sorry but I think leaving a puppy for 12 hours even with 2 visits from a dog walker is far too long. How are you managing to house train the puppy? When do you spend time with him, and training. How many hours is your puppy spending in a crate in a 24hr day?

I am not surprised your puppy cries when he is left in your apartment. Vizslas are known as velcro dogs. They love to be with their owners and don't do well when left on their own for more than a few hours.

I am surprised a breeder sold you a puppy knowing it would be left for 12 hrs on it's own.

As he gets older and requires more exercise he is likely to get destructive and noisier unless his exercise requirements are met. These dogs require a minimum of 2hrs exercise a day and a lot of stimulation.

In the short term perhaps you could send him to a day care so he has exercise and companionship.


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

12 hours is a long time but you are splitting so that he isn't alone for more than 4 hours in one go. Simple answer is he is bored. So you need leave him with frozen kongs or other activity toys. That way the two hours he is getting with the dog walker is extended by however much time your pup is spending working on the toys. 

Some suggestions are kongs, buster cube, bully sticks. Do not leave him with raw hide though as they are choking hazard. 

Now for the tough the talk. 12 hours minus the 2 for walks is 10 hours in the crate plus the 8 he sleeps in there so you are talking 18 hours a day you pup is in a cage. So are you giving him an hour of attention before you go to work?? If not you should be and another hour when you get home a min but 2 hour max would be better. What I mean by attention is training classes, or at home training, playing games like hiding treats for him to find or tug or fetch, and of course good old fashion walks. 
You are going to have to invest most of your free time to the dog. If you can't you are going to have a rough road.


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

I agree with the doggie day care recommendation. 

Maybe you can arrange for transportation with the day care?

For instance, I drop Luna off there at 8:30 am and they drop her back at home 5 hours later (and I still have a dog walker come for a walk in the afternoon). For a 1/2 day (5 hours plus transportation home) it's only $18/day. A full day (up to 10 hours) would be $33. Not sure how the rates are by you, but you're probably paying a dog walker a decent amount anyway to come twice a day, so it may not change things up too much financially.


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## Zhiyu (Nov 13, 2012)

Hi,

Thanks for all the suggestions. Max is our priority in the morning and when we get home. We're up by 6am to walk him, to play with him and give him as much attention as possible. 8 is the latest we'll get home, but I'm usually home by 7pm, and I take him out for a good 30 minute walk, feed him, walk him again for another 15-20 minutes, and then play with him till about 11-12am. We make sure he gets plenty of attention when we're at home. On the weekends, we spend all day with him, and take him everywhere. He loves visiting my sister's place that has a german shepherd and a rottweiler. He gets so tired, that he doesn't want to move monday mornings. He's so tired he doesn't even want to eat until lunch time on Mondays. Once he gets old enough (probably a year or so), i plan to take him running with me. I'm a pretty active person, and we've been waiting for him to get all his shots (which happened this past weekend), before we took him out to the dog parks and for him to socialize more.

In the beginning, we used to leave toys in there with him, but then we were warned not to due to it being a hazzard and them chocking on the toys since nobody is around. We'll definitely look into the Kongs, buster cube and other toys for him to play with.

We know the first year is going to be tough, but once he is crate trained, and we can leave him out when we're not home, we're sure things will get easier. We're just trying our best right now to do what is right and good for Max. We love him so much can't fathom the thought of having to give him up. We'll try anything.

Thanks for the input!

-Zhiyu


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## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

He's adorable! I do agree that bully sticks unattended, especially at that young of an age, can be a choking hazard.


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## Zhiyu (Nov 13, 2012)

preparing for Hurricane Sandy!


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## Zhiyu (Nov 13, 2012)

He just can't get enough of the couch!


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