# 9 week old separation Anxiety



## Dog1404 (Dec 5, 2021)

Hey, looking for help with our new Vizsla puppy - we have had him 4 days now (3 nights) and he follows us around everywhere in the house and cannot be left alone at all. We have got no sleep as we can just hear him howling in his crate at night the minute we leave his sight. We need him to be Independent and be able to handle being by himself. Any help or advice appreciated please!


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

9 weeks is very young and what you describe is normal and I would not classify it as separation anxiety. Everything is new to him and he was used to sleeping closely to his litter-mates. I recommend moving the crate to your bedroom for sleeping at night. You may have to deal with nights of crying and barking until he learns to settle during the crate training process, but the bedroom where you sleep is the best place especially during this phase. There are many threads on this forum about crate training techniques that should be helpful. Never let him out except to go to potty and do not play with him during or after potty time, right back into the crate. You may have to cope with 15minutes to hour+ whining and crying until he self settles to sleep. We had many many days of this and we were walking around like zombies due to sleep deprivation. Some people have it lucky and their pup settles quickly, others not so much. Just remember there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Also remember you brought a velcro dog into your house. I would get used to them always wanting to be with you. Early on they may take awhile to self-settle around the house on their own which is normal. I think it took to about 4 months before Ellie would go lay on the couch alone without us for the first time.


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## Dog1404 (Dec 5, 2021)

@Dan_A thank you so much for this that’s so reassuring! He’s happy in the crate and will voluntarily go in and sleep there when we’re around and we’re slowly being able to go into another room without him being too disturbed - he might shuffle and whine a bit but will settle down if he’s tired so he’s learning. Just struggling with the barking and whining at night and we ideally don’t want him to sleep in the bedroom and would like to be able to leave him alone for short periods without getting worked up if we were to leave the house.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

We started with the crate in our bedroom, then moved it to the living room after Ellie was 5 months old. That is where she is now and she is perfectly comfortable.


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