# barking?? Seperation anxiety



## sarahbalzer (Jul 27, 2015)

Hi Guys,
We picked up our beautiful 8 week old Charlie last Thursday. 
We are trying to crate train him, at night he hasn't been too bad. Cries a few times a night, and we take him outside for a poo/wee which he does and happy to go back into his crate.

However the only issue we are having,is his constant barking when we dont give him attention (we give him lots of attention for hours sometimes) or we leave the room, he will just start howling, barking and crying. After some reading online, the advise we have been given is ignore ignore ignore and as soon as he stops, praise him. Which we have been doing, and it is getting better. My question is, I work from home, so I have set my office up in the kitchen and we have set up an exercise pen next to me for him to play in and we have his crate in there too. However even with me next to him on the other side of the xpen gate he jumps up on the gate, barks, cries for atleast 10 mins every time I put him in there after maybe playing with him for half an hour or taking him our for wee poo. Even if I leave my desk and walk around the xpen to get a coffee, water, food etc he will wake up and start barking and trying to get my attention. Should I be setting his xpen up in another room so he is not getting used to me being there with him all day every day? Or is it better for him as a puppy to be near me all day? Any hints or tips would be great?

Thanks guys
Sarah


----------



## organicthoughts (Oct 9, 2012)

All I can say is that it gets better, pretty quickly. The pup will be super needy til about 4 months and then it will slowly improve.

Keep setting the boundaries you expect your dog to follow throughout life but always remember it is just a baby. So be very lenient and loving and go slow with your expectations. Any little improvement is wonderful at this age. Try to set him up for success as much as you can and praise him when he succeeds.


----------



## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Hi Sarah,

Imagine, a needy Vizsla.... :

They do outgrow this, but until that happens, it can be difficult, and the advice of ignore ignore ignore is correct. But, having you tantalizingly close thru the x pen might be too much for little Charlie who's only been with you for less than a week and is still going thru that adjustment, so it might be better to have him out with you, playing and cuddling..take him out to potty..and then put him in his crate for a nap..repeating a few times an hour.


----------



## sarahbalzer (Jul 27, 2015)

Thanks so much for the advice guys. I tried to let him play around me the first day and he just barked at me even when he was at my feet, so once he stopped I picked him up with a chew toy to cuddle and sit on my lap and he had no interest in the toy and wanted to eat my phone cord, notebook etc and so I put him down and he started constantly barking. I know this is normal puppy behavior but I'm on the phone constantly for work and can't have him barking all day. So should I try leave him in the downstairs rumpus in a xpen and go take him outside every hour... and then spend lunch break with him? Any advice would be great... 😊


----------



## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

It would be best to give him some undivided attention throughout the day at various intervals..chewing and exploring are part of being 8 weeks old....then, potty him and put him in his crate for a nap. If the proximity of the crate to your work creates too much noise and distraction, then put the crate in another room, he's too young to be left in an x pen unsupervised. 

Try to get a sense of his nap cycle, typically they play hard for about 30 mins or so, potty, then nap for about 30 mins, although your mileage may vary. Maybe you can adjust your schedule to accommodate that, at least for a while until he settles in and grows up a bit.


----------



## franzonaling (Jun 2, 2015)

I was lucky and got to take off about 6 weeks to stay with our little girl full time. I'm starting to work from home a bit more now, and if you find a good way to balance the fur ball with work PLEASE let me in on the secret. The best I've been able to do is work around her nap schedule. We try to stick to 3 longer naps a day since she's a older now. Our schedule looks like this:
7am - Play/breakfast/potty
9:30am - nap, mom works like crazy for 2 hrs
11:00am - Up for play/lunch/potty/lounge around (she's not as all engines firing like she is in the early morning)
1:30pm - nap, mom fields phone calls, emails that have been ignored
3:00pm - Play/potty/yell at mom to take to park or trails for off leash play
5:00pm - short nap till husband comes home at 6 and then they play all evening while I catch up on literally the full day of work
9:00pm is bedtime

We never got her to play nicely by herself in a pen. So unfortunately, it's mostly all attention on her when she's up and being engaged with her fully, and then being able to have the nap times free to work or God willing, eat something?? This might be the least helpful post ever and I need to include a photo of how cute she is to redeem myself. 

Good luck!


----------



## sarahbalzer (Jul 27, 2015)

Aww shes adorable 
Thanks for your tips guys. All a learning curve for both of us I think.
I have let him run around my feet today and he has been ok.
Thanks everyone really appreciate your help. 
I'm sure I'll be back with more questions again


----------

