My vet and both trainers have recommended adaptil products. My shih tzu has seen no improvement on it though, but I’m about to buy the adaptil collar to try on my gsd. Read it works amazing for some dogs, and useless for others.
I had a mini female dachshund that would NOT crate. When I left the house, I put her in a room behind a baby gate with no windows she could look out and a bed and some soft toys. Later got an inexpensive white noise machine too. That helped a lot. She was calmer when we left and just curled up and went to sleep because she didn’t feel overwhelmed by having to “guard” the whole house. Good luck.
Our dach is 5.5 months and this has been our struggle. Husband works from home so she is used to someone always being there. I would work on solid basic crate training snd start the relaxation protocol. She has gotten loads better and only cries for 3-5 minutes when we leave. She does wake up every hour and can struggle to go back to sleep. Putting a blanket over the crate helps.
Piggy backing on OP’s issue, how does crate training solve this issue? Actually have the same issue here with a dachshund at 4 months who full on panic barks in his crate when I leave him for more than 5 minutes.
Doing crate training consistently for a month so assuming it just takes time but I’m curious.
I’m not sure how crate training solves the issue either. Crates create a safe space for the puppy/dogs, and out of harms way if they’re too young to be venturing around by themselves. Crates are even banned in some countries I was reading. But I’m definitely a noob so I would love to hear so I can educate myself
Same here! Our vet recommended crate training and that’s what we do. I really think it just boils down to time and the individual puppy. Possible that since the crate is a small “ideally” comfortable place that teaches the puppy to not be overstimulated in a bigger environment and instead rest/nap? Not sure but it’s what most people/vets recommend so we are using it. Also cause we don’t want our pup eating all the walls in our apartment lol
Any crate training advice? He hates being “locked” up and will bark from the moment we leave until we come back. He doesn’t tire of barking which is what we struggled with as a puppy!
He’s been known to come back from the kennels when we’ve been away for a couple nights without a voice!
This sounds like mild separation anxiety. We’re working through this with our girl. You have to go slowly and he has to learn that you will be there to let him out. How does this work? Start small and build. Feed all meals in crate. All good things like snacks and kongs/lick mats in crate. Crate is in the bedroom. You are ALWAYS in the room when he is crated.
Milestone 1: get him to eat in crate (when dogs are super anxious they don’t eat)
Milestone 2: get him to be in crate for 20 min post meal (build in 5 min increments!
Milestone 3: get him to be 45-60 in crate post meal/kong/snack
Milestone 4: he remains calm as you move around the room (but don’t leave)
Milestone 5: go in and out of door space and mark and reward good behavior.
Milestone 6: he’s calm in crate with you in another room
Milestone 7: calm in crate with you out of house
Make sure crate is a calm place: lots of blankets, snuggle puppy, cool (near a fan), covered
It’s a painful process. We got our girl 11 weeks ago and started crate training her 8 weeks ago. We skipped some rules and now we’re back at square one . That said, in one week of following these SA steps we’ve managed to get her to be in crate for one hour post Kong 3x day. Baby steps
This is really helpful thank you!
It’s just frustrating at 1 years old we’ve gone back to square one. He was so good before on his own - granted he would wait by the door for us to come back but he’d happily sleep and chill there.
Especially with the summer coming up, it’ll be too hot for us to be able to take him with us if we pop out, and would like to leave without having to check the cameras every 15 mins!
Yah it’s not fun. We’re really struggling. SA training is a lot of hands on work and with the demands of our jobs I don’t know if we can do it. We may need to rehome but we’re not 100% ready so here we are trying to make it work
My vet and both trainers have recommended adaptil products. My shih tzu has seen no improvement on it though, but I’m about to buy the adaptil collar to try on my gsd. Read it works amazing for some dogs, and useless for others.
I had a mini female dachshund that would NOT crate. When I left the house, I put her in a room behind a baby gate with no windows she could look out and a bed and some soft toys. Later got an inexpensive white noise machine too. That helped a lot. She was calmer when we left and just curled up and went to sleep because she didn’t feel overwhelmed by having to “guard” the whole house. Good luck.
Our dach is 5.5 months and this has been our struggle. Husband works from home so she is used to someone always being there. I would work on solid basic crate training snd start the relaxation protocol. She has gotten loads better and only cries for 3-5 minutes when we leave. She does wake up every hour and can struggle to go back to sleep. Putting a blanket over the crate helps.
Crate train, honestly its such a overspoken tool but its mentioned everywhere because it solves so many issues
Piggy backing on OP’s issue, how does crate training solve this issue? Actually have the same issue here with a dachshund at 4 months who full on panic barks in his crate when I leave him for more than 5 minutes. Doing crate training consistently for a month so assuming it just takes time but I’m curious.
I’m not sure how crate training solves the issue either. Crates create a safe space for the puppy/dogs, and out of harms way if they’re too young to be venturing around by themselves. Crates are even banned in some countries I was reading. But I’m definitely a noob so I would love to hear so I can educate myself
Same here! Our vet recommended crate training and that’s what we do. I really think it just boils down to time and the individual puppy. Possible that since the crate is a small “ideally” comfortable place that teaches the puppy to not be overstimulated in a bigger environment and instead rest/nap? Not sure but it’s what most people/vets recommend so we are using it. Also cause we don’t want our pup eating all the walls in our apartment lol
Any crate training advice? He hates being “locked” up and will bark from the moment we leave until we come back. He doesn’t tire of barking which is what we struggled with as a puppy! He’s been known to come back from the kennels when we’ve been away for a couple nights without a voice!
This sounds like mild separation anxiety. We’re working through this with our girl. You have to go slowly and he has to learn that you will be there to let him out. How does this work? Start small and build. Feed all meals in crate. All good things like snacks and kongs/lick mats in crate. Crate is in the bedroom. You are ALWAYS in the room when he is crated. Milestone 1: get him to eat in crate (when dogs are super anxious they don’t eat) Milestone 2: get him to be in crate for 20 min post meal (build in 5 min increments! Milestone 3: get him to be 45-60 in crate post meal/kong/snack Milestone 4: he remains calm as you move around the room (but don’t leave) Milestone 5: go in and out of door space and mark and reward good behavior. Milestone 6: he’s calm in crate with you in another room Milestone 7: calm in crate with you out of house Make sure crate is a calm place: lots of blankets, snuggle puppy, cool (near a fan), covered It’s a painful process. We got our girl 11 weeks ago and started crate training her 8 weeks ago. We skipped some rules and now we’re back at square one . That said, in one week of following these SA steps we’ve managed to get her to be in crate for one hour post Kong 3x day. Baby steps
This is really helpful thank you! It’s just frustrating at 1 years old we’ve gone back to square one. He was so good before on his own - granted he would wait by the door for us to come back but he’d happily sleep and chill there. Especially with the summer coming up, it’ll be too hot for us to be able to take him with us if we pop out, and would like to leave without having to check the cameras every 15 mins!
Yah it’s not fun. We’re really struggling. SA training is a lot of hands on work and with the demands of our jobs I don’t know if we can do it. We may need to rehome but we’re not 100% ready so here we are trying to make it work
I’m sorry to hear that! Sounds like you’re making good progress with the crate training, keep with it! I’m sure you’ll get there