I have an 8 month male Weim who has always in the mornings whined and barked for me to get up as soon as he heard my alarm clock ringing.  However for the past 2 weeks he has started this about an hour before I am due to get up, even though my hubby has been up and seen to him before going to work.  I have tried to ignore him but he just keeps going on and on.  He also has to follow me everywhere and doesn't like it if I keep him in one room while I do something else, even though it may only be going upstairs to collect something and I'm straight back for him.  He jumps up and claws at the door and whines.  He never does this with my husband though, only me, so not sure if it's the way I'm reacting to him that's wrong.

Has anyone else had this problem or know what I could do.  This is my first male dog and never had this problem with bitches.

Are you there with him most of the day ?
And if so , are you rushing back to him to reassure him when he starts to whine when being left? If so, i would say dont- he needs to learn that he cant have 100% attention all day long.

I work in the morning and my hubby is in for him in the afternoon, so he's not left long on his own, but he is used to this routine.  We don't have this problem at the weekend and again that is because he only does it when he knows I am in the house on my own.

I have a dog who is exactly the same.  At the weekend my husband went to an agility show on Saturday and Sunday.  I don't always go because we have a cattery and I have to get someone in.  If it isn't too early a start then I will get up at the same time but this weekend he left before 6am.  I tried to ignore him on Saturday morning but everytime I dropped back off to sleep he started again.  Bark, whinge, bash kitchen door, scratch kitchen door, upturn metal waterbowl so I eventually got up and read him his rights. :D  On Sunday morning my husband brought him up to the bedroom as instructed and he went back to sleep with me and we were woken at 9.30 by a knock on the door from a cattery customer.

Please do not allow your dog to follow you about, more weims come into rescue with separation anxiety than anything else because owners have not "alone" trained their dogs.  I would suggest you invest in baby gates and start training him to be alone for seconds at a time and return the nano second he is quiet and settled, click and treat.  Do not return if there is howling, barking and whining etc going on otherwise you are just reinforcing this behaviour and he will do it more.  It takes time but is relatively simple to train/rectify etc.

Your dog is smart, he has worked out that when he hears the alarm clock ringing you get up, cause and effect; this is the same way we deliberately train our dogs to recall etc after all; you have just been unconsciously training him to react to the clock :D

You could get round this by actually setting the alarm clock off at different times during the day so that it actually ceases to become a signal to him!

Weims often attach themselves to one member of the family very strongly and with males it is very often the female of the house.  Although it may be very flattering, with a weimaraner's assertive and possessive nature it can prove problematic as they grow; I would strongly advise you to ensure that your dog is regularly handled by other people to avoid him becoming over attached to you.

Dogs often whine because they are bored and the contrast between the "emptiness" of the night etc and the comfort of the day is too great.  Another reason to exercise a little "benign neglect" :D

HTH

Hi on the subject of separation anxiety - my german shorthaired pointer developed it overnight at 15months.  I have left her everyday since we got her (deliberately so she would be ok when I had to leave her).  She was fine and then she changed for no apparent reason.  She shakes and pants and hides when she knows we are going out. I have bought a dap difuser but have seen no improvement after a week.  She is caged when I go out, I leave her for between 1-2 hours and she has always been happy with her stuffed kong.  But now she doesn't touch her kong until I return.  She is calm and quiet when I get back.  Even when I'm in and use a stair gate to keep her in  a separate room she frets.

I know a lot of people don't like the idea of cages but I think they are useful if use is not excessive and for travelling and staying away from home etc it would be really useful if I could get her to like her cage again.  She is more than happy to jump into the cage in the car even it is just parked on the drive going nowhere - she did it yesterday and had a snooze - so I don't think it can be claustrophobia.  She also goes happily into the cage in the back of the dog walkers van.

I had planned to phase out the cage in the house over the summer but I'm not quite sure how to go about it -  I think she will do damage if she is left alone - out of panic.

Can anyone advise how I should go about this?  And has any one used a dap difuser with any success?

My first question is, what can have happened for her to literally develop this problem overnight? I take it you do mean she was OK one moment and next time she was shaking and panting?
It could be that something has happened to trigger this - could she have hurt herself whilst on her own, knocked something over or been scared by anything in the environment? Outside or in? I know of some "odd" reasons for dogs getting anxious about being left...a GSD who was terrified of the mice in the kitchen, and another dog who was terrified of the answermachine coming on!! It may not be a bad idea to get some sort of camera/video installed to see what happens whilst you are out.

I have used a DAP diffuser with success, for fireworks though. My dog was also not at the shaking stage, she was "anxious" and did not want to go into the garden adn would sit bolt upright when a firework was let off, but luckily i was able to pre-empt very bad panic so i think that is why the DAP worked...i feel it seems to work best if the adrenalin has not seriously kicked in. Banya was able to sleep through fireworks after the first 10 days ...maybe your DAP needs longer to kick in, best effects for me were after 10 days :)

Sometimes even something like a fly buzzing in the room can scare a dog, esp. if it is in a crate and for thefirst time feels trapped. I was going to suggest a separate room rather than a crate just to see if that made a difference but i see you have already tried that.

I would suggest looking at www.pets.f9.co.uk ..... there is a booklet there on separation problems by Peter Neville who is one of the few peope i would trust with my dog ;) The booklet may help; as last resort you could get in touch with him and ask for help :).

Hth
Lindsay
X

Hi there briela!
We also have a 7 month old Weim, and he was much the same a few weeks ago. I logged on this site as a guest, and asked much the same question..
The relplies I received were really helpful, and we changed our strategy a little, and found( much to our delight!) that Bailey isn't quite so vocal at 5am now.
One post suggested that as the mornings are very light at present, he wants to be up and out and was telling me that it was time to go out to the park, was there any way of making the kitchen darker? So, we bought a blind for the window, and over the past few weeks he's much improved.Yeehar!
My husband and I both work, but he's not left all day, but still he does seem to play up more for me than for my husband! I'm no expert, never had a weim before, although we have always had big dogs. He's a superstar, and love him to bits, even when he's picking on our 10 yr old german shepherd!
Hope this helps a bit!
Jules

Hi BaileyBoo my boy is also called Bailey and it seems a good suggestion to keep the room darker.  Our blind broke recently and we haven't replaced it and don't draw the curtains, so I suppose he must feel as though he has been up for hours.  He started at 6.30 this morning and I ignored him and put ear plugs in and when I woke up slightly later, he was silent, so not sure how long he went on for.  Tonight I'll close the curtains over and see if this helps.

Hmmm, copper would get me up at 3am for a walk if I would do it.  You have to be harsh.  You have to say "back to bed".  Copper whines on and on so I just put him out the bedroom and he has to wait.  He's not happy, he scrabbles the door, whines, whimpers.  It's the way I am with him (bad) and probably the way you are with your  dog.  I'm probably the world's softest touch when it comes to dogs but you have to lay down the law.  Tough, but you have to.  I've  had professional help and you just don't take no for an answer with your dog.

CG