We have a Blue Roan Cocker Spaniel who tends to bark when left alone (albeit with another dog - Cavelier Spaniel). He shows no signs of aggression towards anyone and is the most loveable, docile dog I have owned in all my dog-owning years. Think a small cuddly womble who constantly wants petted and human contact and you will be along the right track :o)
He used to be quite destructive when left alone, so we bought an indoor kennel for the 2 of them on the advise of the kennel owner they stay with when we go on holiday and that works well.
As far as im aware (at lease no-one has mentioned anything), he does not bark during the day when he is in the indoor kennel for 8hrs while we are at work. He only tends to do this when he has been out for his walk and gets put into his bed while he dries off etc or when he goes to his bed at night even though he knows at these times, we are not leaving the house. Its as if he is barking to get attention when he knows we are in the house and wants to be beside us all the time (mainly my wife as he is a true mummy's boy).
We leave the radio on during the day, we have punished him when he is bad, we have even given in and let him sleep beside us but we know that could cause further problems during the day-time when we are out and I am running out of ideas on how we can stop/prevent this from happening.
Can anyone help with this, I am worried that the neighbours will start complaining about this, as he tends to do this at early or late hours when their kids are trying to sleep.

Meant to say with the below post, the dog is 5 years old now, so he aint a puppy although he does act like it most days, has been neutered and does also get a calming tablet we received from our vet.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give us.

Geemacd

it sounds like this is barking for attention and there are several methods that can assist. first of all if your dog pesters you when you sit down to watch tv and or trying to do some thing else as well as bark once in the cage then some simple rules can help but i warn you they are not easy why???? well your dog need to learn that you will give him attention but only on your terms not his. therefore when you get up in the morning, come into the room at any time away from him and when visitors come and if he pesters for attention which means jumping up, barking, brining you toys then you need to ignore him this means you dont look, talk or touch eaven to brush him down off you or furniture and no telling to be quiet totally blank him. once quiet either in or out of kennel praise him treat him and play with him. we all forget to praise our dogs when they are quiet and it is the best time to do it if they become boystrous then revert to ingnoring. it is a hard task to do as we all want to great our dogs and cuddle them but only when quiet and steady. to avoid eye contact fix gaze on tv or something, make a cup of tea by all means let them out to toilet but no contact of any kind until quiet.

also teach the dog to talk hence teach quiet first can be done effectively by waiting for the dog to go quiet and then praise and reward say good dog quiet so they learn they get praise and rewards like a treat when quiet after a week or two while the dog is barking put in the command quiet only once but quite stern but not shout then wait as soon as dog stops praise and reward. once barking stops on command you can do the same to teach the speak so dog barks good dog speak praise and reward so final result dog will bark and stop on command and doesnt pester for attention. hope the advice helps

The problem you have here is Cocker Spaniels are temperamentally unsuited to being without human company for 8 hours a day.  Many centuries of breeding has gone into developing a dog that needs the company of humans thus making him biddable and willing to perform the tasks we ask of him just for the love of humans you cannot expect him to revert to the sort of animal that does not need us.  I feel you will need to work on some means of providing him with human company during the day, perhaps someone coming into him or a walker to break up this long day.  I use a cage myself for short periods and overnight with youngsters but I personally believe keeping a dog in one for 8 hours is very cruel. 

I agree with Isabel - Cockers are indeed "people" dogs. He is left alone for 8 hours a day in a crate (far too long in my opinion) and consequently when you are at home, he wants to be with you all the time. This is fairly typical of Cocker behaviour & is the reason I wouldn't recommend full time workers have a Cocker unless they can make arrangements for the dog to have some company or a dog walker to break up the long day. Although he has the company of another dog, it is human company he thrives on - if more of this was provided through the day, then he may not crave it so much when you are home at night. It is not just a case of treating the symptoms of separation anxiety, but understanding why it occurs in the first place. Punishing a dog with separation anxiety is never a good idea I'm afraid - punishment can even be seen as a reward to a dog desperate for attention.

Jane

Thanks for all your advise. Biggest problem we have with some of it is, that we dont have any family living near us and after looking and even advertising for a dog walker in my area, no one was found. We did have a friends son walking them after he was finished at school for a time, but he grew up, rebelled and decided 2 spaniels were not good for his "rep". Only other kids near us are all under 7 years old, so thats not an option.

Thanks for all your help with this, greatly appreciated.

Regards

Geemacd

Is he getting a decent walk before and after you leave him?  A cocker in his prime would need 30 mins before and 40 minutes after work off lead exercise as a minimum I would say, in my opinion that would still not be the life he would prefer but it would go someway to make his life a little more interesting.

He gets at least 30 mins before then Im out for about an hour with him and his tennis ball to the point he leaves the ball on the grass, looks at me in tired disgust and walks home. :o)

I honestly am beginning to think its because he is in room away from everything and cant see whats going on, if people are leaving or what the noise was. He used to get kept at the bottom of the stairs near the front door (our only exit from house), so he could see everything that was going on. So when he hears something he fears the worst that we are leaving him. I might start keeping him there at night again, then kennel during the day so he cant rip up carpet like he did before.

As I said sensitive but still adorable !!

GeeMacD