Hi, my now 15 week gsd puppy has basically been no trouble at all. I have her booked in for puppy classes but not for another week. The only problems I really have with her now is the constant barking when I am not with her. I don't work, only leave her when i take kids to school in her crate but she barks constantly. Obviously I have to go shopping and I am back within an hour yet she is in such a state when i let her out. I don't let her out straight away when i return, wait about 1 minute while i put shopping down and unlock back door etc (she can see me). If I am in the room she is fine in her crate, she always pops her head in there to search for treats during the day and happily goes in and settles at night. I think she is too attatched to me, I have a puppy gate at bottom of stairs but when i go up she barks constantly until she can hear me getting nearer the stairs. Even when the kids are down here with her, they will try and distract her with a toy but she continues to bark for me and believe me it is pretty loud for a 15 week puppy! I am worried about upsetting my neighbours, funny history and its not nice coming back to see her distressed. Does anyone have any ideas?

I forgot to mention I got her when she was 8 weeks from the kennels, could this of made her more likely to hate being alone?

Does she spend any time in the crate while you are around, just learning to be in the crate and quiet? GSD's are normally quite attached to their people, so you may have to teach her this by popping her in there, with something to occupy her, and then returning to let her out ONLY WHEN SHE IS QUIET!

Have you tried giving her something really interesting to do when she is left alone? Something like a stuffed Kong, or a raw meaty bone? This may help to take her mind off your abscence.

Hi Bluebell and Digger, yeah she is in there when we are around. When we are eating i tend to put her in there or early evening when kids do there homework. Also in the middle of the day for half an hour, she is fine while she can see me but the minute i leave the front room and i am out of site she starts to bark. She does constantly follow me, even to the point where if i have been sitting with the kids and get up to get a drink and return she will follow me to the kitchen and lie down and follow me back in here. I dont know if this is the right thing for me to let her do but i don't mind her following me.

I always leave things in the crate for her, kongs with peanut butter, steralised bones, roasted bones and rawhide (not all at the same time!) and she happily chews on them lying down, but if i am not here or leave the room she instantly forgets about the chews. She constantly has her eye on me and the minute i head towards the door i can hear her stand up in the crate. I completly ignore her as i walk out of the door. Just unsure what else to do, if anything it seems to be getting worse and not better. At the start i would come back and find her asleep at least every other time, now i can guarentee she will be barking when i return.

Oh yeah, I have on many occasions tried to creep out of the room when she is asleep in the crate but im obviously a bit crap at creeping, she hears me before i even get to the door.

Hi..
I had the same problem with kai when we got him (8mths old now). He wouldnt leave my side, it wasnt so bad once the family were home. But i couldnt leave the house without him howling like mad and thats with the rest of the family there with him.
I have just taken it slowly, leave room, dog behind dog gate,(so he can still see me) return 1 minute later ( ignoring him when i return ) and sit down for 5-10 mins  then repeat it a few times. I did this several times a day and over time increased the amount of time i left the room for. moving in and out of his field of vision all the time.

I still cant leave the house for long, maybe an hour or so ( kong only lasts that long :D) before he's howling, but i can wander all over the house now without him following me all the time. He is even happy to be outside on his own with the back door shut.

Hang in there, I didnt think it would get easier but it has, being consistant helps :)

Hi there,
I am having the same sort of problem, Echo is fine to be left at night, howls when i go out (not for long thou, neighbour keeps a ear out for me) but when i walk round the house she follows me everywhere. I do have a stairgate but she keeps jumping over it!!! How can i solve this?
Danielle

Hello there.

I have some suggestions for you.

Firstly, if you return to a dog which is barking in the crate, you are rewarding the barking and it is more likely to happen in future.  In the dog's eyes, this is what happens:

Mum/Dad goes away.
Dog is scared so dog barks to express fear.
Eventually Mum/Dad comes back.
Dog thinks - barking worked and it brought mum/dad back, so I'll do it again next time!

So, the very first thing to say is - never return while there is noise coming from the crate.  This might mean you have to wait bloody ages before you can re-enter your own house, lurking around outside and freezing, but it'll be worth it in the long run.

Secondly, you have to build up the amount of time the dog is left isolated for.  You can't just go out for an hour and expect the pup to deal with it.  The first step I would suggest is to start by going out of sight around the house, leaving the dog in the crate.  You might need ear plugs.  Just go into another room and be ready the INSTANT the dog is quiet, to go back and praise her.  This might be after 5 seconds or 5 minutes, but you should wait it out.  You want to work towards the dog being perfectly happy with you being in other rooms of the house while she stays in her crate.  Never return when she's barking.

Then you can start going outside and immediately coming back in (if she's quiet).  Start to stay outside for longer.  Walk up the road and back.  Slowly extend the time you're away from her...

Hi onetwothree, thanks for your suggestions. I completely agree with doing it gradually but circumstances prevent me. I am a single parent of two, aged 11 and 8, they are both too young to be left alone in the house let alone look after puppy. The hour would be me having to go out to pay bills get shopping etc.. and believe me I dash round the shops! I think its actually me creating the problem, when i come in i wait outside of the frontroom door til she has stopped barking for 15 to 30 seconds. I come in, say hello and ignore her while i open the patio door so she can go straight outside when i let her out. She goes to the toilet but then when she comes in she is still so upset i stupidly get on the floor and have a hug and rub her belly. I have started to increase the time before letting her out before i give in and hug my baby.

She is still barking when I go out but I am beginning to get more time when I go upstairs with her patiently waiting for me in the hall sitting. Also today I was just about to place a treat inside her crate when she ran in before me, she ran out again so i said 'in your bed' and she ran in and sat there waiting for her treat! I was over the moon, she has only gone in there before if she could smell a treat already in there. Maybe it was because it was Tripe, first time she has had it, I nearly gagged but if it means she will be more happy in her crate then bring on the Tripe. She didnt even notice me going in and out of the room while she was munching away.

Hi, well I still think you should try to do it gradually.  I know that everyone has a life outside of their dog(s), but the patterns you establish now set the precedent for the future and the rest of your dog's life. 

What about trying to go out for 1 min and come back in again etc, inbetween your shopping trips?  I mean - don't wait till you actually need to go out to put her in her crate and go out.  Set it up and practice it a lot inbetween the times you actually do go out. 

Alternatively, is she ok being left in the car?  Some dogs don't mind being left in the car but hate being left in the house.  If that's the case, could you take her to the shops with you and leave her in the car?  If she's not ok in the car on her own, would she be ok if your 11 yr old stayed in the car with her at the shops? If you could do that for a couple of weeks you could make real progress on extending the amount of time she's left alone for gradually.

Try leaving a small amount of food or treats in kong suitable for your dog - there are different sizes.This worked for me. I did all the gradual things and eventually ran out of time as I had to go back to work, a stuffed kong worked wonders. But deduct from his food allowance or get a stuffed dog!!!

a life size cardboard picture of you attached to the wall in the pups room should cure the problem :) :)  just kidding, kind of .................... :0

Lol I like that idea Nika, if all else fails I might even resort to that! I know you are right onetwothree, I have started bringing her with us in the car on the way to school and back, she hates the car but is getting used to it, she prefers this to the crate! The only problem is on the few days I do have to pop out without her it seems to undo all of the hard work I have been doing to get her used to the crate. I had to pop to the doctors this morning, she had a long walk, had been to the toilet and i put a kong stuffed with cheese and sausages, roasted bone and some tripe. She happily went into the crate and lay down chewin her bone, I snuck out and stood outside front door listening and she was perfectly quiet. However when i returned (only 20 odd minutes, i drove fast lol) she was really upset, and had even soiled her crate, she has never done this before. I dont know if she had eaten it because there was only smears of poo on her bed in there. I originally bought the crate as I had left her for 10 minutes in the kicthen once and she obviously needed to go, so she did covering herself, and the whole kitchen floor in poo :( But if she is in the kitchen with me now, when i put the rubbish out she doesnt make a noise where as if she is in her crate, the minute i walk out of her vision (out of the living room) she crys and barks non stop. I was wondering if I should maybe try putting her in the kitchen instead when I have to go out and just use the crate for through the night. I have been doing it gradually during the day (in the crate) by putting her in there for half an hour 2 to 3 times a day and I constantly move around, leaving the living room to get a drink or use the toilet. Only trouble is it seems to be getting worse and not better. I hate seeing her this distressed when I do have to pop out.

She also has started getting scared when i walk her without the kids. As we got her during the summer holidays my kids always came for the walks, now they are at school she seems constantly on edge when i take her for a walk in the morning, we dont get very far as she starts jumping up at me for reassurance or a hug. I know I must be doing something wrong. She is very good in the house, she knows sit, wait (for her food etc.) and she is just grasping down and off. I know it can be just as dangerous to have a scared dog as it can be to have an agressive one which is why I am starting to worry I guess. Well puppy classes start this sunday so if possible i will ask the trainer about this. Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys.

New owner...

please do not give cooked bones, they splinter very easily and could choke or get stuck in the throat or worse.:(
give raw bones but only when you can supervise. :)

Could you try videoing him while you are out to see when the behaviour changes, as he seems happy for a while. Also you could try leaving the radio or TV on, sometimes they are reassured by hearing human voices.