I have a beautiful 15 wk golden retriever puppy. She is our only (but not 1st) dog and I am at home all day. She is coming along (fairly slowly) with toilet training which is fine- the problem is that if I leave her in the kitchen to perhaps answer the door or go upstairs for something then she invariably goes to the toilet on the floor near the door out of the kitchen, not even on the paper, whilst barking and crying, obviously in some distress. She is not so bad if she hears me going out of the house, the problem is mainly if she knows I am still in the house. She is allowed out of the kitchen when supervised but I would like to be able to leave her in a safe part of the house if and when I wish to do so. I have tried popping in and out but I know you are not supposed to return until they are quiet and this is difficult as she gets in such a state. Funnily enough though she is brilliant at night and we don't hear a peep from her after about 10.30pm and she sits quietly by the stair gate waiting for us to go down in the morning!
Any helpful suggestions?

Sounds as though you are doing all the right things :) I'd just be patient and keep with it - hopefully she will grow out of it :)

Daisy

I had a pup years ago who did this. I cured it in a weekend by doing some intensive "leave the room then come back in" therapy. I started out by literally going out of the room for 5 seconds, regardless of noise or quiet. The trick is to not look at the pup or give any fuss or acknowledgement. Just go in and out ignoring the pup, no greeting allowed, no eye contact either. Soon the pup will get a bit bored with all the freaking out, and cotton on that you actually will be straight back. Then start to vary the time length, a few seconds, a minute, a few seconds. Make it unpredictable, and above all else, ignore pleading looks. Under no circumstances make any fuss of the pup even if  she is quiet on your return. Just treat coming and going as normal. I have to admit I did this for about 4 sessions, each session being about 50 in/outs. I got a bit dizzy but it did the trick!

Thanks, I will give it a try. I will let you know how I get on!

I have had a pup like this and I'm afraid I did it wrong and ended up taking him everywhere with me against the advice of the vet and a behavourist.
He used to be shaking and sick if I left at all from the room and if I left the house it was worse even though the other dogs were around he couldn't cope without his mum.
I took him everywhere and he would sit in the car and was fine. Well I made it so much worse and at 4 years old he still goes everywhere with me. He is a wonderful dog but just sometimes I wish I could leave him at home.

Good luck with your pet and don't give in like I did.

I'd say the same as Pinklilies. I did this with my GSP, but not until he was older (didn't realise I had been creating such a problem), and it DID improve him. He doesn't like being left for long, but I can leave him for short periods, whereas then I couldn't. And started this technique from a pup with my flat coat, he seems fairly relaxed about being left, so hopefully you'll get the same with your young Goldie. :)

i am no behaviourist, but I have had to leave my pups on occassion (When dreaded work can't cope with me working from home!  They haven't had huge problems with us leaving, but they have been a bit destructive on occassion.  My best advice would be distraction.  I never let them see me leave the room.  I use a kong (you can buy them in PAH) or any safe toy you can stuff full of goodies.

Basically, I use wet puppy food (you don't want to overload them with rich goodies and as they normally eat dry food, so it is a treat), and stuff the toy.  i then freeze it overnight.  Also a treat ball (the ones that they have to roll around to get treats out) are a great distraction.  The frozen toy can last for ages and takes their mind off you going.  i found them to be very effective.  Obviously, these toys are not designed for the pup to be left for long periods unsupervised, so just be a bit careful.

I'd suggest perservering with an intense training session using a kong with the puppy kong paste first off (we,t sludgy, chicken liver paste... my two absolutely love it).  You can apply a small amount and distract you pup whilst you leave.  Keep increasing the time you stay away for and hopefully, it will get better.  My thoughts would be to nip this as soon as you can.  You really must try to leave your entrance until they are quiet.  Difficult, I know, but you amy be reinforcing the behaviour.  if you absolutely must go in, then i would suggest ignoring your doggy until they have calmed down a little.  At least, they wont get any fuss when they are behaving excitedly.

If you really want to go mad, my vet sells air freshners (plug in types) that release an anti anxiety whiff.  It is supposed to help them relax, but I've never tried it...

I hope it works and good luck!

Hi there,

Just thought that I  should tell you about our GR puppy - she used to do exactly the same as yours the second I left the room, which initially was really alarming and I found really upsetting. She also used to pee if left in the kitchen and I was really worried that she'd develop the  dreaded separation anxiety....

However, we learnt that as she got older she started to understand that not being in the room didn't = my disappearing off the face of the planet. Since GRs are really intelligent you just need to do a few things and she'll learn  that being away from you is actually a great thing.

If she used to have to stay in the kitchen when guest came we'd give her something like a stuff kong or chewie to keep her mind off not being right in the thick of it. I also soon learnt that her cries were based more on frustration of not doing what she wanted rather than being heartbroken at not being with me. I still leave her something to chew on whenever I leave the house. In fact I'lll put it in her crate, shut the gate and really gee her up about it while I'm gathering my stuff. We're now getting to the point where she's virtually shoving me out the door for the pigs ear! lol

I also did the exercise of leaving the room and entering again - I probably did this about 4-5 times over a period of a few weeks where I'd leave by the back door, come in through the front and up and down the stairs and so on. She'll soon start to undertsand you'll always come back.

Since she's just a puppy, she'll not have great bladder control - whether you're there or not. If she was 5 yrs and peeing that'd be a different story, She's so little and probably does panick a bit and then 'ooops there's some pee', but as she get's older she'll trust you'll to come back.

Hope this helps. and I'm jealous. Golden puppies are the most gorgeous in the world

Karen

Thanks to all the replies so far-- I feel encouraged! Hopefully I will have some time this WE to do some intensive 'in and out'. I've been leaving a chew with her but the novelty is just not as good as having her mum there. Did leave her with some of her JWB soaked in a kong today. She was well into as I left and didn't really seem bothered I was going ( had to leave the house so not sure what happened when she had finished it but she was happy enough when I got back.) Think I'll try freezing some wet food next and make a meaty ice-lolly which may last longer and be more challenging.
I think that she is just a bit annoyed about being left in the kitchen at all. At the moment she isn't and she is happy as larry exploring the place and isn't bothering me at all. Unfortunately though sometimes she just has to be in a secure place as she is just too young to be trusted with the run of the house as yet!

Absolutely!  she could hurt herself, and there are too amny instances of puppy accidents that just make your stomach churn.  You know they will find the one thing oyu don't want them to!

Mine are fine with the kitchen and hall. The stairs are babygated, and they only have this part of the house when I'm out.  It removes the worry for me!

I'm glad the kong worked.  Distraction is the best thing, as I said before.  Mine love meaty ice lollies, and it takes them a good couple of hours to finish it!  I assume there was no wee on the floor when you got back?  An encoraging sign I think.