[Ray ray]

My boyfriend and I adopted an amazing little chi mix from the SPCA last week. His name is ray and hes about a year and a half old and such a good little guy. The only troublesome thing about him is that he barks when we leave the house for work etc. He's never alone for too long and we walk him lots, especially before we leave in hopes to tire him out but he still goes a little nuts when he's alone. We put him in his crate with blankets and toys and have the radio on. Any other ideas? We live in a walk up apartment and have neighbours so it's worrying me quite a bit. Thanks in advance!!


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[michele]

Seen this on tv may help,put him in his crate don't talk to him go outside leave it a few mins walk back in,don't look at him do it over and over again.so he thinks every time you go out the door you'll be back soon

 

[Babi.Greenwood]

We rescued Lily at about a year and a half old too. We also live in an apartment and she also had horrible separation anxiety. She barked the whole time we were gone whether it be 5 seconds or 5 hours. We tried everything short of prescription meds and crating (i grew up taught that crating was the most horrible thing in the world) but nothing worked.

We bought a crate. What we did was put her crate in our walk in closet in our bedroom and shut our door ( not the closet door). She at least didn't bark at the front door the whole time echoing in the halls then.

The only thing that worked was time. After about 8 months we noticed she wasn't barking before we even got out the door to leave. Then we noticed she wasn't barking when we got home either. Her blankets and face/chin/neck were dry when we came home (She drooled puddles and was soaked).

When we go for walks, or someone else takes her potty or I get out of the car without her she panics. We've had her for 2 years and I don't know if this part will get better.

They were already abandoned once so I think that's all that's on their mind when you leave.

 

[LittleBean]

I agree to what the above said about the whole being abandoned once thing. Especially chihuahuas and other breeds whose main purpose of being bred is as a companion. Which is why it is hard for them to be alone or have the possibility of being alone.

I would suggest using the good old method of leaving the room with small intervals. Start with 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds...etc...it's really tiring on the human to walk in and out of the room but if it's the only thing left to try, you may as well right?

When I first got my chi and she cried her lungs at night when we slept and we ignored her. When we left the house we didn't make a fuss, just our usual walking about and we didn't even say bye. She cried a lot at first also but she eventually realized that no one is actually there to hear her...

I think the more she loved her crate and didn't mind being in it, the less she cried also for us. We never had any problems to be frank. We just let her cry when ever and we didn't do anything special. I put tons of toys in there, and every time she goes in her crate I feed her a treat. When I come home I put down my stuff quietly and slowly give her attention and eventually let her out.

Ray just needs to be confident that you WILL be back! If you are confining him while nobody is home, just make sure he loves his space to death. Haru climbs in her crate sometimes even when I let her walk around, she goes in there when she knows she is in trouble, it's her #1 comfort zone.