Hi everyone We have a rescue pup. He's 8 months and we have had him for three months. Since day 1 he's become very anxious when left. However we've worked hard at this and now when I leave for work he doesn't worry and family who live next door and check in on him tell me he doesn't bark or whine at all and is very relaxed and settled. However... if I leave him in the kitchen and go to the garage or he's in the garden and I'm in the field (basically if I'm on the property and not with him) he cries barks and yelps constantly. I tried moving my car so he thought I'd gone out, it worked until he got a wiff of me/heard me and then he started barking and crying and didn't stop! I'm so stuck for what to do. Its impossible and impractical to have him with me everywhere I go when at home! Has anyone experienced this or got any ideas? He has kongs toys and lots to entertain him, he pays 0 attention to these and is just stressed! We never respond to the barking and wait until he stops for long enough before going to him.
My 4 yr old lab Mia follows me everywhere- I'm a stay at home mom. She's had separation anxiety since the day we got her. She does the same thing if any of us go out in the yard without her but is fine when we leave the house. If she doesn't stop we put her in her crate which is where she is when we leave the house. She has learned not to fuss in there because we won't respond (knowing she doesn't need to potty). She will lay there quietly while we do our own thing. If you use a crate while at work I would try it for when you're wanting to be on the property without your pup.
Thank you Karen. He has a run that goes outside in the day with a heated kennel we don’t crate him during the day but do have a crate for when we go out in the evening. Unfortunately we are living in a shepherd hut at the moment and don’t have any space to have the crate up when we’re about! But we are moving in to our house after Christmas so will work on this then! Thank you
Ours was the same at that age too. He had FOMO as my wife called it ( fear of missing out ). Lol. We put him on the deck where he could see us and after about a week he calmed down and just watched. If we were fooling around he’d bark to join in the game but if I was busy with chores he just watched me. Whenever he was chilled out in between bouts of barking we tossed a couple treats up as a reward. Now he asks to go out and hang out there by himself when things get boring inside.
