Hi all We have a 5.5 month old chocolate lab. He's been a handful but we are making progress. I have worked part time from home since we got him, working when he's in his crate. Soon I'll have to return to the office so we've created a safe space for him using part of the backyard and part of the garage. Long story short he doesn't like the area and barks and whines and tries to eat the fencing, refuses to sleep etc. I guess it's a type of separation anxiety although his crate is in a different room to our bedroom and different from my home office and we have baby gates and he's fine if we go through the gate and leave him for short periods. We've tried kongs, feeding him there, leaving for short periods and so far no luck. I've realised he has never self managed sleeps etc, we put him in his crate when he's tired. I'm getting stressed thinking he'll end up being the neighborhood terror as well as an anxious mess himself. Ideas and advice?
We have a pet door so our dogs can go in or out on their own. They generally prefer to be in the house, even when she (they) is alone. Two of our friends with Samoyeds never leave their dogs outside alone, because they bark. One of them (the Sammies) stays with us most days and only occasionally barks outside. He does have our Lab for company. Even though we are down to one Lab now, she seldom spends much time outside and seldom barks outside.
I would like to leave our Lab inside but he's 100% untrustworthy at the moment and would eat everything and chase the cats. He's getting better but not trustworthy to be left inside alone yet. He can't even have a soft bed or soft toys as he chews and eats them
Cooper destroys soft toys, but does not eat them, so we don't really care. She would chase cats, but none are dumb enough to come into our yard. Our previous labs have gotten along with our cats, but Cooper has not been around cats on a regular basis so she will chase them.
