Greetings: We got our 8 month old Black Lab 1 month ago (when he was 7 months). Most everything has been trending positive. Supposedly he was crate trained when we got him (per the breeder) but its never been optimal. He seems to have bonded with me the most (husband and father of 3 daughters) to the point that he is always at my side, and if I leave the room he must be with me, or see me. If I travel out of line of sight there is yelping and whimpering. Its worse in his crate if he thinks I or nobody at all, is around. He will yelp for at least 20 minutes. Eventually he settles as we have had to leave the house for hours and came back to find him calm. But he pants and yelps terribly at first. He does occasionally go to his crate on his own, he eats there, he takes naps there sometimes while we are in the room...sometimes without us even asking him to go in there. Not sure if this is a crate thing, a separation anxiety thing or some combination thereof. Any help appreciated. Thank you FT
Hi there, unfortunately dogs are terrible at generalizing. So it's possible he was happy in a crate at his old home, but this hasn't totally transferred to his new one with you. Couple this was the fact he has moved house and probably been unsettled (even if he hasn't shown obvious signs), then I suspect it will pay to go back to the beginning with crate training. Help him get used to being in there, just like you would with a new younger puppy. You can find help with crate training here if it's not something you have done before, and read more about separation anxiety here to see whether you think this matches up if there are other signs. Hope that helps, and do let us know how he gets along!
