Tips for barking & whining of four month old puppy when left alone?

S

shelly

Banned
We recently adopted a four month old hound mix puppy named JD. He's a wonderful little dog except he doesn't very much like being left alone. We have him blocked off from one bedroom and the bathroom of the house - the rest of which he has free *safe* run around of. We puppy-proofed it, lol. Anyway, we noticed that even when we went to the bathroom, he jumped up and down on the gate and whined and barked very loudly, especially for a four month old puppy. We live in a duplex with thinner than normal walls so the neighbors can most likely hear him.

We decided that instead of crating him during the day, we are going to leave him in the kitchen area during the day while we are at work along with his open-doored crate in case he wanted to venture in. Also, we left a selection of about three different bones, a rope toy, and the blanket that he's been sleeping on since we adopted him, that way he has a few familiar things with him. This worked beautifully - he had NO pee or poop accidents and nothing strange was chewed on or destroyed. He even left the trash can completely alone. However he still whined and barked excessively and quite loudly.

Does anyone have any remedies for this? Will this stop as he gets older? Will he stop when he realizes that we will return? How can I control or fix this so that my neighbors don't become hostile?
I don't want to leave him food or water to eat and drink at his leisure while I'm not home because I know he will have accidents in the house. What I've been doing is giving him food and water and then allowing him to poop and pee outside before I leave so that he doesn't have accidents. That's been working but I can't leave him food and water while I'm gone... It will ruin his house-training practices, I'm afraid...
I don't leave him without food or water for six or seven or eight hours a day... I "withhold" them for a about five hours while I am at work - the same as I would while I am asleep and that's for even longer. I feed him when I get up in the morning, before I leave for work, and when I get home at night, about a cup each time as it recommends on the food bag. Please leave comments of abuse and neglect elsewhere - I will not tolerate them and I'm sure no one else wants to read about how "bad of a person" I am, apparently. I am asking a simple question - just like everyone else here.
 
I know this from experience, I've had 3 puppies in my life and I'm currently raising a 2 month old. What you do is, leave him alone at a young age for small periods of time so he get used to it. If he whines, well, He's a puppy! Make sure he has food and water though, otherwise it's basically like jail. Also, if your dog gets a lot of exercise before you leave him alone, he will most likely enjoy the peace and quite.
Hope that helps.
- Joey
 
WITHOLDING WATER IS NOT HOW YOU HOUSETRAIN A DOG.

If you are not prepared to care for this puppy properly please return him to his breeder.

You do not take on a puppy when you do not have the knowledge or means to take care of it. '

Please return this puppy to the breeder so he can go to a good home before its too late.
 
He is at a critical age to learn what is and is not acceptable behavior. If you yell at him or scold him for it, he will still do it because he's still getting 'attention' which is his goal. The only thing you can do is ignore it. When he quits immediately run in and tell him what a good boy he is in an excited voice. You have to consistently ignore him. He will learn that whining won't get him what he wants, being quiet gets him attention. It is good that you give him toys to occupy him when you aren't there, he needs that. You can also try leaving on a radio to help drown out any outside noise that may trigger the whining.
 
LONG WALKS/LOTS OF EXERCISE BEFORE YOU LEAVE (like atleast 45 minutes or an hour) then feed and provide amusing toys like kongs with yummy stuff inside. hope that helps.
 
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