Hi folks

I'm desperately in need of help here.... On Sunday we bought an 8 week old Border Collie from the pet shop named Gypsy who is utterly adorable but suffers from what I believe to be Separation Anxiety. Whenever my partner or I are in the room she's fine to entertain herself, sleep, eat, etc, but as soon as we put her to bed, or we leave the house for more than 1 minute she barks non-stop to the point of exhaustion.

The first few nights we had her we tried keeping her in an ensuite off our bedroom (only 2 metres away from the bed) but every 2 or so hours she started barking and the only way she'd stop and go back to bed was when we'd get up and just sit in the ensuite - there's no play or interaction, she just finds comfort knowing that we were there. 2 days without much sleep we asked our Vet for suggestions who told us to place her in the laundry at the other end of our house at night, buy some earplugs, and under no circumstances should we tend to her if she starts barking. We tried this last night but she barked the ENTIRE night with 5-15 minute blocks of silence which we can safely assume were from exhuastion!

I've done a bit of research online and find that SA websites suggest either to have your new puppy close to the bed and wean them off your affection slowly and others suggest to put her in a crate or den and let them learn to be alone - I'm inclined to follow our Vet's suggestion (laundry) but I worry at how seriously stressed (and loud!) she constantly barks and if this is doing any damage to her emotionally, psychologically, etc.

A little further background is that she's apparently only come off her mother a week ago, and she has plenty of toys (kong, rope, ball) and comfort items (e.g. my t-shirt, dog bed) in her den. I work from home so she's aware that I'm here all day and is calm, but there are times I go out of the house and when I do after only 1 minute of me being out the door she starts with the non-stop barking.

Does anyone have any ideas on how we can resolve this? (and hopefully quickly - I'm exhausted with little to no sleep for the past 4 days!)

Many thanks,
Georgia

this isnt separation anxiety its a puppy. they all do this but what i would do is let her learn to be alone but rub your scent on something thats with her in her crate so she doesnt get scared or lonely. and she should break it but it might be awhile or you could sleep with her crate in her room and put music on it (kinda helped my last pup) but you shouldnt mess with her she needs to learn to be alone then once she learns she'll be more confortable because your almost alwys there

Hi pitt-man,

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your comment that she's just being a puppy, but *stressfully* barking literally incessantly for 9 hours straight (with only sometimes 5 minute gaps to recoup) each night doesn't seem too 'normal', for lack of a better word.

We already have put a t-shirt of mine in her den that smells of me and the radio is switched on in the laundry if I leave her throughout the day (to emulate her environment when I'm normally here). We have a loud ticking clock at night to simulate her mothers heart beat, and I guess what I'm really wanting to know is if we're doing the right thing by leaving her to bark for 9 hours straight at night and not go to her in hope she'll break this habit, or are we doing more damage by this - as I said above, sources are conflicting - one says to leave them to learn to be alone, and others say to have a den right beside your bed - I don't want to develop an over-dependency or bad habits at this very developmental stage of her life!

Thanks,
Georgia

well what i did with my pit was she slept in my room but she still whined and barked but i would ignore her or yell at her to shut up(which most people think is wrong but there was no long-term damage)and during the day she stayed alone for a couple hours and usually they will go to sleep and after she broke the barking i let her sleep with me unfortunately i hadnt housetrained her but everything turned out good. she didnt have any psycological problems she was happy til the day she died. so unless your beating your dog they're not gonna have any mental problems if your worried about that

We had a bit of issues with Ashenpaw, our Border Collie when we brought him home directly from his litter. He was used to being in a barn with horses, his mom and dad, and the whole litter of squirming and tussling puppies! We put his kennel in the basement with lots of things to keep him content <the scented article of clothing, a blanket for padding, toys for chewing>, we but a blanket over his kennel so it was dark, closed the basement door and didn't come to him until it was reasonable to tend him <potty breaks>. When he was done going at night, it was straight back in! No nonsense was permitted at night. It took him about a week to get the picture and not continue to cry for us. He learned that crying for hours on end did not reap the reward he sought. And now, at the age of three he is a well mannered Border Collie who has the run of the house, and even occasionally sleeps on our feet in bed!

This is a hard step in training. Some pups get it right away, others take a while. The more you give in, the more she'll keep trying because she knows her cries have gained her what she desires. It's not easy, but in the long run she has to learn to be alone once in a while without barking herself exhausted. Remember to praise the living daylights out of her if you happen to time it right and approach the kennel when she is quiet! If possible, only go to her when she is quiet, never noisy. This will let her know that quiet is good, loud doesn't bring her the reward of attention, even bad attention is still attention.

Keep with it, it's hard, coming from one who knows. But it won't damage her psychologically. In the long run, she will be better off.

Good LUCK, from a fellow Border Collie owner!

Georgia

I'm interested to know how your story is turning out. We have a puppy Border Collie with very similar symptoms. What is working best for you?

Hi all

Apols for the delay in my post - I've been pleasantly distracted by puppy!

To answer your question, the outcome was that my sleep was more important and 9 hours of incessant and stressful howling the vet finally conceeded the behaviour was abnormal. So we put her beside our bed, locked her in with a baby gate, and we all slept peacefully for the first time in 4 days.

This set-up is currently working well but obviously doesn't resolve the separation issue and she'll find the bed corridor squishy as she quickly grows. So we're doing our best during the day to work on the separation anxiety issue (by restricting her in time slots to the laundry and rewarding her when she's quiet & calm) with the aim to hopefully be able to move her bed into the ensuite in a few weeks time.

Thanks to everyone who responded and if you're interested I'll update you again in a few weeks to let you know how we go!

Georgia

we have/had tge same issue. Our puppy is now 16 weeks old and he still barks and whines when we leave the house, but he is slowly decreasing the amount he barks for. I found the best cure for the night time bark is a good run before bed. Tire him out and you will be amazed at how much he sleeps. I have started taking him for a quick 20 - 30 min walk in the morning as well and that seems to quiet him down some.
Best answer: more excercise!!

First, this is off-topic, but I've seen too many animals put down because their owners could not afford medical treatment. THERE IS MEDICAL INSURANCE FOR ANIMALS. Mine is great because it covers a lot of the expenses for preventative care. For example, a rabies shot costs $12 and my insurance covers $10. Of a $3,000.00 bill for illness or injury, my share is about $350.00. It also covers up to $9,000.00 per year. The premium is less than $20.00 per month for a puppy and $30.00 for a ten-year-old dog. Just catastrophic care is about $9 less per month.

Now, about your problem: please keep in mind that you are dealing with a frightened little baby. How you treat her now will determine whether or not she grows into a confident, trusting dog or a neurotic animal who will suffer all her life.

When I bring a puppy home, I put their crate on a table at the foot of the bed. Until she is housebroken, you may want to put a diaper on her at night. (there really are dog diapers.) Leave the door to the crate open the first few nights so she can come to you if she's frightened. Remember a crate that is just big enough to let the dog turn around is best. As you get to know your dog and she matures, you will know when to close the crate. Play "peek-a-boo"; then "hide and seek" with her so she will learn that you will always come back. It will take some effort but the rewards are worth it. (a tip on housebreaking: Save this for daytime. I use the disposable hospital pads. Then, when I travel, all I have to do is put a pad down in an out-of-the-way spot and show her where it is. My border collie was trained in four days.)

Good health to you and your baby.