Whippet Puppy - Seperation Anxiety?

[BabyWhippet]

Hello all!

I have a new Whippet puppy, Nala is 11 weeks old and has now been with me for 3 weeks. She is an absolute delight (apart from about 40 mins 2x day when she's hell on wheels!), she comes with me to work so is with me all day in the office, playing, having cuddles from everyone and snoozing.

She sleeps happily at night in her crate, will happily chill in her crate during the day and is quite happy to be in a different room to me when I'm at home. However, she becomes quite wound up when I have to leave her at home and I go out.

She isn't left for long periods at all, literally 45 mins or so whilst I pop to Sainsburys etc. Yesterday morning she was alone for almost 2 hours as I had an emergency dental appointment.

She is shut in the kitchen when I go out but not locked in her crate as this makes her worse. I've got a camera set up in the kitchen so I can keep an eye on her and she is always happily occupied with a Kong or her Lickimat for about 30 mins, but then she starts whining and crying and howling, it will stop occasionally and then she's right back at it again!

I'm unsure if this is separation anxiety or just her being a puppy? She will need to learn to be alone for short periods (3 hours max, eg. If I went out for dinner). Whenever I go out I always make sure she's fed, toileted, had a play, left with things to amuse herself with etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[JoanneF]

It's quite normal for puppies to be clingy before they develop the confidence to be alone. However you don't want to create SA. The key is to build up very slowly and crucially return before she gets anxious because you cannot cure anxiety when the dog is in a state of anxiety. Tagging @JudyN who has written a detailed response to this.

 

[JudyN]

Oh gosh, she is gorgeous. I have the perfect solution - send her to meeeeeee!!

It doesn't sound like 'proper' SA, but as JoanneF says, you don't want it to turn into SA. Here's the article I wrote on it: https://positively.com/forum/viewto...vTrGCGsuGd5K8tMD3hih1E4VtltSXpWy7E8WevsQq6ihg

Short summary: If she seems fine when you get ready to leave the home, then you just want to aim never to leave her for longer than 30 mins (or 20 mins to be on the safe side) for the time being - leave her with a friend, neighbour, whatever if you have to go out for longer. If she gets anxious when you get ready to leave the home, you might have to work on picking up keys, putting coat on, etc., and not going out so these don't trigger anxiety. The aim is for every time you leave her to be non-stressful for her, and gradually increase the time you leave her for. Keep videoing her - if you see her get anxious, you've left her for too long.

 

[Mandy Farr]

Our 12 week old pup had terrible SA and we bought a Adaptil pheromone collar for him. I was very sceptical but it worked and we can leave him no problem at all now. We also allow him on our spare bed to sleep instead of locked up in one room and he sleeps just fine.

 

[Whippylove]

Welcome! My Marley suffers bad separation anxiety, we tried in slowly building up leaving him , going into a different room staying close so he knew we'd come back if he got upset, but he just didn't like being left so we just don't leave him on his own. Not everyone can do that, my other 2 dont care!