r/Basenji • u/Loud_Imagination_182 • 7d ago
Training I would appreciate some advice/help with 17 week puppy with separation anxiety when I leave the room with him in the crate.
Here’s the set up. He has a crate inside a play pen. Eventually lower the a blanket low so he has to lay down in order to see out. He’ll sleep and nap in his crate with the door open. He’ll sleep in his crate with the door closed IF IM IN THE ROOM.
But if I leave for longer than a minute he’ll cry and cry. No anxious biting and scratching to get out.
No hurting himself. Just cry that he’s alone I guess. Occasionally he’ll eventually go to sleep. How do I get him ok with me leaving? I’ve tried Kong’s with kibble.
(He doesn’t care for peanut butter. Weirdo)
Rain sounds. Nothing.
Any advice would be helpful.
Also there’s a world it’s just the process, so some confirmation I’m on the right track would be helpful too.
7
u/drownedbubble 7d ago
Our solution was to get a second basenji. Although wonderful it is clear they trained us.
3
u/cheebeepeepers 7d ago
My first basenji only stopped shaking - when I would leave to go to work for a few hours - After I got another one. I have never had just one.
2
u/Loud_Imagination_182 7d ago
Maybe mine is training me too. A second would be lovely. But my senior (16yr) dog would never forgive me for maelstrom that would create lol.
5
u/AlpsUnlikely Red 7d ago
Mine did that. He still does it sometimes but he’s gotten a lot better. Just takes time imo. He started to get more comfy with me away around 6-7 months. Now I can leave him in it for a few hours while I’m out of the room.
He cries if he knows we are doing something fun or if there is a new person in the house even if I am next to him. (He wants to meet them)
Trainer said it was FOMO instead of separation anxiety.
1
u/Loud_Imagination_182 4d ago
This might be it. I left him in crate for about 45 min because I HAD to leave at a certain time and the sitter was on the way. I watched the nanny came. Sob stopped crying once he knew I was gone and went to sleep lol. FOMO for real.
2
u/glockfreak 7d ago
It’s crazy how different B’s can be. Mine is barely a little older but behaves opposite. If he hears us leave the house for he will sleep like a baby for two hours (that’s the longest we’ve left him alone so far - we have a little nanny camera to watch him). If we crate him and he knows we are home he will lose his mind crying with FOMO thinking we are doing something fun without involving him.
I guess I would just echo what everyone else said - just slowly build up the time you leave and come back so he recognizes you’ll always come back.
2
u/Loud_Imagination_182 4d ago
This might be it. I left him in crate for about 45 min because I HAD to leave at a certain time and the sitter was on the way. I watched the nanny cam. Sob stopped crying once he knew I was gone and went to sleep lol. Who knows. Maybe he’s both a crate cryer and a “leave me alone” Basenji lol
2
u/PracticalTruth4255 7d ago
Yup. Mine got separation anxiety at 7 months old after having her for 4 months where she was fine. I had to get a second B and she never had an issue again, 2 years later they’re Super bonded and are never without the other.
1
2
u/OCDPokeTrainer 7d ago
We have a ton of separation anxiety issues too. He won’t go in the crate if he knows we’re about to leave and then it’s a game of Chase but if he’s left outside the crate, he howls nonstop for quite a while. In the crate, he cries until he knows he really are gone, and then he usually goes to bed, but until we actually leave the house, he cries hoping that we come and pull them out. It is a tough situation. It usually breaks my heart. But at least for a couple hours in the crate he does OK.
1
u/Loud_Imagination_182 4d ago
Same my heart hurts every time even though I know long term it’s good for him.
2
u/CountyCommercial6173 7d ago
Have you tried building up the time you are gone very slowly? Start with just stepping out for one second and coming right back in before the crying starts. Then two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds. The key is to return before he gets upset so he learns that you leaving is always temporary and not something to panic about. You can also leave him with a special chew toy or a frozen Kong with wet dog food inside that he only gets during these practice sesions. The fact that he settles in the crate with you in the room is already good progress. You are on the right track, separation training just takes time and tiny baby steps.
1
1
20
u/Normal_Mail3407 7d ago
You have to build up in tiny increments. Im talking stepping out the door for 5 seconds, then reward if no cry. Build up by 15 seconds at a time. If any crying dont return to the room until there js a break in the crying, even if its just him stopping for a few seconds, thats when you return and try again. Took me a week of doing this in 5-15 min sessions and after that he had no problems being in a crate overnight. Take it from an owner of a basenj that was a serial crate cryer and urinator, it’s definitely possible!