howling and barking

[Shelly]

Advice requested. I have two corgis, a 12 yr old and a 5 month old. The 12 yr old is very quiet and well behaved. When I leave the house I normally leave the kitchen baracaded so the dogs can go outside to the kennel to potty if they need, or come into the kitchen and keep cool. My son works night shift and likes to get his sleep in the morning but I need to be gone off and on in the mornings. When I put the dogs up in the kitchen/kennel the puppy howls and barks hysterically (according to my son who is woken up). He just leaves them where they are. When I return home I open the gate and greet each dog. Luckily neither of the dogs is destructive and doing nothing wrong other than being noisy. I know, simple solution, put the dogs outside but the next door neighbors have a newborn whose bedroom is close to our yard and I don't want to disturb the baby unnecessarily either. Is this separation anxiety, and what should I do about it?

[corgimom]

Shelly,

I am not an expert here, but we have a neighbor with a Cocker/poodle mix
and that dog howls and barks like crazy when they are gone, or in the case last night, when the fireworks were going off - of course, with it being summer and the windows open, we can hear him the entire time.

Hope you can find an answer for this. I am sure your son needs his sleep.

Linda

[CorgiMum]

I know that crate barking be so very nerve raking. Mine have never done any of these habits, until just recently. Monty started barking for just being confined to the laundryroom at night, kennel door off. That was because Dylan was in a different kennel, close to me, in another room during the first few weeks post op. Luckily that has stopped and Dylan is now in the same room with her at night. One night she barked/woofed from 11pm bedtime until after 1am, trying to tell me that I had forgotten to put Dylan to bed (with her).

Dylan has begun that ever be low volume, but piercing corgi chatter/whine. That is because he is stuck in the 6x6 pen in the middle of the room waiting for his meal, walk etc while Monty goes first, when before, they did things together. Again do to his post op schedule.

I guess what I am trying to get at is that if you can narrow things down to find the exact cause of the racket, you may be able to find which solution will work for you. I admitt I resorted to the squirt bottle with Monty, but all that came of that was a pretty dog with a lovely fluffy do. But, I don't like to rely on 'tools' and prefer that the dog listen to my commands when they are given.

Monty, I would quietly sneek up on her, poke my head into over the baby gate and holler QUIET, only once. That worked. She has begun to follow me lately, partly do to my attention to Dylan, and partly do to her physical lameness, So there are a lot of variables in any situation.

For Dylan, I'm just ignoring it because I know he is frustrated being confined so much of the time, and the situation is temporary one.

Have you tried makinig a fuss over the dog that is not being crated/confined, right in front of the crated/confined one? I have found that jealousy is a powerful tool in our house.

It is my older dog that is the noisier one. When Dylan was a pup I taught him to bark, on command. That enabled me to flip the off switch. Now I don't know if it is that it worked, or if I just lucked out, but Mr D is a very quiet guy, and when he does bark, he stops when I command him too.

You might want to try it on your pup.

Good luck.

[Michael Romanos]

Shelley - your pup is going to be upset and depressed no matter where you put him so long as he feels alone without close human company compounded by your absence.

Perhaps he needs things to remind him of you such as any old clothing or footwear. Without doubt the best solution is for him to be nurtured by a human mother(you) substitute - but that may not be possible in your circumstances. The needs of puppies are far greater than adult dogs and particularily well matured adult dogs.

[KatC]

Shelley, Is it possible for you to leave a radio on where the dogs are, without it disturbing your son. I have always done this over the years for both cats and dogs, and I feel they have more company with the Talk Back Programmes rather than a continuous music station.

[Michael Romanos]

Apparantly dogs best like songs with love in them followed by songs about food. Is there a radio station devoted to love songs in your region? If not, KatC is probably right about clatter chatter on the radio being of some comfort. Who knows, perhaps Shelley could phone in every day at least once so that her puppy can recognise her voice on the radio and perhaps offer messages of encouragement to him.

[corgimom]

I saw at Petsmart that they have dispensing treat balls that you can record
your voice on - what will they think of next - maybe this would help her pup -
but he may make a lot of racket rolling that thing around while her son sleeps.
The radio idea seems good with soft music on.

linda

[Shelly]

I'll try the radio idea. He does this crazy barking/howling while baracaded in the kitchen even though he can go right into his open crate or go outside to potty (through the doggie door). And he's not alone, my 12 yr old corgi is right there in the same place with him, and she's quiet. He never does this when I'm home. The only time I lock him in his crate is overnight, in my bedroom (he's not housebroken yet), and he sleeps through the night.

[CorgiMum]

When I do my housework I like to put on quiet piano music, and when Montrose was a pup I found that this relaxed her and she would rest quietly while I worked. To this day if I put on Hagood Hardy she takes a nap.

I also have a few relaxation CDs made for dogs. I don't see mine here, but they look like some good ones too. (I like Amazon because you can hear clips of the songs)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...music+for+dogs

[Fluffypants]

You might also try the treat-dispensing toys. I have heard that the worst time for the dog is the first hour or so. So if you can distract him during the time immediately after you leave the house (with one of these), maybe that will help? I have a variety of these types of toys, which Jackie ONLY gets when we leave the house. So they are special, TREAT-DISPENSING toys that she only gets when I am gone. This gives her something to look forward to when I leave, instead of just feeling alone/abandoned/bored.

I may have done too good of a job, though . . . because now she doesn't seem to care at all when I leave! And she doesn't jump around when I come home either, just greets me calmly. I know it means she is well adjusted and secure . . . but it's very bad for my ego!!

[CorgiMum]

Originally Posted by Fluffypants

I may have done too good of a job, though . . . because now she doesn't seem to care at all when I leave! And she doesn't jump around when I come home either, just greets me calmly. I know it means she is well adjusted and secure . . . but it's very bad for my ego!!

I feel the same way.

But, then I think of a woman I know that has a dog with SA so severe that he works himself into such a frenzy as to hurt himself if she leasves him.

[Fluffypants]

Originally Posted by CorgiMum

I feel the same way.

But, then I think of a woman I know that has a dog with SA so severe that he works himself into such a frenzy as to hurt himself if she leasves him.

Okay - I think I'd rather have it this way, then. I'd never leave the house!

[CorgiMum]

Originally Posted by Fluffypants

I'd never leave the house!

For over 2 years either the woman or her husband had to be at home, or somewhere with the dog, he could not even be left alone in the car for a minute.