New puppy, separation and general anxiety problems I have a new chihuahua puppy that we got one week ago. I was told he was around 10 weeks old until I went to pick him up, and found out he was actually 8 weeks old. So I was expecting this, and yes, here it is.
This puppy has general anxiety problems, will walk around whining for no apparent reason (I'm attributing that to being lonely, missing his mother and littermates - for now). Still would like advice on that.
Separation problems... At night he was in bed with us for the first two nights, because he is so tiny I was afraid he would die or something during the night. (He weighs 13 ounces right now and I've never had such a small dog.) After the first couple days, he didn't die (haha), so I eased up a little and as a rule I don't like dogs to be in the bed with us at night (plus he isnt potty trained yet .. ), so I bought him a small kennel and put down blankets and a puppy pad, food, water, a chew toy and a stuffed toy, and put him to bed in there. I expected him to whine, which he did, but after about 10 minutes of being ignored, he started WAILING. It was so loud that I could go outside my apartment, close the door, and still hear it loudly. I did leave him in there for 3 nights, and then last night he cried for two hours straight so I let him out.
This is a big problem for me. I do not want to disturb my neighbors (there are dog noise laws here) and I will be starting a new job in a couple of weeks where he will need to be kenneled for about 4 hours in the mornings. We do have an older dog, a 1 year old min pin mix, and even putting their two kennels close together does not help him, he cries literally for hours.
Any advice on this ... I'm desperate. He makes himself sick. |