My fiance and I have a three month old chihuahua male. We have been attempting to get him used to being alone for small periods of time, however, every time we leave him, whether it be in his crate or behind his gate, he works himself up so much that he vomits. How can we get him to be comfortable with being alone without causing himself harm?

[chevy & karen]

Originally Posted by BenandSusie

My fiance and I have a three month old chihuahua male. We have been attempting to get him used to being alone for small periods of time, however, every time we leave him, whether it be in his crate or behind his gate, he works himself up so much that he vomits. How can we get him to be comfortable with being alone without causing himself harm?

Awe, poor puppy... I use to start out slow with mine. I would get my key's, coat, purse, whatever like I was leaving and say good bye to my pup and tell him I'll be back.. Then I would go out for a quick walk around the house and come back in like I was home from my outing. I was probably gone a total of one minute or less until he got use to it and understood that I will be back..
I also used Rescue Remedy, just a few drop's before you leave may help..

I still get the sad eye when I leave to go somewhere now but it's not traumatic for him and he know's I will be back.. Please keep us updated as to how it's going...

Small steps are key. My dog was having the same problems when I got her, except she became somewhat destructive. I took some time out of a weekend, and made it appear to her that I was leaving. At first I would walk outside, and out of her sight for a few seconds, if she didn't start barking, which was her first reaction, I would come back in the house and give her a treat. Every time she started acting up, I would wait a bit, then enter the house and wouldn't acknowledge her. After she got the hang of it, I waited longer periods of times, and kept up with giving her treats. It worked very well after two hours of time. I would give it a try. If it doesn't work, you can still at least get a view of the dogs behavior when you leave and obtain a bit more information on it's actions, which can only help you help the dog. Best of luck to you!

maybe that puppy was already used of being with you guys for
quite a long time..

and we can't blame that puppy for acting that
way, as we all know...
they're man's bestfriend..

And the more that they'd get along with
a person, the more that they'd adopt with
the environment of having someone
on their sides.

you get drops for reducing anxiety and stress. have you tried them

We have a 14 week old Shih-poo female with similar issues. What I did was place her in her crate for a few minutes while I stayed in the room with her several different times a day, releasing her ONLY when she is quiet & calm. Gradually worked up to 30 minutes while remaining in the room & then started all over again leaving her in her crate several minutes & left the room this time, again releasing her ONLY when she was quiet & calm. Just kept increasing the time I would be away and now she is able to remain in her crate for about 3 hours, which is helping a lot in potty training her. Now she has only been left alone once so I know that she isn't whining or barking, but I don't think she realizes I am just a room away and is extremely happy to see me when I come in. I won't always be able to be around so want her to understand that I will be back.

Thank you all for your advice. Our puppy has gotten more used to being alone now. He still doesn't like it and gets a little noisy but has outgrown the throwing up. He is completely crate trained but we have been leaving him in the bathroom when we leave and he is not too fond of that yet. We have been working on having him quiet down before we let him out and we are making progress. So once again, thank you for all of the advice

[Lara's mom]

I don't know if you've tried this but, it worked like a charm when Bailey was a puppy. I bought a hollow bone from the pet store and put either peanut butter or cheeze whiz inside. Right before I went out, I'd give her the bone. She was so interested in licking out the goodies, she hardly knew that I'd gone.

At first, I only stayed out for a couple of minutes. As soon as I returned, the bone was picked up, washed and put away for next time. It's important that your pup only get this bone when you're on your way out the door. Take it away the moment you come in.

Slowly increase the amount of time that you're gone; 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc. Pretty soon, the thought of you leaving will be associated by a really nice goody and the pup won't get frantic when you leave. It worked like a charm for me. It also worked very well with my little jack russell Lara.

[sandyh]

one other thing you may try since you said your dog is crate trained is to put a blanket over the crate and leave on soft music or a tv playing. alot of dogs bark because they hear every little noise outside. If you have more than one dog. do the same to the other dogs crate but keep the crates next to each other not in different rooms as dogs try to out bark one another. hope this little trick comes in handy for someone.

[AnimatedPet]

Yeah, it's definitely a good trick to make a den environment for your dog in their crate. Something to keep them busy while you're away.

[Lunareclipse]

My dog howls the whole time he is in the house without me. He is so focused on me that the bone with peanut butter didn't work. I waited until he was asleep and then left for 2 minutes. when i came back he was fine and didn't know i had gone anywhere.

Some dogs are very attached to their owner...
Especially puppies they hate to be alone...

I been there in that situation when brian is just a month old...
We gave him crate training and leave some toy there...
we gave him a puppy toy so that he will not worried that he was alone when we're not around...

It is very important to make sure you do not give up on the training. Consistent training is the only way to be effective. i would train him with his crate for short periods of time and work up to longer and longer amounts of time.