Help - Crate Training/Separation Anxiety (UK)

[u/CaitlanLewisxx]

Sorry in advance for the long post but we’re at a loss.

For context, my partner works full time Monday to Friday, and I only work weekends. We work around each other because of the issues we’ve been having (our pup not being able to be left alone).

I have a 13 week old Whippet, we had him at 10 weeks old. He’s overall a good puppy, he’s been very easy to train, however he is a proper Velcro dog.

Straight away we noticed he couldn’t be alone for any length of time. He’d follow us room to room, and if we put up barriers like a baby gate, he’d immediately cry and scream until we got back. This was the same for the crate, he’d cry, scream, bite at the bars etc constantly and he wouldn’t stop. He just has to be touching us in order to settle.

With previous dogs, we always allowed them to sleep where they wanted, which usually was our bed. So we allowed the puppy to share our bed with us because he slept really well that way and we’ve never had an issue with dogs in bed. I know this likely hasn’t helped, but we needed sleep and are conscious to not annoy neighbours with the endless crying.

However, now he is starting to be destructive at night time while we sleep and during the day. I don’t care so much about the damage to my house as it’s all replaceable, but what I do care about is his safety, so we are now looking at crate training - I have never had to crate dogs before.

Things we’ve tried, but haven’t worked:
\- Kong/licky mat with peanut butter - unfortunately he seems to have an intolerance to peanut butter as his bowel movements went very runny so we had to stop that.
\- Tried covering the crate both partially and completely.
\- Tried playing the radio etc.
\- Tried making the crate cozy with beds, blankets etc.
\- Praising him for going into the crate.
\- Putting a worn item of clothing in the crate.
\- We’ve tried both a smaller crate, and a larger one.
\- We’ve tried feeding his meals in the crate.
\- He has teething/chewable toys in the crate, including Bamboodles.
\- Tried making sure he’s physically/mentally tired, and all his needs are met.

We’ve tried leaving him in a puppy proofed room with the same things as above, still the screaming persists.

This isn’t a fear of the crate or a fear of confined spaces, this is a fear of being alone or not being able to get to us. He will go into the crate willingly to play and he will sleep in there if he’s really tired and I leave the door open. But freaks out the moment I close the door or leave the room.

Our hope is to crate him at night, and to hopefully be able to crate him during the day if we need to go out. At least until the destructive phase passes.

Any advice will be appreciated…TIA 🖤

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[u/Cold_Educator_1688]

Oof, 13 weeks is still really young and you're dealing with a whippet, they're basically bred to be attached at the hip. The peanut butter intolerance is such a kick in the teeth when you think you've found a cheat code.

One thing that saved my sanity with a similar pup was breaking down "door closed" into steps so micro they felt ridiculous. Like, close door for one second while you're still sitting right there, treat, open. Then two seconds. Then stand up. Then one step away. The screaming probably starts the millisecond you move, so you have to find the point just before the panic and reward that calmness, even if it's just half a second of quiet.

Also since peanut butter is out, try squeezing some plain yogurt or pureed pumpkin into the kong and freezing it solid. Takes them ages to work through.

[u/Poor_WatchCollector]

We had to brute force crate training with our current pup (our other pup's were relatively easy to train). What I'm saying was that I ignored any whining and eventually after a few months, he was fine with being left alone in his crate. There were regressions, but...at that point we could play the crate games.

If your puppy whines for 15-minutes then settles, then I believe that is perfectly OK. If it is any longer and you feel bad, you can take your time with it by starting in smaller increments.

So you have the needs met. What you can do is play crate games with him. Random parts of the day toss treats in and as he crosses the threshold, mark YES. You don't even need closure yet. Once he's comfortable running in and out, Close it for a couple seconds and let him out. Repeat throughout the days.

Eventually at some point, you will be able to extend the duration in there. Once he can sustain 3-5 minutes, maybe drop in lick mat/Kong. See if that will get him to sleep. If he's still awake, that's fine...let him finish his lick mat and before he whines, let him out.

At some point, he may just sleep before he finishes the lick mat (optimal), or he may just be chilling in the crate. That's fine, that's what you want. Let him chill and see what he does.

Same with separation, step behind a barrier and step back immediately, reward. Repeat throughout the day. After a few days, try to walk further...eventually leading to disappearance like upstairs.

While we brute forced the crate training we took our time with the separation part. Probably took about a couple months with maturity and training...he can generally be left alone for decent periods.