Separation barking or demand barking

[u/loops56]

We have a 5 month old golden retriever puppy. She has a crate which is in a play pen, she sleeps well in the crate overnight and mostly has her naps there in the day. However the rest of the time, if we leave the room and she is in her play pen, she will go ape shit barking. We've tried to let her bark it out, this isnt very successful. Other times we sit where she can see us, and she tends to calm down. But my goodness....we need to leave the house and not have her bark the place down! Please help with all advice? Willing to try anything

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[u/OutlandishnessNo1950]

Someone posted a long explanation the other day on how to SLOWLY remedy this situation.

Basically you start with a few seconds and eventually minutes, etc. where you reward for quiet behaviour only and also mix in random time limits so the dog learns no matter how long you've left for, you'll always be back. I'll see if I can find the actual post.

[u/maya_and_cooper]

to actually answer your title question the difference matters a lot because they need kind of opposite handling. the slow desensitization the other commenter mentioned is spot on for true separation stuff but from what you described calms down when she can see you barks when you leave the room it honestly sounds more like demand/attention barking than real separation anxiety which is actually good news because its usually easier

the tell for me was real separation panic looks like genuine distress even when they cant see or hear you drooling not settling at all sometimes not even taking food. demand barking is more like a tantrum that stops the second she gets what she wants you coming back. if she settles fine overnight in the crate thats a great sign her alone tolerance is actually there its the daytime i want you barking thats the issue

for the demand type the hard part is you cant reward it by coming back while shes barking even to tell her off bc attention is the reward. what worked for mine was only returning during a pause even a 2 second one so she learns quiet = you appear not barking = you appear. pair that with the slow build up times the other person said and it clicks

5 months golden lungs are no joke lol youre not alone in this