I have to leave the house and he won’t settle when I do
I’ll preface by saying I know we haven’t been together long, so if this something that will resolve as he settles, let me know :)
I picked up my 11 week old Border Collie puppy on Friday (two days ago now) and we’re doing okay. I’m a bit frustrated by the usual potty training issues but it is what it is!
The main issue is that when he goes down to nap, he screams unless I’m 6 inches from his crate. And I don’t mean he whines and cries, I mean he screams. I feel horrendous when he does, but he NEEDS to nap and I need to get things done around the house. Like right now, I just got back from grocery shopping (a one hour trip) and before I left, he’d been up for three hours. He pottied outside and settled down in his crate with a lick mat. I covered his crate and turned on a white noise machine and left. As usual, he was preoccupied for about ten minutes until he realized I was gone and then started wailing.
It breaks my heart because I know he’s scared and missing his family but I was hoping he could be okay. He sleeps perfectly fine through the night with some potty breaks (crate next to my bed). He can also nap outside his kennel but again, the moment I stand up and leave, he wakes up and gets upset.
I’ve tried cover closed and open, white noise or music or podcasts, he has one of my worn shirts and a snuggle puppy with the heartbeat. He’s EXTREMELY smart and will happily go in his crate on his own, and I’ve even tried sitting next to his covered crate and clicking calmness and sneaking a treat in. None of it matters; he needs to see me 24/7, and the instant I’m gone, he loses it :(
Btw, leaving him outside his kennel is not currently an option for me. He has already figured out how to climb out of his playpen, and that doesn’t matter anyway because if I leave the room while he’s in there, he wails and tries to follow.
Is there any other way to ease this transition for him or will it get better naturally?