My partner's dog (85lb Saint Berdoodle, 6yo) moved in with us 5 weeks ago. He's lived his whole life at her family's house with other people (or other dogs) always around. Seems like he's never really been left truly alone until now—we're in a 1BR apartment, just the two of us.
We didn't notice anything regarding separation anxiety / hyper attachment until we both went in-office for the first time, and we caught him on camera howling and barking until he tired himself out after a coupe hours.
Since then, we've been training for 2-3 weeks now —short sessions daily (picking up lunch, hanging in the apt lounge, etc.), leaving before he gets upset and coming back while he's still calm.
A couple observations:
- In general I've noticed he's completely glued to my partner, following her everywhere—always watching the door when she goes into a different room.
- I try to take more of his feeding/walks/play time so he bonds with me more, and have my partner backing off from him a bit when I'm home.e
- Notably, when I'm taking care of him myself: he can last 30-40 min without any sounds
- Whereas when she's taking care of him herself: he lasts seemingly much shorter
- If both of us leave, it's only a few minutes that he stays quiet before he starts whining
- He stays glued to the door (nose down, or sitting alert) listening for us (usually doesn't bark at neighbors passing by)—when we return, he is visibly excited and almost always goes to his food/water bowls.
- We also try not to interact with him when leaving / returning home, trying to normalize us coming in and out and making it seem like "not a big deal"
My main questions:
- Is this normal progress for a 6 year old dog learning to be alone for the first time?
- Any further insight/advice would be much appreciated, thanks!
It seems posts here / megathread comments are regarding puppies rather than old dogs, hence created a separate post—we do plan on talking to/hiring a trainer at some point
submitted by /u/OmoideAeternum
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