We rescued a 4 month of Maltese (waiting on DNA) 2 weeks ago. He’s done AMAZING adjusting and learning commands. He is quiet in his crate at night and usually only wakes up once to pee.
He’s also great in his crate during the day (door open or closed) if he can see me. His crate is in my bedroom/home office and I WFH – so he really doesn’t go long without me.
The problem: as soon as the door is closed and I walk away for more than 1-2 min (or god forbid leave the house) he goes into full blown panic mode. Clawing the door, crying, barking.
He has distractions, favorite toy, Kong’s in there. I’ve tried covering & not covering during the day.
I’ve left the house twice for about an hour each and my teen (who stayed in their room) confirmed he cried for the entire hour.
I’ve practiced waking away in short intervals during training – he can make it to 10 seconds without losing his mind.
For his safety, when I leave the house, he needs to be crated. But we also travel a lot and he’ll need to eventually be okay in a hotel.
Help!
submitted by /u/TheOverThinkingBunny
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