Hello! I have a sweet 9 week old puppy. Of course he is very young and doesn't yet understand the concept of me leaving without panicking. We are working on it, but today, I had to leave for an hour for something important, and knew he would be a panicked mess. I woke up early and played with him on and off for 2 hours, including a short walk, 2 potty breaks, fed breakfast, and put him in his crate for a nap 15 min before leaving. I didn't give a frozen kong because I didn't want to wake hiim up before leaving.
Turns out, the door closing woke him up anyways, and he barked/paced/clawed at the crate for 45 min straight with short breaks to lay down before getting distressed again. He even started howling. Around 45 min, he started to wear himself out and laid down, but he was still panting heavily, so I knew it was more from physical exertion than self soothing.
Is this okay to do to a 9 week old puppy? I am scared to traumatize him into developing separation anxiety but know he needs the practice. Usually I practice with him by putting him in his crate while I go get the mail, shower, etc, and he's been doing well, but those days he was more tired. Today for some reason he was very alert haha.
Just want to know if I'm doing it right or not! Being a new single dog mom is scary haha
submitted by /u/ilikebananabread
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