Hi all,
We have an 11 week old mini bernedoodle puppy that we've had for a little over two weeks. This subreddit's resources and posts have been very helpful in navigating our time together so far, thank you all!
I have one problem I can't figure out. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment with an open living space. He has access to the living/dining room and we have baby gates to keep him out of the bedroom/bathroom and kitchen. He can see the whole apartment, even with the gates and I don't normally close any of the doors. When I go into the bedroom, he whines/cries and puts his front paws on the top of the gate. It doesn't feel like actual distress or separation anxiety, it feels like FOMO. 75% of the time, he'll give up after a few minutes and go back to what he was doing before I left.
I've seen/heard him actually distressed when I've had to leave and in the beginning of crate training before we reworked our approach and this doesn't seem nearly the same. He would be much louder and throwing himself at the gate. I know separation anxiety/stress is normal for a puppy but he can see me, I'm at most 20 feet away and I always come back to his space pretty quickly. I don't want him in the bedroom as it's not puppy proof and I need to get dressed, put away laundry, etc. He sleeps in there in his crate but thats all.
I've tried talking to him, ignoring him, not coming back until he stops whining, not re-entering the living space until he gets off the baby gate, nothing seems to change. What do I do?
submitted by /u/kelskelsea
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