A
We have had our 9 month old now about 2 months. He is being crate trained. At bedtime, he goes into his crate without any problems. At the most he will whine for 5-10 seconds and very occasionally will let out 1 or 2 barks (he only whines at bedtime at the most 3 days per week). That's it - then he goes to bed and we don't hear a peep out of him for the rest of the night. (The crate is in a separate room from the bedroom, all the way on the other side of the house).
He spends 3 days per week at daycare. On those 2 weekdays when we leave him in the crate to go to work, he will bark and whine and paw at the cage door for 15-20 minutes after we leave (we have videotaped him several times to verify this). We leave a frozen kong in there stuffed with hot dog pieces, other misc. treats and capped with frozen yogurt (all his favorite stuff!!). We also leave in there a couple of his favorite nylabone chew toys.
When we leave, he will be quiet - the barking doesn't start until we are out the door for 30 seconds to a minute. We don't at all make a big deal about leaving. We matter-of-factly put him in the cage and don't say a word to him. We just gather up our things and out the door we go. We also never make a big deal about coming home. We let him out of the cage, and we ignore him for a few minutes while we get situated and put our things away.
He will eventually calm down and go to work on his kong and his other toys. But for that first 15-20 minutes he goes nuts!! Once he calms down though, he is fine. Is this separation anxiety or normal behavior? Should we try and work on this or let it be?
He spends 3 days per week at daycare. On those 2 weekdays when we leave him in the crate to go to work, he will bark and whine and paw at the cage door for 15-20 minutes after we leave (we have videotaped him several times to verify this). We leave a frozen kong in there stuffed with hot dog pieces, other misc. treats and capped with frozen yogurt (all his favorite stuff!!). We also leave in there a couple of his favorite nylabone chew toys.
When we leave, he will be quiet - the barking doesn't start until we are out the door for 30 seconds to a minute. We don't at all make a big deal about leaving. We matter-of-factly put him in the cage and don't say a word to him. We just gather up our things and out the door we go. We also never make a big deal about coming home. We let him out of the cage, and we ignore him for a few minutes while we get situated and put our things away.
He will eventually calm down and go to work on his kong and his other toys. But for that first 15-20 minutes he goes nuts!! Once he calms down though, he is fine. Is this separation anxiety or normal behavior? Should we try and work on this or let it be?