I adopted a 10 week old golden retriever mutt from a shelter last Friday. I put him in a kennel on the way home and he cried the entire way home. At night time, I left him in the kennel and he continued to cry/bark on and off. I took him out 2 times to pee (he went only once) and put him back in the crate after. I was expecting this the first time as he is completely new to this environment and still a baby taken from his siblings/friends.

The second day I brought a small dog tent/kennel and put in my bedroom for him at night and he slept perfectly. During the day I left him walk around with my supervision. 2 days later, I put him in the kennel (in the living room and large enough for him to move around) for an hour during the day so I can get some errands done and he barked/cried the entire time. Yesterday was the first time I left him in the crate for 3-4 hrs during the day as I went to work. I came back to give him lunch and walk him and then put him back in the crate. He keeps on barking/crying the entire time, including today. I set up a webcam just to track his progress and it seems he is up barking 75% of the time and sleeping the rest. It also seems he is kind of losing his voice.

I’m a little nervous that he might be getting separation anxiety because I even if I left him alone in the kitchen for a while, he will start to cry/bark. Whenever I let him out of his crate, he will come out and just fall asleep by me, and if I go to another room, he’ll follow and continue to sleep by my feet. I also feed him in the crate but he doesn’t eat much and only eats if I am close to the crate and keep on showing him the food. I put his beggin’ strips in the crate at random times to help him get comfortable with it.

Is there any need for concern? Is this normal, both the crating and him following me? Should I continue to crate train or just block off an area and leave him there with the crate door open? Did I force him into the crate too early?

I’m trying my best not to be one of those crazy moms. Any advice/tips?

How much time per day is he crated?

What does his daily routine look like? Time up to potty, play time, crate time, dinner time, etc...

What do you do when he barks and cries?

This is his routine for the past 2 days:

6:30 - Wakes up in small kennel in bedroom and feed him
6:45 - Take him for a walk
7:00 - Leave him in the kitchen alone but blocked off as I shower, get ready, and make breakfast
7:45 - play with him a little and give him a few treats inside crate
8:15 - leave him in crate and go to work
11:30/12 - take him of crate to feed, go for a walk, and play with him
1:15 - back in crate
4:30/5 - take him of crate to feed, go for a walk, and play with him
6:00 - he usually falls sleep next to me as I'm on the computer or follows me whenever I leave the room and sleeps
9:30 - take him for a little longer walk
10:15 - in small kennel for bed time

I'm usually not around when he barks/cries but when I come home he goes crazy. I try my best to wait until he settles down to let him out.

Jay, are you familiar with marker training yet?

You want to be very careful about not letting him out of the crate when he's barking. If you are inconsistent about this you are setting him up to continue barking in the crate. When you come home for lunch you need to wait for a moment of silence before letting him out. Every time. If you are using marker training you can mark the silence and then release him from the crate.

In addition, if you can hear him barking when you approach the door to your house/apartment, wait for a moment of silence before opening it. You want to remove any association that he has with barking and getting out of the crate.

When you leave in the morning put a toy like a Kong or other food-stuffable toy in there to give him sonething to occupy himself after you leave.

If you are not familiar with marker training, make another post and ask for pointers. This type of training can be very effective in acclimating a dog to his crate. (and helping w/ anxiety issues, too)

I'm no expert but I found that a stuffed Kong did wonders for my dog when he was not too happy to be in the crate. I also left music or the TV on when I left (nothing too crazy...avoid CNN, etc.). To this day he enjoys music and the TV in a calming way.

I also think Lynne's advice is super good. Do not let him out of that crate until he's quiet!

Vanessa