Whining

How can I get my puppy to stop whining and crying when we leave him alone?



Hi
If your puppy has just come to live with you, he's probably scared and homesick. He wants to be with you, his 'pack', and it's natural for him to whine and cry if you leave him in his crate for example.

However, if he's getting plenty of love and attention, and is healthy, he needs to learn to accept being in his crate/exercise pen etc., at night or when you can't supervise him. In this instance, you just need to ignore his cries and complaints, and only take him out when he's quiet (or at least taken a break from whining, even if it's for a minute or two). Otherwise he will think crying gets him attention.

My Crate Training page may be helpful to you in this situation.

But, if the problem is that your pup makes a lot of fuss when left home alone, and he's not new to your home, he may be suffering from separation anxiety.

This is a fairly common problem, and can be mild to severe, requiring a different approach or treatment depending on the situation/severity of the issue.

I'd recommend reading my Separation Anxiety In Your Dog page. It has tons of free information and advice on dealing with this problem, and links to other pages with treatment/corrective advice.

I wish you the best of luck with your pup, and if you're a new, or first time, puppy owner you may find my New Puppy Care page interesting.