Hi all,

I'm aware that there is already a sticky thread related to Seperation Anxiety and puppies however I just wanted a little bit of advice and reassurance from a personal point of view.

We have an 8 week old Yorkie-Poodle called Barney - he was given to us by my partner's friend for free as he was desperate to get rid of him due to moving. We've had him for 3 days and have been using some of the tips we found in the sticky thread in order to attempt to get him used to being left alone for short periods (we've had little success but we understand that it takes time).

Today is the first day we've left him alone (it'll be a 6 hour period in total) and I'm experiencing a little seperation anxiety myself! I've left him free roam of the flat (it's very tiny so it's not too overwhelming for him) particularly due to the fact that he scratches at the doors something terrible when we shut them. I've also left him plenty of water and some of our old clothes that we've been wearing so he has our scent to calm him down.

Fortunately we also have a lovely neighbour who has offered to check in on him every hour or so in order to ensure that he is ok and more to let us know how much whining he does (which has been extremely loud and frequent over the last few days). We are conscious of the fact that we hear him whining when we leave and again when we return probably because he hears the door downstairs go - I'm hoping that this does not mean that he is whining for the full period in which we have been out.

We are just looking for a little advice and possible reassurance that he is going to be ok - I feel a little calmer knowing someone will be checking on him. Maybe some indication of how long this is likely to go on. We are aware that leaving such a young puppy for a lengthy period of 6 hours is not ideal however due to the situation we do not have much choice.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

A very worried and guilty feeling owner