Hi everyone, I'm really glad to have found this website.  It is a cornicopia of information!  I am really excited to be a part.

I searched through the forum, but couldn't find anything like this; I apologize if it has been addressed before.  Here's the dilemma:

My best friend was going to get a GSP pup (Cooper) for his 4 year old GSP as a playmate, because the other dog is older and "retired."  I did the research, and decided to go ahead and get one also (Scout), Cooper's brother.  My buddy picked him up and had him at his house for a week with Cooper, and his two older dogs.  They got along great.  We picked him up and brought him home Sunday, the 25th.

Unfortunately, I don't have other dogs I can crate him with, just cats.  So, I worked out something to be able to visit the pup on my lunch breaks.  He is alone for five hours in the morning and three in the afternoon.  He has not had any accidets whatsoever, except one too-rich puppy food dinner encounter.  No crate, bed, carpet accidets. 

But - I have to leave him alone, in a house by himself for a long time.  And when I put him in his crate he goes nuts.  I stood outside the house for 10 minutes, and he was baying and howling the whole time.  I can't let him run loose because I know he will tear everything up.  We've left him lots of work toys, peanut butter, etc, and I run him during lunch and in the morning.

I snuck in on him today at lunch and he was asleep, but as soon as he woke up he went crazy.  Of course, I let him out immediately, and he runs right over to me and cries.  He cries some the whole time I am with him at lunch, even if I hold him for 40 minutes!

At home, he's great.  We only crate him at dinner time, and he is whiney, but if he's tired he will nap.  He sleeps with me at night, which I don't mind at all.

Is this something I should worry about, or is he going to get through this? It breaks my heart to leave the boy alone, but there's not much I can do.  I know it's hard on him, getting torn away from his litter mates and left alone all day.  I try to tire him out, and pay a lot of attention to him.  I want him to be a good gun dog eventually, but I am concerned that he might have some anxiety issues.  I also need to be able to crate him reliably.

I can't stay home with him, I don't have much vacation time.  It was a very fast, uncomfortable transition for myself, the dog, and my sister who lives with me and cares for Scout as well.

Am I jumping the gun, him being only 8 weeks, or overreacting?

Any help is appreciated.

 Edited to fix errors.

Funny story too, just to make you feel better about your worrying, and that it is hard for us as people to ignore some things because it feels "cold". We were having friends over for a birthday party and I knew many would get to our place prior to us getting there because some of us opted for a movie beforehand. I told them to welcome themselves inside but that Bella would be in her crate (I asked them not to let her out because I knew she would need to potty right away and since we don't have a fence I didn't trust anyone to let her out to go potty) and asked them not to give her attention as that would be harder for her in her crate than being ignored. When we got to our house...ALL four of our friends that had arrived before us were sitting by Bella's crate talking to her and petting her through the bars.

*sigh* lol

Wow!

Thanks for all the help.  I have seen significant change in just one night.  I read most of these posts last night, and I started some kennel work with him.  I saw significant improvement in just a few tries.

I played with him in front of his crate, and then made him follow my hand with a treat in it.  Then I dropped it and when he went in I praised, and then moved in front.  I put a toy in his mouth and played with him for a few minutes.  Then I shut the door.  He knows sit pretty well, so when he started going bonkers I told him "SIT" and waited until he stopped whining, then I immediately opened the door.

I did this five or six times, and already saw the difference.  This morning before we left the house I did the same thing, and I waited to cover the crate until he sat and was quiet, and then I just left with no fuss.

I also ran him quite a ways this morning, and ignored his attempts to get me to pick him up so he would be tired.

I will keep working on it, and run him again at lunch time.  I guess I was overly concerned with separation causing psychological issues because I want him to be my gun dog.

It's been more than 15 years since I've had dogs, and I haven't been around puppies since I was about 10.  This is very different.

Now, I have to get him to start listening to my sister.  I can already see he plays a different game with her, and he's only been home for four days.

Thanks everyone, much appreicated!

G

Scout is the one on the bottom of the two brothers in the sun.

 Here's the link for posting photos.

www.shorthairs.net/GSPForum/tabid/220/forumid/2/postid/42164/view/topic/Default.aspx

Thanks for the help.  The pictures should be above.

He's gotten a little bit bigger.

Now, continuing with the situation:

I went out at lunch today, after working with him last night and this morning.  I ran him around the field for 20 minutes (we literally ran, there's no fenced area to run him right now). 

I then fed, watered, and took him to potty.  Then I played with him in front of his kennel, and inside of it.  Once he was done with his treats inside, he tried to squeeze by me, but I just kept playing with him.  I shut the door to the crate when he was distracted inside, and he immediately went crazy.  I told him "SIT" and he sat down, and I didn't open the door until he was quiet.  I did this five or six times.  He did really well while I was there, but even when I was in the other room he freaked.
 

When I finally had to leave, I put him inside his crate and didn't pull the blanket over it until he was quiet.  He was fine until I hit the door.  I stopped and put a recorder down, I wanted to see how long he goes on.  He sound like he was choking himself he was trying to cry so hard.

This is tough -  I have gone from wanting to find someone to sit him with their dog all day to wanting to get him to calm down.  There are some resources others have mentioned above that I am going to look into today, but nothing I read prepared me for this.  This is nothing like my cats - food, water, litterbox, pet pet, see you later.

I've been told over and over to stop worrying, and I trust the people on here as sound advice because of their dog experience, but...

*huff*

Just a note:

Everyone else's pictures on here of their GSP are absolutely awesome.  SUCH GORGEOUS DOGS.  I am really glad I have the little guy, and I am really excited about how good looking he will be.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Last night was much better.  I worked with him for almost four hours, playing, walking, feeding, playing, training... in and out of the crate and outside.  No more accidents on the carpet, no more whining in the crate (while it was open).  We got some rawhide and enticed him with that, and I eventually got him comfortable with being in the crate.

I would throw the rawhide in the crate and say "Kennel up!"  He would go in and chew on his rawhide, and lay down.  When I moved, though, he would follow me.  I would tell him No, and then take the rawhide and throw it back in.  It took about 30 minutes, but he finally stayed in there any chewed on it while I went out of the room, and then out of the house.

Now, a while later I had to go outside and my sister was in the shower.  I crated him, and calmed him down, but by the time I was approaching the house again he was howling as loud as he could.  I went inside and ignored him at first, and when I was ready to let him out I told him "No.  Sit."  I start to open the cage, and if he starts whining I close it again.  If he puts his paw on the bars I close it again. I slowly open and say "Hold, Hold" until he is still, and then once it's open wide I say "OK!" and lots of praise, treats.

He runs straight to me though, and I want to dissuade this, so any advice here?

Last night he slept in his crate until about 2AM (I get up at 4am anyway).  We keep the heat really low, so when I woke up to pee again he woke up and cried a bit.  I calmed him down, but he was shivering, so I took him out after he was sitting and calm, and let him sleep with me.  I am going to buy a heating pad and wrap up the crate so this doesn't happen again. 

Also, this morning, when we went to get in the car he seemed to know right away.  Once we get to his crate where he stays during the day he started whining and getting fussy.  I tried to wear him out but when you only have 40 minutes it tough to wear him out fast enough.  It's almost like he forgets all the training we did the night before once we get to that house.  I played with him in and out of the crate again, but he didn't seem to retain anything we went through at home.  I might have to spend more time over there on some days to get him used to the place.

Anyway, I put him in, with some peanut butter and a new rawhide, and played with him in and out of the crate.  He wouldn't go in willingly like at home.  I use two different crates, and that might be the issue?

I finally got him in there and used the same commands to calm him down, taking him in and out of the crate a few times.  I finally just left, but I snuck back in and he was doing that choking-himself-whining again.

Getting better, but still tough.  Not tugging on the ol' heartstrings as hard anymore.

Thanks again for all the help.

Thanks Splat.

Sounds like I am on the right track, and that this is normal doggie stuff.  I have to keep reminding myself that he is 9 weeks old.

But damn is he smart.  I think he is smarter than me, especially as far as manipulation.  You can't apply logic to doggie tricks, just experience from what I can tell.

A lot of the stuff we are working on, routines and things, are only interrupted by the cats.  But our inside-outside routine is great, he sits and won't jump for treats now.  Awesome at five days home.

BTW - I left my recorder on for 3.5 hrs in the afternoon yesterday, and it took him more than 20 minutes to finally calm down.  Normal?

Thanks!