My puppy barks in the crate - what do I do?

May 30, 12:11 AMDog Training ExaminerJeff Millman

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Often puppy barking is very normal

Tonight it happened again. I had a session with a client that thought their puppy "was screaming bloody murder" in the crate and were anxious to get my opinion  about whether their puppy had separation anxiety.

We put the puppy in the crate, walked out of the room and the puppy barked. They looked at me with questioning eyes. "Well? What do you think?"

"Totally normal. Don't worry about it."

They were relieved and a little surprised. They thought for sure their puppy had separation anxiety and they were doing irreparable damage to their little girl.

First of all, it is highly unusual for puppies to have separation anxiety. That term gets thrown around very loosely and often incorrectly. There is a specific checklist of behaviors that can be used to identify whether a dog has separation anxiety. These behaviors include the following:

• Pre-departure anxiety such as pacing or looking "depressed"
• Barking for extended periods of time
• Self-damage caused by excessive scratching on the crate or doorways or chewing on the crate until teeth break
• Regular housetraining accidents within 30 minutes of departure
• Large saliva puddles in the crate
• Refusal to eat treats when alone
• Inability to be alone when you are home - follows you from room to room
• Destruction when alone

There is no universally agreed-upon criteria for how many of the above issues a dog has to have before being diagnosed with separation anxiety, but my personal opinion requires a dog to have four or more with at least one of them being self-damage or regular housetraining accidents when alone.

So what do you do when your puppy barks in the crate to avoid this turning into a serious problem? Simply periodically reward when he is quiet and ignore barking, scratching, whining or putting paws on the side of the crate. Eventually your puppy will learn that barking in the crate is not an effective way to get your attention and this behavior will extinguish.

The only exception to the rule of ignoring a barking puppy is if you think your puppy has to go potty. If this is the case, at least wait until your puppy calms down a bit before taking him out. If you take him to his location and he does not go potty within 3-5 minutes, put him back in the crate. Learn from this and don't take him out the next time you hear that type of barking.

Also read my article on getting over the guilt of using the crate.

For more info: If your dog has barking problems or separation anxiety, learn how to humanely cure these problems with EBooks purchased at Watch and Train.