Leaving home?

Leonberger · March 2008

Next Tuesday I go back to work. I planned to start this earlier but got a bit delayed, getting Kuma used to stay on his own. So this afternoon, actually an hour ago, I started the "weaning". Separated both of them, Nyx in the living room, Kuma in the hall (it's about 3mx5m, all tile flooring and that's where is newspaper WC has been) with his bed, water bowl and toys. Went down for 5 minutes. When I came up everything was quiet, so I thought "Yay! This is going to be easy!" Wrong! Didn't pay much attention to him for a while, until he settled and sat. Praised him on that, carried on with regular stuff for 5 minutes or so, and without paying much attention to him, went out again, this time to go to the storage room upstairs. I could hear him up there...Not good.

Came back, repeated the "coming home" drill, waited another 5 minutes and left, staying against the front neighbour's door. Timed my absence to 1:06minutes while he moaned and screamed, one of them really loud. Went back in after he shut up for a while, "coming home" drill again, another 5 to 10 minutes and off I go again, this time for 2min. He screams. The whole "coming home" thing, and off I go, for 3minutes. He screams. So I thought, let's try not leaving the flat, just stay in a different room than the one he's in. He moans softly. I go out and he had peed in the wrong place. I ignored him, cleaned, praised him for being quiet and went back to the study. He moans again, but for a shorter time.I wait 'til he shuts up and go out and praise and treat. I decided to give him a break, and let him in, while I typed this, he's sleeping.

For what I've been reading, I'm not far from the right method, but we never know. Anyone has any suggestion?

Sorry for the long post...

Ryu · March 2008

Maybe try to give him something to keep him occupied (like a chewtoy) while you leave the room (so he doesn't actually see you leave). Then see how long it takes him to realize that you left? Also, work a little bit more on just going to another room before actually leaving the building. Let him work up that that...Also, this is so not "green" of us but we leave a radio on so he doesn't get spooked by noises while we're gone.

Romi · March 2008

The only advice I have for you is: don't go to him when he's crying. He'll start to realize if he keeps crying and screaming that you will come to the rescue and let him out. Just ignore him. Once he stops, then go to him and praise him. What i've been doing with Ninja is ill go to the pen with a treat, Ill make him do a trick and then give him the treat, walk out and close the door. He will make noises and start trying to find a way out so i just wait until hes quiet for about 10 minutes and then ill come back make him do a trick and treat him INSIDE the pen and let him out. Basically, you have to make the enclosed area feel like the safest comfortable place to be. Give him his absolute favorite treats inside the area so he associates the area with a positive experience. You can try getting a kong and stuffing it with his favorite treat and only giving him that toy/treat when he's in there, so everytime he's in there he'll be excited because he knows he'll get his favorite toy/treat. Just make sure you pay him no attention when he is crying/screaming even when you get home, wait until he is quiet and being good to give him praise and affection. Its a lot of conditioning and patience, but im sure he'll catch on and be fine in there.

Leonberger · March 2008

Yep, I forgot to mention that. I left the radio on too. I just went downstairs to take out some thrash, and he was fine. Only difference was I left the study open. When I came back, he was in the study.

Edit: Yes, it seems the boy needs the study to calm down. I went out again after noticing he was ok the previous time, and stayed out the door, to listen. 3:30 minutes of silence went by. Came back in and he didn't even go to meet me until I took my shoes off. It makes some sense, since we have been sleeping in the study since he came home, but might need some rearranging...

okiron · March 2008

I guess the study is considered the "safe room" for little Kuma.

Ryu · March 2008

I agree with Romi about stuffing Kongs inside his play area. They keep Ryu occupied for hours. Even when I come home from work, he'll pull them out of the crate and keep trying to get the treats out. (Although I think I'm supposed to keep them away from him so when he gets them inside the crate, he thinks "Oh Joy! I can finally play with these now!") Soon enough, he'll get used to the idea of you going to work and it will become routine. Ryu's at the point now where the only place he will fall asleep is inside his kennel. I've tried putting him up on the bed with us at night but he just squirms and plays; but once we tell him to "go to bed", he crawls in his kennel and passes out

Leonberger · March 2008

Somehow, I missed Romi's post. Sorry. Yes, the Kong idea is very good, and I only treat him when he calms down. Tomorrow we'll have a few more sessions to see how he accepts the idea. My pen hasn't arrived yet, only next week, it seems...By now, I think Kuma will be used to staying in the hall or hall/study. Apart form the main cable for tv/internet, there's nothing harmful or that he can harm. I'll just have to protect that cable somehow, although he doesn't mind it since he was told a few times not to touch it. Still, better safe than sorry.

Leonberger · March 2008

Separation anxiety boy strikes again...

After working with him for a few times inside the flat and just outside the main door, and seeing he was taking it well, I had to go run some errands. I left him his Kong with some stuff'n paste, and he was busy on it when I left. I went on the first one, took about 15 minutes, and when I came back he was ok. So I cleaned up what he had done in the meantime, stayed for a bit and left for the second. This one took about 25 minutes. When I got back he was screaming at the top of his lungs, I heard him when I walked to the elevator, and the building is 5 stories high. I was going out again, but now I think I need to wait a while.

okiron · March 2008

Hahahaha poor Kuma. Hope none of the neighbors thought something fishy was going on.

Whenever I give my cat Kayden a bath I always expect to have the police banging down my door because he meows this eerie way of sounding like a child screaming "nooooo" in a twisted, I've been crying for hours straight already and I'm tired way.

Leonberger · March 2008

After all of that, I stayed in the study with him for a bit and then decided to isolate myself in the living room, leaving him in the entrance and study. He cried for a bout a minute, softly, and the decided to go sleep. We spent about an hour like this. Then I went out for that last errand, took me about half an hour, and I left my camera recording the sounds. He started crying about a minute after I left, but not high, cried for about 2 minutes and then stopped. I could hear him drinking and what seems like licking the paste out of the Kong. I've been keeping him in the entrance and myself in the living room, and he's pretty much ok, he'll whine bit every now and then. One thing i that he does is lose his aim when peeing, normally he already does it at the edge of the newspaper (half in, half out) when he's alone, peeing in the "general newspaper area" seems to be enough for him. Poop he still does on the right place.

Leonberger · April 2008

I've been looking at wire crates, I found an online shop around here that has them slightly cheaper than the physical ones (still an arm and a leg). I was thinking of the measurements, since I think it'll make sense to buy one that fits Kuma when fully grown. So...Brad what's the size of Hilo's crate?

Leaving home?

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