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I have a question concerning a puppy Longhaired Dachsund we just brought to our home about two days ago. She is 8 weeks old. She seems to have a sort of seperation anxiety. She has to be constantly near our feet or in our arms, otherwise she has a barking & crying fit. She seems very stressed when we are not around. When she is in her crate for the night she constantly barks all night long with very small breaks of about 5 minutes. She definately gets nervous if we try to leave the room even for a minute and will bark as soon as we are gone. I have just this afternoon got her to sleep in her crate without us using a shirt it wore the other day. But I don't see this helping when she is awake.

Is there some way we can teach her to have more confidence about being alone?
Is there something could posssibly be doing wrong?

I don't think this a case of seperation anxiety not yet anyway. Remember this is an 8 week old puppy that has been taken from the only world it knew for 8 weeks and is now in strange new surroundings. The pup will want to be with you as a sense of security. Where do you keep the crate at night? It should be in the bedroom with you. One thing you could try doing is to put a hot water bottle wrapped in your shirt or even the old style ticking alarm clock to simulate her mother's heartbeat.

During the day is the pup crated or is it roaming around to get used to it's surroundings? If someone is home during the they should... several times a day play with the pup and spend a few minutes holding her and petting her. Please post back with any other information...things will get better in time it has only been two days.
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BOB
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

We keep her crate in the kitchen because it's the central part of the house where we spend alot of time in and walking thru. We also keep the crate in there at night as well. Tonight we thought of doing the same thing but this time, leaving the crate door open so she doesn't feel so "locked in". Is that extremely wrong for us to do? Should the crate door always be shut at night?
PS. On the first night when she was crying for a long period of time we brought the crate into our bedroom but the crying continued just as bad as it was when she was crated in the kitchen.
Any advice is very much appreciated! We are very new at this!

We have two Dach's. Our first we got when he was 4 weeks old, YES 4 weeks. He is now 5 yrs old. The second we got several months ago and she is 5 also. Anyway we keep both crates in our family room were we spend most of the time. During the day if we are not home we lock them in their crates. When we are home the doors are wide open and they often nap in them. Each crate has a huge pillow and several blankets. Both will borrow into the blankets when napping. They like to be warm.

>>I have a question concerning a puppy Longhaired Dachsund we just brought to our home about two days ago. She is 8 weeks old. She seems to have a sort of seperation anxiety. She has to be constantly near our feet or in our arms, otherwise she has a barking & crying fit. She seems very stressed when we are not around. When she is in her crate for the night she constantly barks all night long with very small breaks of about 5 minutes. She definately gets nervous if we try to leave the room even for a minute and will bark as soon as we are gone. I have just this afternoon got her to sleep in her crate without us using a shirt it wore the other day. But I don't see this helping when she is awake.
>>
>>Is there some way we can teach her to have more confidence about being alone?
>>Is there something could posssibly be doing wrong?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Getting used to the crate and getting used to being alone are two different tasks for a puppy, both big tasks. Putting the crate in your bedroom (yes, the first night is probably going to be noisy, it takes longer than that) lets her get used to the crate without having to be alone at the same time.

It's important not to go to the puppy when she is making noise. Everytime you do that, you extend how long it will take her to accept being alone and learn to relax and be calm about it. Stressing out is bad for her, and it will get worse if she doesn't get the right help. The right help is to take care of her needs before leaving her alone, and then do not go to her until she is quiet.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com