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My puppy has separation anxiety. How do I stop his crate whining?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Pug | Male | unneutered | 2 months and 15 days old | 5 lbs

My pug puppy wont stop whining in his kennel or when he is alone, he is fine in the crate until you close the door and his crate is the proper size with lots of toys and a nice bed, he follows me everywhere in the house and I'm worried he has seperation anxiety, the only way he sleeps in his kennel is if it's in my room and my hand is through the bar at night and even then he whines every 15 min and I have to assure him he's not alone by touching him, I dont know what to do nothing is working

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Makenzie Kurth, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on November 9th, 2018

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This is a tough part of puppyhood! In general the advice goes to ignore the crying entirely and only pet, talk to, or let Vito out when he is quiet. Otherwise he learns “Hey! Crying gets me attention and out of this crate!” Patience and dedication over several days or weeks with this method usually does the trick. I’ve attached a good handout in the link below with other things you may not have considered about crate training. Hope this helps and best of luck to you and Vito! 

vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/local_resources/pdfs/behavior_pdfs/Crate_Training_Your_Puppy.pdf

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