My pit bull cries for 5 minutes when I leave for work. Is he ok?

Question

I just adopted a 2 year old american staffy / boxer mix 5 days ago. He's been an absolute angel so far!

I'm out of the house for 9 hours on week days since I have to work. He cries for about 5 minutes after I leave, then he's quiet. He hasn't caused any trouble yet. We walk 2 miles in 1 hour 2x a day. I plan to set up a laptop tomorrow so I can video chat him mid-day and check on him as needed.

When I am home, we'll do our walk and play a bit inside afterwards, then he's content to just sleep.

Is he going to be ok? I know he's well behaved when I'm gone (no destruction / barking), which is a good sign. I just worry that over time it will have a negative affect on him, that despite the good behaviour he's actually really upset that I'm not around.

Answer 1

Dogs are prone to separation anxiety - they 'bond' with their owner, and feel distressed when there's something missing. To some degree, this is present in all dogs.

A dog misses you and may have learned that if they 'cry' when you leave, you'll come back. This can build a pattern of behaviour cry->reward and you can inadvertently reinforce this if you're not careful, and that can make it worse.

5 minutes of crying doesn't sound much, so I daresay your dog is not too bothered by it. Signs of destructive behaviour are big warning signs of the problem.

So from the above link:

• practice 'leaving' for very short periods, and coming back again. You may well be able to desensitise your dog to 'you going away'.

• Don't make a fuss of leaving - just go, don't come back.

• Offer positive things for them to do when you go, so they don't notice you leaving. We had a lot of success initially with a kong, which we filled with pate/biscuits and then froze. It takes a fair bit of time and licking to dismantle, by which time they've forgotten your departure.

• feed and exercise your dog before departure, so they're tired and content, and more likely to just sleep.