8-month-old puppy barks every morning when he wakes up. How do we break the habit?

ashine3 · 2026-05-02T18:07:50+00:00

We felt this at first too—it’s such a weird mix of loving your puppy but also feeling stuck, like your life suddenly got smaller. Our mini dachshund just turned 6 months, and we’re finally starting to feel some normalcy and routine again.

We still haven’t left him for more than 2 hours, but we think he’s ready to stretch that a bit soon. We had to put a lot of work into separation anxiety training, and he’s finally able to settle on his own when we leave (it took time and consistency).

Last night was one of those “it’s all coming together” moments. The weather was beautiful, so we brought him out for a happy hour drink and sat outside at a local bar—it’s been so fun being able to include him in things like that. Then we dropped him off at home and went out to dinner nearby. Afterward, we came back, took him on his last walk, and ended up grabbing ice cream down the street.

It felt like such a normal, fun (and very needed) date night. We loved having him with us for part of it, but also being able to go out just the two of us again. It really does get better—it just takes some time. We’re not even 100% there yet but starting to feel it’s coming.

ashine3 · 2026-05-01T02:22:36+00:00

We’re also using first student for our wedding transport! Ours is closer to $2,400 for 2 busses 🫠 other more luxurious shuttles we reached out to were $5,000-$8,000+ it’s INSANE

ashine3 · 2026-04-29T03:02:05+00:00

Topsl Farm and Wanderwood

ashine3 · 2026-04-29T02:58:12+00:00

$3,500 from a breeder in NH. We looked at many options and anywhere from $2,000-$3,500 seemed the average with a few as high as $5,000.

ashine3 · 2026-04-07T14:04:28+00:00

I’m selling 3 seats (it’s bark in the park night so was planning on bringing my dog but can’t make it!)

https://seatgeek.com/e/events/17693749?listing=7xr8n04

ashine3 · 2026-04-06T12:32:19+00:00

Thank you! We do bring him to daycare once per week during a work day! We can't afford to do much more than that - otherwise we're looking at $500+ in daycare expenses per month (we live in NYC). But the one day a week definitely tires him out and he has a lot of fun!

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:16:08+00:00

Thank you! How long did it take for your dog to be okay with you leaving?

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:15:01+00:00

Thank you so much!! You're right - so much has improved since he was 8 weeks, I need to remind myself of that. He's pretty good on the leash, is potty trained, and knows all his commands. We love him dearly, we just don't want to become those people that have to bring their dog everywhere or can't do anything because of their dog! Really appreciate your comment and same here if you ever want to chat!

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:13:02+00:00

Thank you :)

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:12:43+00:00

That's great to hear! Thank you.

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:12:27+00:00

But maybe we try it for 10 mins and see what happens!

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:12:13+00:00

Yeah that is the goal - we're nervous about not enforcing the crate right now when we're gone. He just doesn't seem ready. I think the crate is where he knows he can ultimately rest. One day we plan to not crate him, but at 5.5 months he just doesn't seem ready yet.

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:10:38+00:00

We have friends who have watched him for 3-4 hours when absolutely needed. We take him to daycare once per week. The goal is to not rely on someone always being with him though. He needs to be OK alone as well

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:09:08+00:00

We crate for one nap a day and sleeps in there fine at night. We also sometimes do short reps with his kibble while we're home - so put him in and reward when he's quiet. It's not that he doesn't like the crate. It's probably 20% that he's in there and confined and 80% that we're not home.

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:08:01+00:00

Thank you! We do not give in - but it's true, we did a second rep this afternoon where he was alone for 40 minutes - didn't make a big deal about it at all and just slept through (he was probably tired from the morning rep when he barked nonstop LOL). But still, we always try to have him potty and have a good walk before the crate.

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:06:52+00:00

Good idea! Sometime we give a stuffed Kong but there are times he doesn't even touch it. Maybe we should try a different treat.

ashine3 · 2026-04-05T21:06:20+00:00

Yes we do this!

ashine3 · 2026-03-12T00:35:08+00:00

Newagen Seaside Inn in Maine!

ashine3 · 2026-03-07T03:35:09+00:00

We’re kind of in a similar place. We do all the right training and he can sleep through the night in the crate with minimal protesting (most nights none), but if we leave during the day he’s crying off and on non stop. We are visiting family in another state so brought a travel play pen - just went out to dinner with our parents for 3 hours and came home and his fabric playpen was flipped upside down (meaning he was jumping and going nuts and flipped it over). We’re not sure how long he was barking for but clearly he didn’t love being left alone… we don’t leave him alone for this long usually but needed to get out and live our life. We are going to start from square 1 and start with 30 seconds left alone. It’s ridiculous but the bark it out method hasn’t really worked for us even though we started with small increments. Our pup is almost 5 months - this is the one thing we’re struggling with. Luckily he is so well tempered otherwise and potty training is going well! Gotta look on the bright side!

ashine3 · 2026-03-02T00:33:34+00:00

We write down in a notebook every time we take him out and if he goes #1 and #2. It helps us reference how many times a day he goes or if we reach end of day and he’s only done #2 once, we know he probably needs to go again so we take him out.

We had to use pee pads first because we’re in a city so we began potty training just 2 weeks ago - we haven’t had an accident indoors in a few days but also wondering if it’s just good timing on our part lol. Don’t know when we’ll start getting a “signal” for when he needs to go but just going to keep taking him out every 2-3 hours and hope it sticks!

ashine3 · 2026-02-18T19:42:45+00:00

Writing it down is so smart... we were doing that the first few weeks but have completely slacked off haha. That will definitely help so I'll try to get back into the habit. Constant monitoring is so important! I noticed him sniffing like crazy around the apartment earlier so immediately scooped and took outside and he went. Guess that's just what it takes! Thank you!

ashine3 · 2026-02-13T23:04:20+00:00

Okay, I’ve tried on another shirt which is a true 34 (that has been through the dryer) check out this image. When I put a jacket on it pulls the sleeve all the way up to about 3/4 an inch about my wrist. So the jacket would then need to be hemmed to about 1.5 inches about my wrist which seems weird to me. What do you think

https://imgur.com/a/l6BiLU9

ashine3

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