I have an 18-week-old Golden Retriever/Labrador Retriever mix who has been with me for about five weeks. She's a very sweet dog, but I'm struggling to get work done. I fortunately don't have the "puppy blues" and don't regret bringing her home as I think I had fairly realistic expectations, but I didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to focus on my job.
I've been basically alternating two hours in the crate for forced naps and two hours out, and while working I usually have her next to me in a pen right next to my desk. She has developed a bad habit of barking for attention or jumping up on the sides of the pen, and I haven't found an effective solution for this yet. She loses interest in her toys very quickly, meals from a snuffle mat buy me 15 minutes at most, she is more likely to try to tear a lick mat to shreds than actually lick it for a while, and she's had digestive issues (recently started on prescription food) so I'm hesitant to give her collagen sticks or anything that I know will hold her attention for a while.
My original goal was to not use the pen at all and just have her with me in the office with the door closed, but that quickly became a no-go because she will immediately start chewing on wires, licking my computer, or driving me crazy by playing with the door stop. If I give her a piece of kibble every 30 seconds or so, she is content to lie next to my chair, but that is not sustainable. I do that often to reward calmness, but that goes out the window as soon as the food stops.
Is there anything else I can try? I really don't want to have to dramatically increase her time in the crate. Ideally, there would be something I can do to train her to be content just hanging around me for a while, but I'm open to different distractions as well. If not, is there any hope of her showing significant improvement with this over the next couple of months?
I often find myself lamenting that she can't understand English -- I wish she could understand how much more she'd enjoy just being around me with toys, treats, attention, etc. than being in her crate, but I know that's obviously not realistic.