r/Shihpoo

My partner and I took the plunge of getting a 5 month old shih poo puppy Friday. We thought we had researched what we could and prepped what we could but missed that small toy dogs tend to have a lot of separation anxiety in their puppy phases.

We are home on weekends and I work remote Monday Friday. We both are at work Tuesday Wednesday Thursday. We both went to work first time today leaving him alone for more of an extended period with yesterday just a half day. My partner came back twice throughout the day to check on him. He was whining when we left. Unsure how long. Partner said it seemed like he had stopped and then restarted up when the dog heard my partner come up the stairs. We keep him in a nice play pen right now with quite a bit of space, toys, open crate, and pee pad. He sleeps there too. He whined for like 3 minutes last night in there before quieting down.

Question, will the whining get better if we stay consistent with having some sort of play pen alone time each day? Is it anxiety or maybe moreso just him mad he’s alone? For those three days we work, will it be sufficient maybe just to come by once at lunch moving forward?

Also if I could hear any success stories of couples navigating puppy shipoos that would be awesome.

So we’re thinking of getting a pup (would be my first dog!) My mum has a Shih Tzu who I absolutely adore to pieces but as he’s gotten older I can see a lot of health problems creeping in which breaks my heart as he’s such a sweetheart- we were thinking perhaps a Shih poo could be a slightly healthier alternative in the long run? What are people’s thoughts on this as I’m struggling to find real answers online- pet health can get people feeling very touchy because of course we all love our own pets! Thanks!

Good evening everyone ☺️. I have a 1 year old girl shih poo. She recently started barking at night. Last week she acted spooked by something and spent the whole entire night barking (poor baby). Then this week she barked for a bit 2 nights ago, I took her out and she didn't go potty. So, I put her back to bed and she barked for about 5 minutes then went to sleep. Last night she started barking, so I did the same thing and took her out then put her back to bed. She barked for probably 10ish minutes and eventually soothed herself enough to go to sleep. For reference she hasn't really ever had to much of a problem with bed time and bedtime routine. Occasionally she would bark but it wasn't horrible. We've gotten into a rhythm with bedtime, and haven't had any problems until last week. My question is, if anyone has experienced this with there pups at all? If so, what did you do to fix/help the situation from occurring again? We give her 2mg melatonin every night as well. Bumped it up to 2.5, which knocked her out😄. Last night I didn't give her the half and she barked, so when I put her back to bed I gave her it. I know coming to her aid when she's barking doesn't help because they need to learn how to self soothe as well. Any suggestions or tips very much welcome🙂