[Janey]

Hey!
I have a 5 month old German Shepherd x Kelpie puppy, she's a great dog, house trained and all.

I just worry because when my mum and I need to put her into a safe room while we leave the house, or when we want to put her outside in the garden she doesn't trust us. When we're outside for example, as soon as we head towards the back door she will run inside before we can get there so we don't leave her alone outside. (She has plenty of space to run in our backyard, and lots of toys and an area she is allowed to dig)
My mum and I don't have time in the morning to wait for her outside while she does her business and we'd love for her to go out on her own while we stay indoors. Likewise, if we're about to run errands it takes a decent amount of time to get her into the kitchen while we run away and close the doors behind us - She's also starting to get too heavy for us to lift her.

Are there any tips to get her to trust us, or to not fear being alone?

I've also noticed she won't eat when we give her dinner, I'm not sure if its because she's not particularly hungry (we feed her the recommended amounts for her size/age) and sometimes she will take a small amount of food and bring it into the lounge room where we are sat to eat.
My previous dogs would sit, wait, and eat on command - but she's not at all interested.


Any advice would be great, I would also love to introduce her to a crate soon.

 

[mathilda]

Schäfis are often pretty velcro dogs to begin with and yours is still a puppy... she probably just wants to be with you.
she still has to learn that you come back when you go away.
being alone has to be trained like every other trick or skill.

I'd just randomly close doors in the home for a few minutes every day until she learns that it is okay and you're still around even of she can't see you. then stretch times and go for short periods of time outside the house.