We have adopted a 10 year old Lab (Charlie) who has not be neutered. We have had him for 3 months now and although he hasnt been trained previously and is little bit disobedient we hav not had many major problems with him. until This weekend that is!
On Sat i took him out as usual to our local park where we met a little 6 month old spaniel who charlie gets on really well with and enjoys playing with. Her owner informed me she was in season and was just finishing. We didnt see any real problems with them playing as Charlie cant catch her when they play and we supervised to make sure!
When we got home Charlie started howling for about 45 mins which i thought was just becasuse he has been playing with her.
This continued through the night so in the end we moved his bed upstairs int our room which stopped him but he then spent the rest of the night trying to get into bed with us!! (which has never been allowed!)
and then speaking to our next door neighbour she informed me that Charlie howls and whines when i leave for work each morning or when myself and my husband go out in an evening occasionally.
I can understand this part as he was in kennels and is still new to our house.
HOWEVER last night he howled again at 2am and then again this morning at 6am - in the end i had to come downstairs and sleep on the sofa to stop the noise!
We have tried leaving the tv on when we go out and a night light on / off but this does not help according to the neighbours!!
HELP PLEASE!!!!

Have u tryed him wiv a kong???? thats brilliant for keeping dogs occupied wile u are out, just fill it wiv something tasty like peanut butter or even meat from petshop ( but its expensive ) maybe try mincing some beef mince up till its soft and goowy and fill it wiv that, it should keep him quiet for a bit of time....then hopfully afta trying to get that out he maywell have a nap for abit.

try finding simalar toys to occupy him...something that would knacker him out for awile aswell

you could even go out for a short space of time, say for 10 mins...even if u have to wait outside to see if he crys or not.

try doing this a few times in the day and give him a treat wen you return and give him lots of praise, he will then see that you going out is a good thing becoz he gets something wen u get back .

Thanks - i will try the treat thingy when we get home and see if that works. Not sure if it will work with howling in the night when we are in bed though! He might think he is getting a treat for howling! LOL
He unfortuntly doesnt play with toys so thats a non starter. I did try distracting him last night with a bone with meat in the middle which kept him occupied but obviously after he went to sleep and woke up at 6am he didnt want anymore of it and howled instead.
Bless him. We have been thinking about getting another dog to keep him company but i worry if it doesnt help i will end up with two howling dogs in the middle of the night! AARRGGHHHH

only give him a treat wen hes quiet

thats wat i did wiv one of my females...i went out the front out of site a few times in the day for 10 mins on purpose to see if she cryed...wen she didnt cry i returned wiv a treat, not all the time but 50/50 times....it did work for my dog.

maybe someone can suggest anotha tactic im just going by wat worked with my girl hehe,,,,lets face it, not all dogs are the same lol.

2 howling dogs .... deffo AHhHhHH LOL

I can't give you any advice I'm afraid but I just had to post.

I was putting myself in your dogs shoes/paws. He was in the park with his friend who will still have the scent, he's thought its his lucky day and had his courtship but missed out on his honeymoon. Poor little beggar I'd be hollering too.

It probably hasn't anything to do with his friend. I would take him for a walk before bedtime ensuring he is definitely tired and give him something to chew. If he isn't used to a light being left on I wouldn't leave a light on.

If he starts to howl I would go to him and be very firm, he would see by my whole body language his behaviour is not acceptable. I would let him out just to make sure he doesn't need to toilet, bring him back in to his bed and lay down.

Then change your tone and body language and comfort him, once he seems settled go to bed.

If it continues I would have my dog checked by the vet just in case there is a medical problem, which is causing discomfort or a reason for him howling.

Sue

Thanks for the advice guys!
The howling at night has now stopped thank god! With the help of a kong and a small night light being left on.
A stairgate is now in situ so we dont have any hairy invaders other than the cats during the night and we are now looking for a friend for Charlie so he doesnt feel so anxious in the day time.
We have started leaving the tele on during the day and when we return he is calmer but he does still howl at times during the day according to the neighbours so i think i friend might help!
He is also enjoying some training classes once a week and although pretends he deosnt know what to do he slipped up in the park the other night when a fellow dog walker called "what's this?" to her dog and Charlie went running over and sat as good as gold! Funny that he doesnt do that when we try! Little monkey - but hey he's 10 and had a terrible trauma of being rehomed so will let him off - for now!