We used a DAP diffuser for a month around Halloween and Bonfire Night.... I can honestly say it made a huge difference... the boys were much calmer and laid back.

In fact, I can tell it's not on anymore, cos this morning Murphy was chasing his tail, crashed into the sofa, then the fireplace, then the dining table.... and this was at 7am

OK, can you (probably at a weekend) act like you are leaving the house as normal and then hide/stay in the car to hear him howling?

Does he get excited/act differently when you do your 'going to work' routine? E.g. putting shoes/coat on, picking up handbag etc?

As soon as I pick up my handbag, with my work coat on, M&M run to their bed and sit and wait for their Kongs. Once they have them, they couldn't care less that I've walked out the door!!

I'd definitely do the leaving him for short periods of time, so he learns to realise that it's no biggie if you're gone. You can also try the putting on of coat/shoes etc and then not going anywhere, so he doesn't learn to associate the actions with you leaving.

Excellent advice in the last para.

The bold is exactly what Woody does. The last thing I do in my ''getting ready for work routine'' is hut the bathroom window. As soon as I do that he charges downstairs ansd waits by the back door. I let him out for a wee and he comes racing back in and jumps on his bed waiting for his kong.

We've also found he is much better when he can have free run of the house as he just sleeps on our bed (familiar smells etc) until I come home in the afternoon.

Whats in his treat ball? Maybe you should try some liver or something super good (high value) at the bottom so he can smell it but its harder or more work to get to it?

Just a thought, hope you find something to get your boy settled.

Firstly apologies to all who offered advice and that it's taken me so long to reply.


He's back to the kitchen as he started chewing stuff in the lounge and theres no way i trust him in there now with my Xmas tree up!! Will definitely look at DAP though.

We've started leaving radio 4 on again and will see how that goes and I also plan on getting a tape recorder just so i can see for myself what sort of noise it is.

I'd love to get another dog but i just don't feel like we have the room for two dogs in our house!! This would be my dream solution though especially as Monty's breeder is having another litter next year!

Thanks for the advice and nice to see that the DAP thing worked for the boys. Think this is my next point of call if the radio thing doesn;t work.

He normally has a couple of biscuits in there and a chew stick thing chopped up but maybe some higher value treats might be worth a go!

Claire we have two dogs. When OH goes to town and I am home Bara will go down to the gate and howl. OH and Bara are a close bonded human / dog pair and I think she's howling to tell OH to come back to the pack (She's also quite a dominant dog)

Our other dog (Rianna) never howls and Bara's behaviour didn't alter after we got her.

So you are right it is a form of communication but I think it's because the pack has broken up. I think the OP can be immensely proud that she has bonded with her dog and personly I would not worry too much if the neighbours are OK with it.

Some of the suggestions might work, but the basic reason is that the dog wants his owner back with him one of the nicer aspects of dog ownership don't you think

As you'll see from my reply to Claire above, getting another dog might be an excellant idea for all sorts of reasons but it won't necessarily stop him howling, he misses you, you are the only one who can stop him howling. We got our second dog specifically togive Bara some company and someone to play with - it didn't work, Bara rarely plays with her in fact she plays with me more than her

In the human world we have all sorts of singers who make all sorts of records about missing their loved ones (And some make lots of money from it too) that is all Monty is doing

He is a bit of a mummy's boy! I'm probably too soft with him really and that's why he is such a softy and can't cope without me being there.

He also has a lot of distruption in his life at the moment with my OH only being home at weekends but I'm hoping he'll get better as he gets more used to it.

I'm quite interested in trying this DAP thing but is this something that should only be used as a temporary measure or do people use them all the time when they go out?

I was wondering the same about the DAP - whether you can use it all the time or for temp measures as we got one for around bonfire night and it really made a difference in the month that it's been plugged in to Tilly - It was plugged in near her bed & she was very chilled. Now it's run out she's more "alert" when you walk past her in her bed a night, so I think it does work & am thinking of getting a refill.

I think the DAP is worth a try - you could get the spray version & use it just before you go out maybe.

I don't know why but for some reason I find the idea of DAP a bit odd or maybe worrying. It almost seems like doping your dog into an unnatural state and I can't quite get my head round it. I may be completely wrong on this as I haven't done much research on it.

I also don't want to become reliant on it if it should only be used as a temporary measure.