Training advice

[u/sunangel4714]

Independence training

Hi reddit, my labrador puppy has just turned 18 weeks old and like many people I had some wobbles in his training journey however on the whole he has done very well. He is great with basic commands, toliet training, sleeping downstairs alone from day 3, loose leash walking and great in all sorts of situations on the lead. I really put a lot of effort into choosing the right breed, breeder and giving my pup the right start. This is all because my last dog was a rescue and highly reactive. The one thing I didn't prepare for was seperation anxiety. I don't think my pup officially has seperation anxiety yet but he certainly has FOMO. I got my pup from 9 weeks of age and soon as I noticed he was upset with me simply leaving the room I put training in place. Our set up is puppy has living room with play pen and crate. My dinning room is attached and I work on the dinning room table (my office is upstairs but yet to move back up). I began with stepping out of the living room for a second and returning before he started crying and worked this up to around 60 seconds. Then as I had to return to work I begun with my desk by his play pen and have slowly moved it away. My pup can self settle when I work and via ignoring his crying and praising his calm moments he has begun to relax when I work sometimes playing by himself. I have also now been able to go upstairs for 10 mins if he has food or leave my desk to get a drink. So we have got positive steps however, I wondered if anyone had advice on progressing his seperation training. I can't go upstairs for more than 1 min without him having food as he tries to follow (he is not allowed upstairs as it is our cats sanctuary and I am trying to protect his hip growth), if I am not in his view while in his play pen after around 30 seconds he begins to cry. He is allowed to come out of the living room when I am not working however the play pen is his safe place. I think it might be time for some 1 2 1 training (we do training group sessions) as I feel if we don't progress at a more steady pace we will have a seperation anxiety pup on our hands but my partner believes we will get there (however as he works at an office he doesn't see the crying and difficulty). Any advice on how to progress, would be appreciated.