Separation Anxiety

Anyone have any tips/ideas on how to combat Separation Anxiety with my dog...i remember reading things years ago about good ways in which to help it but I can't remember any now that I actualy need too....any help would be great!

 

more info

i need more info. details....

 

There are alot of things you can do .leave something of yours with it so it can feel you are stll there .Also you can leave a radio or tv playing ,feels it has people around .any things .I am sure somehere has a link to a website that will help .

 

Do a search on Google (or your favorite search engine) for "dog separation anxiety" and you will get a ton of info. This article looks pretty good: http://www.hsus.org/ace/15891?pg=1

There are others on the board who have dealt with this - hang in there and perhaps someone will post!


Jamiya

 

Here's what I did for Harley. Please remember, results are not immediate. It took 4 months of work before we saw improvement.

This may be a long post, sorry.

First, a Nothing in Life is free program. This increases your dogs confidence. Huge in combating SA.
Your pooch must perform a task before he gets something. Food, pet, walks, anything he wants, he first has to sit, lay, shake paw, etc.
He will more than likely refuse any of this for the first 3 or 4 days, don't give in as he will turn around once he realizes he isn't getting his way.

Secondly, change up your routine. Most likely your dog starts to get anxiety BEFORE youleave because he recognises your routine. Switch things up. If you're sitting on the couch watching tv, go to your closet and take out your coat, put it on, and sit back down on the couch. Go through the house checking lights, getting keys, then sit in the kitchen and read the newspaper. Little things like this don't allow your dog to know when you are about to leave, giving him less time to worry about you going.

Thirdly, use a weekend to increase the duration he is alone for. The key is to re-enter the house BEFORE he starts to become overly anxious. Start with 2 minutes, stand outside where he can't see you from a window, and then re-enter after 2 minutes, continue to do this. If you notice, that even 2 mins. is too long, start with one minute. Eventually work your way up to 5 10, 15, 30 , 45 etc. mins. This may take some time. If he gets to say 30 mins. and starts to cry, decrease time by 5-10 mins. ect.

Also, what kind of dog do you have and do you live in a house? Some dogs are just overwhelmed by the large space they feel they have to "protect" when their people aren't home, so they get nervous having such a large space to themselves. This was one of the problems with my dog. Too much roaming room, she felt too overwhelmed with such a big responsibility. Maybe try leaving your dog confined to one room (make it a room you regualrily are in) or a smaller part of the house. Use baby gates to close off some exits.

When you enter and leave your house, DO NOT make a huge deal of it. When youcome in the house and fall all over your dog and get too excited, that is all your dog focuses on all day, and becomes anxious waiting for his big greeting. Instead, when you leave, don't go bursurk ove him. I always say bye to Harley, tell her to be good and "watch the house".
When I return, I ignore her for 5 minutes while I do my own thing, THEN I can give kisses and I tell her "Thanks for watching the house". These 2 phrases help reassure her. While telling her to watch the house when I leave triggers to her that I will thank her for watching the house when i get home, so she knows I will be coming back to thank her and not leaving for good. Sound corny, but I swear it helps.

Also, excercise is key. Each mornign I make sure Harley gets enough excercise where she is panting when she comes back in. (usually about 40 minutes). This tires her out so she is less focused on my leaving.

And lastly, I give her a treasure hunt every morning on my way out. I make sure all my stuff is ready at the door so that as soon as she goes for her hunt, I am out the door. Each night, I put about 1/4 cup of kibble in her kong and cover the hole with peanut butter and put it in the freezer. Then in the morning I put Harley in room and take out her kong, along with 2 natural cookies ( I opt for natural because she eats 2 a day, and a cookie to a dog is like a snickers bar for us). Anyways, I brake the cookies into small pieces and hide them and the kong all around the basement. (That's her place, she has her bed, indestructatoys, along with one piece of my laundry, and a chair.

When I let Harley out of the room for her hunt, she could care less that I am leaving, and helps her transition into my not beign there.

Sorry for such a long post, but these are all the things that need to be done on a daily basis to combat SA in your pup.

Good luck and let us know how things go.

 

I made a copy of that post for my own reference, Bullylove. That way if I ever need it, I will have it on hand.


Jamiya

 

oh my goodness do i need this information bad. Sebastain is horriable if i walk in my room and even put my bra on he has a fit jumping up, barking crying. when i try to get dressed in the morning he it tugging at my pants legs its a fight just to get dressed. if my feet get cold and i get a pair of socks oh heaven forbid cuz i cant sit down and put them on with out a fight. And when i grab my pruse the s**** hits the fan he can jump all the way up to my sholder and that high pitched bark my gosh. I cant even touch my purse with out him having a fit.

thanks for the info i will be reading it and trying everything cuz this needs to stop when my mom comes to live here she cant stand his high pitch barking.

Lets hope i can train him in less then 30 days :roll:

Rene

 

Good luck Rene.
Just remember to be consistent. Make sure you intervene and praise BEFORE he can get the chance to cry or whine.

Keep us posted with how things go.

 

I see this subject is a concern for a lot of us! I also have my hands full with my dog Rusty and separation anxiety. I think part of it is because of his breed (JRT and Mini Dachshund), and partly becuase of some of his background issues. When we found him, he was a pretty anxious little guy about a lot of things--- most of which manifested themselves in the act of chewing, and trying to eat his way out of the door he last saw me leave through!
I think Bullylove1 gave some really great advice, I can especially vouch for the part about the whole house being too overwhelming. In Rusty's case, he is a very little dog, and something about having the whole house to himself is too anxiety enducing. We found that if we put all of his necessary things (water bowl, food, favorite toys, basket, and some article of clothing that has our smell to it) along with him in the bathroom, he settles down fairly quickly, and does much better. My hope is that we can soon start to work him up to a bigger room a little at a time. Unfortunately the one time I felt sorry for him and left him alone in the house for a few hours, he pretty much shredded the new carpeting all about the front door. ](*,)
So...... for now, it's the bathroom. He really does seem to do okay with that, he is always quiet when I come home, and fairly accepting of being put in there before I go. I've started to do the thing of leaving for a very short time, then returning.... so far I don't get much farther than closing the door.... But, with time......
People tell me my problem is I spoil him too much, and have made too much of a big baby out of him. I just think he has been abandoned and afraid for reasons I won't ever know, so I don't think all of the attention I give him counts as spoiling :lol:

 

i have a 6 month old and she howls almost the whole time we're gone when we leave the house.....we very rarely leave her alone so i guess after being with us all these months she just can't handle not having someone around

 

I took in a Rescued APBT not long ago (we really didn't have the proper time to devote but the dog would have gone to a kill shelter and because of her separation anxiety would have been put down after people kept bringing her back) Anyway we took in the dog and she was malnourished and had terrible separation anxiety. She would fight her crate all day and pee from the excitement... She would fight so bad the crate moved several feet if we didn't attach it to something. Every day she was covered in her pee and had beaten herself against the kennel you could see the red marks on her head etc... She was and still is the sweetest dog I've met and only wanted to be on the lap of SOMEONE who loved her all day... So we decided that the situation was rather dire and she needed to have something done to help combat the situation or she'd really hurt herself. Since we weren't able to find a behaviorist and didn't have the time to do the re-training it required we chose to go the route of medication. We put her on Amytriptoline (sp?) and she began to improve. By the time she'd been on it for 3 months she no longer peed, barked and whined and she didn't move her crate around. She was almost as comfortable as the other dogs in the house.

We began weening her off of the meds and successfully she did well off of the medication. At that point we decided she was ready for a new home. She now lives in Colorado with the mother of the Boerboel breeder I got my dogs from... She's in heaven and loves it. In much better shape than I ever thought she could be in and she's happy.

hang in there and if you speak to your vet you may get some other advice on separation anxiety and things you could do to remedy those situations.

 

well sebastain is now having fits even when my son leaves. He is fine once we get out the door he stops and goes to the window where he watchs us get into the car but he does stop throwing a fit once we are out the door. He is not left alone since i have Jasmine and 2 cats so i think he just wants to be a pain when we are leaving. I hope he will stop this sometime soon. him and Jasmine know when my car pulls up also i get out and go check the mail and i can hear them barking waiting for me and of course they get lots of love when i get in

but i'm still using all this good advice.

thanks
Rene

 

Rene,

Sound like you're doing pretty good to me. My moms Lab has never suffered from SA, but as soon as he hears a car pull up he is all barks. Just loves the sound of his own voice I think.