Separation Anxiety?

Question

I hope my spelling is right. The question I am hoping someone can answer for me is. How can you cure your dog from separation anxiety. I would like to not have my dog left in her kennel all the time. I know that is not bad to have them in a kennel but, I would like to be able to let her out when we are not home. The last time we did she was good for 2 weeks but, then she destroyed are coach. She is 1 1/2 old. What can I do?

Answer 1

Program to Reduce Separation Anxiety

The following stages should be undertaken when you have some time to
spend at home, such as on a weekend.

Stages

* Stage 1 - Introduce mental separation. Completely ignore the dog
for a period of 30 minutes while in the same room. Ignoring means: do
not touch, look at, or speak to the dog.

* Stage 2 - Introduce physical separation. Restrict the dog's access to
you. This could be done with the use of a tether which the dog cannot
chew through. Combine with mental separation.

* Stage 3 - Increase the distance of the physical separation. The dog
is tethered further from you, but still within sight. Combine with mental
separation.

* Stage 4 - Cut off dog's visual contact with you within the same room.
He cannot see you, but he can smell you and hear you.

* Stage 5 - Move dog into another room while you are still home. Dog
can still hear you and smell you. You might also place a recently worn
article of clothing along the bottom of the door.

What To Do in the Meantime

* Restrict dog to a room or place where he can do minimal damage.
(Be sure there are no electrical cords within reach.)

* If your dog is toy oriented, classify the dog's toys into "A" and "B"
groups. "A" toys are those that are irresistible, and the "B" toys are
those that he likes but are less exciting. When you leave him, give him
several "B" toys. These will help keep him occupied without over
stimulating him.

* Exercise your dog well in advance of your departure. If he is tired,
he may sleep while you are gone (also see the “Tracking Game” below).

* Feed him a small meal about 45 minutes to an hour before leaving.

* IGNORE your dog for the 30 minutes before you leave home, and do
not say good- bye.

* When you return, ignore your dog for the first ten minutes. If you
cannot bring yourself to totally ignore him, at least keep your greeting
very low key.

Answer 2

I believe that separation anxiety is distress caused by both of the said factors. Dogs are pack animals and were bred to be dependent upon humans - therefore being alone, and not having their owner, would be a double "whammy" against what they were bred to love the most. Two of the most important things in their lives are gone - why wouldn't they be distressed to some extent? As per destroying property - I would say the dog was simply bored. In most cases, irregardless of age, I would say the dog was simply bored. Most owners don't leave anything intriguing out for the dog - nothing more than a rawhide, a ball, and a squeaky toy. Squeaky toys are murdered within 2 minutes in my own household - so perhaps 5-10 minutes in other households. Rawhides take a good 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the dog in context to the size of the bone. And a ball gets quite boring after half an hour. And finally, the Sibe beliefs. My Sibe is bored out of her mind the second we leave the room and the toys/stuffed animals [they're her favourite!] are put up - let alone us leaving the house. She has other companions, including a 7 month old Akbash with more energy than she has at 2 1/2 years old - so she's pretty well-off. She *has* had to stay home without the Akbash with her - boy was that disastrous! Pure boredom - not "anxiety".

Answer 3

I've done a lot of research on seperation anxiety and the one thing you should make sure your pooch has IS seperation anxiety. Could it just be bordum or a lack of exercise?

Make sure your pooch gets a good hour of exercise a day. Jog/walk w/ him or her. Let him or her out for a good romp in a field, a play date etc. That will be great and will do wonders for behavior issues.

Try gating off a section of the house first and at the same time leave in small incriments. Not just around the house but gone gone. To a neighbor's house, car wash, go get coffee. Take about 15 min then slowly increase the time. Be consistant. If she's been good for a week with you being gone for 30 minutes then starts acting up at 45 min go back to 30 for a while. Then start increasing again. Most importantly DO NOT PUNISH FOR BEHAVIOR ALREADY DONE.

The dog doesnt understand why she's in trouble for something that happened HOURS ago.

Get lots of toys - interactive toys. Kongs, vibrating balls, or doggie videos. Something a trainer once told me... when you're home is there usually noise? Do you have the radio on? The TV? When you leave try turning something on that is there on a normal basis.

Good Luck

Answer 4

Hi there,

First I would suggest establishing if your dog effectively has separation anxiety. If she was good for two weeks uncrated, and then started to chew things things up, may be she is only bored.

When she is left alone in her kennel, does she whine, bark excessively? How about when left out of the crate in your absence?

With what I currently know, I would suggest the following:

-Increase the amount of exercise she gets. Some breeds need more exercise than others. A tired dog is a good dog! Often dogs will chew things out of boredom once they are past the teething stage.

-Make sure you leave her with plenty of chew toys.

-I suggest buying a KONG toy. It is a hard plastic hollow cone that you can fill with all kinds of goodies. They sell special paste to put in it, but natural peanut butter or cream cheese with treats stuck inside will also work. The dog will literally spend hours being busy getting all the yummy stuff out.

-Only give her the KONG when you leave, so now she has a positive association to you leaving the house.

-Leave her alone, uncrated progressively and see how she does and take it slow. Set her up for success! Only leave her uncrated a few minutes, up to a few hours progressively.

I hope this helps.

Melanie

Answer 5

Separation Anxiety is tough to deal with in dogs. I have a 5 year old mastiff that suffers from it. When she was a puppy, she hated being in her crate. She would scream and cry and come close to hurting herself to get out. She could not stay in the house unsupervised without tearing something up. In her 5 years she has eaten: 3 cell phones, at least 4 college textbooks, numerous remotes, countless pairs of shoes, and all kinds of "other" things just lying around on the floor. We solved it by (when I lived at my parents house) by leaving her outside in the yard (there is a 6' wooden privacy fence surrounded by a 6' chain link fence and a lock on the gate). Now that I no longer live with my parents, and only have a 4' chain link fence (which she can easily climb) and don't live out in the country anymore, she stays lose in the house. I tried crating her - the black wire cage she destroyed, the plastic vari-kennel she somehow got out of so I took and faced it in the corner and shoved the couch up against it so she could not get out and still, she pulled the door in with her teeth and nails and somehow managed to still get out. I've given up on crating her while I'm gone. I just make a concentrated effort to keep all valuable things off the floor and out of her reach. If she does eat something, its my fault and I can't get mad at her. I don't think that you can ever cure separation anxiety, just cope with it. Try to get some phermone scented plug ins that will help to calm your dog down. Give her plenty of excercise when you get home, take her for long walks. I've found that when I neglect to walk my dog the 12 blocks to the park and the 12 blocks back, she is more likely to eat something than if I do take her. If your dog is an active breed, than she may still be a puppy. Essentially, if you have a lab you have a puppy for 3 years! Try Kong toys (available at most pet supply stores) and fill them with either peanut butter and dog cookies or something called "Kong stuff'n" which is just a food-stuff that goes down in the Kong and keeps the dog occupied for quite some time. I like to think of Kongs as virtually indestructable toys because we use them at the animal shelter to occupy dogs that are kenneled all day and all night.

Answer 6

First you must not make a fuss of leaving or coming back home.
For at least twenty minutes before you leave you should not talk to your dog, touch your dog or even make eye contact. The same again when you come home. Only when your dog is calm do you praise him and only after at least twenty minutes.
The Pros. say: Practice going out and coming into your home for a full afternoon twice (like over a weekend) do the above that I have mentioned and soon your dog will understand that YOU want calm. Give your dog a bone when you leave. Give your dog toys that have treats in them. Give your dog access to only one room if you have too.

Answer 7

We had the same problem with one of our dogs - and it can drive you crazy!! The best advice I ever got [and listened to] was
to admit when I was over my head - and ask for help. I know alot
of things, but canine behavior wasn't my expertise, so I found someone who was. THANK GOD I DID!!! What a difference!
Everyones life improved - canine and human. Find a good
animal behaviorist. Ask your vet for a recommendation, and
search on line. It's sooo worth the effort!!! The most important
thing I learned - was what I was doing and contributing to the
problem, and making the situation worse. Good luck !

Answer 8

Give your dog lots of chew toys, LOTS OF CHEW TOYS!

And, you may want to get some apple spray from the pet store and spray your furniture with it for a few weeks after you start letting her out of her crate. It is for repelling them from urinating on the furniture but repelling is repelling. If she stays away that's all you care about, right?

I leave the TV on in the house, in several rooms as I have a large house. The background noise soothes them. I also have bird feeders and squirrel feeders in my front yard. I intentionally began attracting wildlife to my yard about 5 years ago, just for my dog's entertainment. He is an inside dog while we are away during the day and he is endlessly amused by all the critters that come into our front and back yard. It's worth the effort to know that your dog isn't curled up in a ball somewhere in one of your rooms, pining for you. Make his world exciting or at least entertaining and he won't miss you so much.

Good luck.

Answer 9

Keep dog in a crate. Dog's can be left in a crate for up to eight hours. ( I personally wouldn't.). Being denning animals by nature they are comfortable being crated. Make sure they have ample water & ventilation. Also a good walk before crating is good.
I have left a radio or TV on for nervous dogs not in crate with mixed results.

Answer 10

You can try leaving your dog out for short periods and gradually increasing the time. Also, try out different chew toys, like raw hides or balls with treats in them, to find your dogs favorite and make sure that she has one when you leave. She may be more inclined to chew on it rather than your couch. She should grow out of her chewing phase, but you need to make sure she has other alternatives to your couch when you are not home. Our dog liked to nibble on the wood trim in our house or her wooden gate. Once we got her raw hide bones then she would chew on them instead. Now that she is older she doesn't chew on anything. Good Luck!