When we leave for work, my dog freaks out!?

Question

11 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback. We bought him from a breeder at 8 weeks old. He gets out a lot and is always with us. We now are back at work so I take him out to a dog park in the morning, then drop him back off at home. Then come home after work to take him out again.

At home he has toys, the TV is on, and the windows are open letting in that sun he loves. Why would he go mess up the house and what can we do? We have to go to work...

Answer 1

I guess you know that that breed was bred for hunting lions. Could you imagine hunting lions with a pack of these dogs !!!
What you have is called " separation anxiety". It's perhaps the worst problem to solve. My Doberman had it and I can tell you only time really fixes it. Take him out in the morning to the dog park and wear his little butt out. That way he will be exhausted for a few hours while you are away. My Doberman destroyed everything while I was away. I tried locking him in a laundry room and that only cost me a door. I would suggest a kennel to save remote controls, shoes, sofas, ect.... I thought kennels were kinda cruel but dogs really do look at the kennel as home and a safe place. You sound like great responsible owners so give it time. Wish I had an answer but I tried and thought of everything to fix this problem with my Dobe to no avail. It just comes with time and maturity. But save your furniture and household items by caging him while your at work. Forget the toys , T.V he misses his " pack leader " and dosent know what to do and is freaking out.

Answer 2

Ridgebacks do not like to be alone, period. I have 6 here, and none of them have ever been alone when I leave the house. My oldest RR, who is 12, was raised with a Lab.
Then I bought his full sister.

I leave my pups uncrated in the house from the time they are able to move around. I make sure all cords are pulled out of the outlets, and I barricade them on one part of the house (I do have a dog door)

Dogs are pack animals, and you can manage the separation anxiety your dog is feeling, but no matter the result, he will still be grieving the presence of you or another dog for the entire time you are gone.

Well, except when he goes to sleep :) I work from home and I hear the dogs in the neighborhood screeching, moaning, whining, etc, when the owners leave for work. One dog goes on for hours.

You can break up your dog's day by hiring a dog walker. If I had to be away from the home every day on a regular basis, and only had one dog, that would be my solution. You will have a much happier dog :)

Answer 3

I would confine him in a small room without anything he can tear up, or crate him. It is dangerous to leave a puppy unattended while you are at work. Anything can happen in an 8 hour period. He messes up the house because he has separation anxiety, he needs to be in a safe place until you get home. You are spoiling him and letting him run your house if you do all these things for him while you are at work. He doesn't need much other than your attention, exercise and food. Maybe you could take him on a long walk or run instead of just to the dog park, he may have a lot of energy still left when you drop him off at home. Or you could see if a neighbor who's off during the day could take him for a walk in the middle of the day (or hire a dog walker). He still needs structure in his life, even though you are ready to let him free. The best thing for him and you is to crate him while you're gone.

Answer 4

I would avoid trying to correct the behavior after the fact. Your dog isn't going to understand why you're upset. After all, he probably thinks a shredded phone book is at least as good as a pristine one! All he'll know is that every time you leave you come home in a horrible mood. This isn't going to help him adjust to you leaving. You'll have much better luck if you catch him in the act. Leave the house and peek through the window, if you can. Wait for him to start his temper tantrum and then come in and interrupt him and correct him gently. Repeat, repeat, repeat. And keep reminding yourself what a wonderful boy he is! He's almost a grown-up now, and it won't be long before he learns the routine.

Answer 5

Separation anxiety is one of the hardest things to deal with when it comes to dog behavior.

Before you take him to the dog park you should take him for a walk. He needs a walk BEFORE the park because the walk provides mental stimulation as well as physical activity. He is probably very board at home when you leave, so his animal instinct tell him to get into everything he can.

I would recommend kennel train him. Make the kennel a safe place for him. Start by feeding him in there, and putting him in for short amounts of time. Not only will he feel safer in there - it will teach him to rest there, and it will be less stressful for him when you leave. And he won't tear up your house!

Answer 6

It sounds like he has seperation anxiety. Consider taking him to a dog obedience class, as they may have training tips to help you.

Perhaps you can try leaving for short amounts of time, and come back and reward him for not going crazy. You could also crate him until you come back.

Answer 7

it fairly is undemanding for a domestic dog this is separation rigidity the domestic dog desires to get very used to her residing house there and make the residing house sense like ur very own so she would be in a position to be calm and understand this is risk-free. i'm undecided if this could help yet besides

Answer 8

You need to learn a Dogs society to understand it. Dogs look at you as the master dog. to him you are going on a hunt and leaving him behind and it makes him mad he cant go. So he takes it out on your stuff. If your dog was in a pack of dogs and he did something the lead dog did not like... the lead dog would escort him to that location then bite him.
You need to get a chocker type collar. take the dog to what he has tore up and give an uncomfortable yank on the collar.
but when he does something good reward him for good behavior make take a little time but he should learn that unacceptable behavior he gets a yank on his collar

Answer 9

definately he misses being with you (separation anxiety). Give him time to adjust to your schedule. If not seek out a Vets advice. He's still a baby.

Answer 10

been there, done that, got that t-shirt many times over with many pets, it's time consuming and frustrating when you have a pet that does this...I believe your dog is doing this for two reasons: 1- he doesn't know that you're coming home because you haven't trained him to understand that you'll come home (my dog took two weeks to train so that she understood that I would come home after a certain amount of time, now if I come home an hour late, I come home to find she freaked out and started chewing on something; dogs can't tell time but they have a sort of internal clock that tells them when you should be home and if you don't come home by then your dog will get worried), 2- another reason is that you may not be giving your dog enough to do while you're at work, or you may be giving your dog the wrong stuff to do (dogs should be confined to one or two rooms where they have nothing but toys, this keeps them away from temptations like chewing on the couch and focuses their energy on that toy you spent so much money to get for them)
two things you can and need to do:

1- train the dog to understand that you will come home, you should have started going this a couple weeks before you started working and it will be hard to do now, but here is how it's done:
you leave the dog alone for 15 minutes: get in the car and go around the block, then come home; do this several times a day for a couple of days, then start adding on time
next step: instead of leaving the dog alone 5 times a day for 15 minutes, try leaving the dog alone 4 times a day for 20 minutes each time, after a few days of this you can add on more time
eventually you will be leaving your dog alone for 8 hours a day once a day

2- you are doing great by walking the dog everyday, twice a day...walking the dog before you go to work will get the dog tired and make him sleep for awhile after you leave, and walking the dog as soon as you get home gives him the chance to exercise and go potty after he has been cooped up inside all day
however...
you still need to give the dog something to do while you're at work!
your dog won't sit around watching tv however leaving the tv on is helpful in reducing stress because it makes him feel like he's not alone
toys are great however, you need to make them interesting otherwise your dog will just ignore them
try finding a room of the house that you can "dog proof" (meaning nothing of value, nothing the dog could get hurt on, and nothing you'd be upset about if it got destroyed by the dog), now shut some doors or put up some baby gates to close that area off and keep the dog inside it
make sure you literally litter the floor with toys, scatter as many toys as you can afford everywhere in the room
you also want variety in toys so they don't get bored
I keep a small tire sand box in the corner of a bedroom on top of a rug so that my dog can dig up toys that I bury in there for her
I also have dog bones soaked in different flavored soups so that they taste different (one soaked in beef soup, another soaked in chicken broth, another soaked in tomato juice, etc...)
I give my dog different sizes tennis balls (from regular sized to the larger ones as big as her head), different flavored tennis balls (they have peanut butter, vanilla, chocolate, and cheese flavored doggie tennis balls!)
some chew toys like ropes are good for cleaning teeth
kong toys are excellent because they can be stuffed with treats and the dog has to work to get the treat out, I put different types of treats in a few different types of kongs for my dog
Even if you didn't feel like spending alot of money, I make alot of my dog's toys, and I buy some at the dollar store...even just putting treats side of a cup of a card board paper towel roll will make the dog have to do some work to find and get the treat out

here are some articles on leaving dogs at home for long periods of time while you're at work:
http://www.pethealthresource.com/dog_care/dog_home_alone2.html
http://www.pethealthresource.com/dog_care/dog_home_alone.html
http://www.cuhumane.org/topics/alone.html
http://www.happypawshaven.org/Pet%20Behavior.htm#Home%20Alone
http://www.petfinder.com/journal/index.cgi?article=1077

good luck, be patient, and don't get angry or punish the dog for the things you find when you get home because that will just make it worse