Seperation Anxiety

[melden]

How can I work with my dog to make her not be so crazy and destructive when we leave her home alone?? I have only had her for 2 months we rescued her from a shelter. We tried to crate her but she bit through the bars on 3 sides we tried to gate her in the kitchen she jumped them ( she can jump 4 ft) We tied her in the kitchen to our back door and chewed her way out and jumoed out a window 2 stories high and nothing happened to her. My husband and I are beside ourselves with our sweet 12 lb Yorkie mix. Please help!!!

[WufWuf]

Could you give a little more information on your dogs daily routine, how long and how often is she walked, what is she fed on what training and games she gets, how long and how often is she alone. How old is she?
Any information you can think of as it will really help the experts give you the best advice for your situation.

[ladybug1802]

First of all please dont tie her....separation anxiety is down to insecurity and if she is tied to something she will feel so much more constrained and vulnerable.

When yo say you have tried to crate her....can you tell us how you have gone about training her to like her crate? Do you leave her with anything to occupy her when you leave, such as stuffed frozen kongs/treat balls?

The way I got over SA with my rescue was to build up the time he was left, very very slowly, from about 5 seconds to an hour......and it was slowly...over a period of about 3 months. So start off leaving the house for 5 seconds, coming back in, sitting down then giving him attention. Do this a few times a day for a few days. Then build up to 10 seconds....same...for a few days. Thn build up a little more.

My dog would howl, cry, pace and be incredibly upset at being left. I would set up a video camera every so often to see how he was progressing. Althogh this does take a lot of time and comitment, it does worl. It does mean that you must not leave the dog alone at any time other than when you are doign the training....so with me, if there were any times I needed to go out (I live alone) I took him to my parents or a friend he knew well and was happy with.

Do you work? What happens with the dog if you do?

[Flyby]

I agree with Ladybug1802, 100% with one minor twist.

When you come back in from the training separation, some recommend you don't properly greet the dog with attention and treats until he or she has calmed down. This low key greeting apparently makes your coming and going less of a big occassion, and your re-appearance not something the dog sits pining for.

Edit- It sounds hard to resist greeting, but it's a training process. Once your dog has got over the anxiety of being left alone, you can go back to greeting them however you prefer.

[jacksdad]

does sound like you have a pretty severe case of SA, so in addition to the excellent advise you have already gotten, it might help to pickup this book

http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/produc ... on-anxiety

It goes into some details about separation anxiety (but without causing your eyes to glaze over) and it also outlines a sample 8 week program to address a severe case of SA. Let me emphasis sample program. There is no way to promise if you do X Y and Z that you will "fix" your dog in any specific time frame. it will go as fast or as slow as your dog will respond to the training.

the book essentially walks you through what Ladybug shares but would be a reference you can have in your hands at anytime you need it.

One of the keys to remember as you begin helping your dog is that the underlying issue often isn't so much about being alone, but being separated from someone such as your self. which is why it's generally not a good idea to run out and get another dog as a solution. which is often asked about or suggested by people who don't really understand what is going on.

[ladybug1802]

Incidentally, whenever I used to leave him, for however smal a period of time, I would (and still do, every single time I leave him alone) leave him with a stuffed frozen kong and/pr a kong wobbler/dog pyramid filled with kibble. I always have 3 large kongs in the freezer at any one time....and when the last one is given to him I refill and refreeze them. Its really important for me and my dog.....he now knows that when I go, or when my dog walker friend drops him home an hour or so before i return from work, he gets something yummy and is very happy. I am also happy knowing he isnt stuck at home with nothing to do!

[JudyN]

I used to leave a frozen kong, but sometimes when I go home it hadn't been touched, and one day when Jasper had a frozen kong when I was at home, he just sat next to it looking at it a bit glumly till it thawed So yes, leaving a frozen kong is fine but I would also leave something that can be eaten immediately as well - either the kong Wobbler, a treat ball, or (what I do) a kong stuffed with treats with the hole sealed with peanut butter. He looks forward to me going out much more now!

[melden]

with the crate we would pu ther in it while we were home form 1 minute to 15 minutes..she was fine would chew her toy we had in ther or just sit/lay down no problem. We also will go outside for a few minutes and when we come back in everytime say nothing to her..no touch/eye contact/no talking to her until she calmed down which is usually within 2-3 minutes we even have taught our children to do the same. There are sometimes when we have to run out to the store for about 1/2 hr and we leave her to run the house ( well most of it) and we come back and she is fine where other times we have trash all over the house, phone lines bit right through, weather strips on all outside doors riped off, door casings chewed and mini blinds shredded. She is a hit or miss dog we don't know what we are going to get from one day to the other. When we do leave either the tv or radio are on her toys are brought out and treats are left for her to have. Her routine is the same evey day...6:30 go out 7/7:30 breakfast and then around lunch we go out for a good 1/2 mile walk when kids get home we go again on our 1/2 mile walk and after dinner( 5/5:30 ) kids take her back outside to run like the wind and they all get tired. Before bed time at 10:30 she goes out for one last time before she heads to bed. I work 2 days a week Friday/Saturday for 5.5 hours each and this is when she has to be left alone. We now have to keep our windows closed when she is home alone because she jumped out our living room window on Friday and was running around our neighborhood. I found her tiedto our front porch when I got home from work that day. I have talked to our vet and he said we have to keep working on the crate and just leaving her fro short periods to get her used to being alone...but I can't stand coming home to the destruction this dog is costing us alot of $$$ so far and I don't want to find her hurt or even worse.

[ladybug1802]

IN regard to the window aspect, I would never leave windows open enough for my dog to get out of them if I leave him alone.....the dog could very easily get out regardless of whether it has separation anxiety.

With the crate, I think you have maybe been going a little too fast. I would suggest you start feeding her her meals in there, but do NOT shut the door on her for now. Just put her food bowl in there when it is meal times, let her go in, eat and then come out if she wants to. Keep doing this regularly. Also, if she does decide to go in there of her own accord, maybe just toss a treat in there for her to enjoy...toss it softly in from outside the crate, then leave her alone.

After doing this for a while you can start to encourage her to go in there at other times, using yummy treats, and then close the door for a second, open it again and treat her...then let her come out. You can then slowly increase the amount of time you close the door for, but it needs to be very slowly as if she starts to feel trapped you will need to take steps back and start again.

Is her crate nice and comfy with a comfy bed in it? Is it covered over on 3 of the 4 sides? I take it she can (if she wants to) go in and out as desired?

But with regards to the whole separation anxiety thing, did you read my previous email about the steps to overcome it?? Are you willing and able to spend the time to do this?

[jacksdad]

nice blog post by Nicole Wilde (who is one of Victoria's professional bloggers) about separation anxieties.

http://wildewmn.wordpress.com/

It's easy to forget the human side of this. SA isn't just about a stressed out anxious dog, but it's humans suffer too. It's helpful sometimes to know your not alone and even professional trainers struggle with this one too.

It's not the easiest issue to crack in some ways and we get this, but it is one of the more solvable problems too.

Melden, I really hope you give the advise a go, you can help your dog and your not alone in this. there are people here who have been right were you are now. so in addition to be able to get good advise for how to help your dog here, there are also people who you can vent to who completly get it, they understand as they are working with their dogs through it's SA issues at this very moment too.

[ladybug1802]

Great post Jacksdad! And a very good point.....we get how stressful it can be, and time consuming....so feel free to vent any time!

[chay]

We also will go outside for a few minutes and when we come back in everytime say nothing to her..no touch/eye contact/no talking to her until she calmed down which is usually within 2-3 minutes we even have taught our children to do the same.

When you come back in from the training separation, some recommend you don't properly greet the dog with attention and treats until he or she has calmed down. This low key greeting apparently makes your coming and going less of a big occassion, and your re-appearance not something the dog sits pining for.

just a thought to add to the 'completely ignore the dog' approach, it is my opinion that this can actually make nervous dogs worse, not better. dogs are social animals, they NEED our interaction - if they have just been left alone and are already anxious from that, then their human comes home but completely withholds interaction from them, i believe this can be extremely upsetting for them.

there is a big difference between NO interaction at all, and a 'low key' entry - i would hazard that a dog with full on separation anxiety is going to be pining for your return no matter how you enter, so coming in and giving them the reassurance that 'yes hello, see, i do come back!' is going to be more helpful rather than detrimental.

i am more than happy to be corrected by the experts on this one, i just know with my own little dog (not SA but extremely nervous of alot of things when we first bought her home) it would be really worrying for her if we didn't give her reassurance when she needs it

[emmabeth]

It does depend on the dog.

Personally asides from young dogs who have a habit of urinating in excitement, I would not recommend totally and utterly ignoring the dog (and for those who DO do a little excited widdle on your return, you would ONLY keep things low key until you get them outside or where its 'safe' then you can greet them as you please!).... as this can lead to serious depression and anxiety.

I think one of the problems is that a dog reads OUR attempt to utterly ignore it as actually us shunning the dog, our body language would be really really wierd and frightening for them which will make anxiety problems worse.

I tend to say to people to ignore whatever it is the dog has done, but greet the dog in a sensible 'Hi how are ya' kind of way, but not an 'OMG MUMMYS HOME MUMMIES HOME ITS ALL OK' over the top hysterical way.

With some dogs you can go nuts with the cuddles when you return, with others a little bit more low key may be a better approach - but attempting to utterly ignore (which is not what was suggested anyway ) would not be appropriate.

[chay]

ah excellent - thankyou for the further explanation, emmabeth! sorry, i didn't mean to imply that the 'totally ignore' approach WAS suggested, just that if that was what the OP was doing (as it sounded like) it may contribute to the anxiety. i thought the more 'low key' approach as flyby and yourself describe may be a better alternative.

[PinkDice]

Good luck and hugs to you, you're working through a very tough issue. Trust me when I say I feel your pain!

Our dog is not destructive when left alone, but I'm positive she would be if left home alone long enough. She can now be completely alone for up to three hours -- which just happens to be long enough to enjoy a meal out or go grocery shopping!

What has worked for us is following the very excellent advice of those here and slowly building up her tolerance. By slowly I mean over the course of six months or so, because she's a very, very anxious dog. We've never been able to crate train her because despite all attempts to make the crate the most amazing place ever, she still hates it and feels much more secure without it. Our routine is to make sure she gets even more physical exertion than usual and to leave her with a nylabone to chew on and hiding treats around the house for her to find. We initially tried a kong but she's such an efficient chewer we got pretty worried about her ingesting bits of rubber while we were gone. At one point we even had to stagger our work schedules so someone was always available to be home with her, and take her to my dad's house when that wasn't possible.

Even with all the work we've done with her, she has now developed new and improved SA 2.0 specific to when the OH leaves for work, even though I'm home. That's another story though.

I guess what I'm getting at is that some of the suggestions provided may not work for you. Even if they do work it's likely to be a slow process. The key is to be dedicated to trying new things and not to give up as hard as it may seem!