Separation anxiety

[iallrd8it]

Hello everyone
I'm hoping you can give me some advice. My sheltie Kona is a year old and we adopted him from the SPCA about 3 months ago. He is the greatest dog in the world but gets a wee bit crazy when we leave him. He cries and chews anything he can find if we leave him out of his crate so he stays crated while we are out. While he is in there he cries and whines and generally sounds like he is dying but is otherwise fine. Usually we are only out for 4-5 hours max but occasionally with our work schedules we are gone for 7 or 8 hrs and it breaks my heart that he has to stay in his crate. Any suggestions?

P.s we always leave him in there with toys and a kong full of something tasty (and water of course)

 

[Meldor]

First of all congrats on your new pup

Secondly, my brother's dachshund started having severe separation anxiety when he recently moved to a condo. I found some info and just after a week of putting these tips into place, it seems the issue is almost fully resolved!

Here's what I found:

1. Do not make a big deal of coming and going (like big kisses and high-pitch voice). Basically sort of ignore the dog about 5 minutes before leaving and same thing when you come back. And upon return, wait for him to be calm before giving him attention or getting him out of the crate and do so in a very calm manner.


2. Like you are doing with the Kong and toys, make sure to leave him stuff that will keep him busy when you leave. I suggest finding a toy he really likes (some dogs go nuts for squeaky toys, my Sheltie actually goes nuts for tiny tiny teddy bears without any fluff inside ) and only give him that toy when you leave. It'll make it very exclusive and interesting.


3. Maybe leave a piece of closing with your sent on it like a dirty T-shirt.


An amazing trick to get him used to you leaving would be to do the whole leaving routine when you are not actually planning on leaving. So, start giving him less attention for 5 minutes, put him in his crate with the special toy and a Kong full of something good. Then, go out of the door and stay right on the other side for a few minutes. Listen closely and when you see that he his not doing any sound, come back inside. That way it shows him not to worry because you will come back and it's not his crying that is making you return, it's his calmness.


Have a look at this video:
http://youtu.be/NBNhsZD8o2M

I hope this helps!

 

[Chris]

Wow -- what a great response! I can add only one thing: Shelties make it sound far worse than it is. When I leave, you'd think Beckon was going to lose his mind. He barks, he spins, he whines. He races out the dog door and barks, whines, jumps, and chews on the fence.

And 30 seconds later, it's as if nothing has happened. My family has verified this. Oh, and if I leave really early, he's like, "Too sleepy to put on a show, Mom. You go. I'll just sleezzzzz."

Drama queens -- and kings -- have such fun putting on the pathos!

 

[lovemyshelties]

I know what you mean!! We have three Shelties. The two males going into the X-pen or crates without any fuss and happily snooze until we get home. Not so for our nutso female Zoey. Her separation anxiety and noise anxiety got so bad we consulted a behaviorist and finally put her on Prozac, which, by the way, isn't working so well. I toss treats, give her stuffed Kongs, you name it, but she still spins and barks when she realizes I'm leaving for work. I've tried everything. Think I'm finally realizing that nothing will calm her down and if I just depart quietly the fussing will stop and she'll nap. They can be drama queens.

 

[BarbV]

Meldor's advice is on the money.

A couple of things I might add:

At 1 year, assuming Kona is house-trained, I would put the crate inside an Xpen. Just gives them that much more room to have toys, water, etc.

As an expansion of her first point. Try putting dog into pen:
- during the times that you are home; but not leaving - the idea is to get him used to pen, without associating it with you being gone
- put him in his crate 15 minutes before you leave the house, with toys, etc. and continue your business, ignoring him entirely
- their are various toys - like kongs - (I've never had to use them) that you can fill with treats to keep them occupied for the first little bit after you are gone.

And finally, I have to laugh because my dogs do not suffer separation anxiety at all. Somehow we got into a habit of them getting a small cookie when I leave the house. Now they just seem anxious for me to leave so they can get their treat! "Love you, Mom! Now give us our treat and get out, will you!"

 

[Mally's Mom]

We scatter small treats in the living room when we leave. This was our daughter's idea. She said if we leave with a positive experience, Mally will identify with our leaving as "here come the treats", "this is a good thing!
When we leave, then Mally has his own scavenger hunt looking for his treats!

Note: I agree with Barb about setting up the x-pen.

 

[SheltieChe]

Crate her when you home! Put crate near computer while you on this forum and let her keep you company this way. The problem is association crating= leaving. Crate often when you at home sometimes for 30 minutes sometimes for 30 seconds. Play games in the crate like tugging or finding a kibble or whatever else fun you are having. Send to the crate and throw kibble when she runs in, recall right back for good ball game etc.
Crate= fun.