My dog is crying when I go out....

blue_monkey_2

I have a staffy cross, nealry 10 months old.

I am here most of the day, at the most I am out 4 hours Tues, 2 hours on Weds and 10-30 minues each day on the school run.

Recently I have started letting her stay in the lounge, she used to stay in the kitchen but as she is no longer chewing she stays in the lounge and sits on the sofa. She stays in here at night too. This looks out of the back of the house, not the front windows.

Yesterday I was chatting outside and I could hear her crying in the house. I mentioned it to my friend this morning when we was talking again and she said 'oh, is that your dog she was really crying last night, was you out?'. I was only on the school run for 10 minutes.

Now I am paranoid about what the nieghbours will say if I have to go out during the day at all.

Do dogs get to a certain age - teenagers? - and become more clingy and worry if you are not there? I admit she is probably spoiled as I am at home with her a lot and even if I am pottering around tidying up she is usually 4 steps behind me (or under my feet so I am falling over her) and then we have a play in the garden. I do understand she wants to be with me. If I go out my husband said that she sits on the chair looking at the front door until I get back.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can deal with this, please? Should I put her back into the kitchen while I am out? This is where she always stayed before and no-one has ever said anything, and if I have been outside talking I have never heard her crying before - this is definately a new thing so wonder if it is related to her being in the lounge. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Oh, she does not cry at night, just sleeps on the sofa until we come down in the morning, she did cry on night but that was because she had weed on the floor.

mrcol1000

blue_monkey wrote: »

Do dogs get to a certain age - teenagers? - and become more clingy and worry if you are not there? I admit she is probably spoiled as I am at home with her a lot and even if I am pottering around tidying up she is usually 4 steps behind me (or under my feet so I am falling over her) and then we have a play in the garden. I do understand she wants to be with me. If I go out my husband said that she sits on the chair looking at the front door until I get back.

It sounds like seperation anxeity. Its good to be close to your dog but you also need to have your dog enjoy its own company too. A lot of dog owners who neighbours complain about their dog barking aren't aware that there dog is even barking while they are out let alone they are causing a nusiance. You should sort this out while its just crying before it becomes barking and a real nusiance.

You need to make sure your dog is occupied while your out even if its just for a few hours. Don't make a big fuss when you go out. Just slip away. Don't say goodbye. Don't let the dog follow you around the house. Give it something to do in a different room or even shut it away from you in a seperate room just so it realises that it can be on its own from you without the world ending.
Maybe it was crying all along but the move to the lounge just means people can hear it?

myothercarisaferrari

Have you tried her in a crate? My collie x staff cried when I first got her but now she has a crate filled with toys x

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for the replies. I am not sure what I can give her to do in another room - if that sounds daft. Should I maybe shut her downstairs and go upstairs and do some work or something. I don't want it to escalate, she is a real chewer when it comes to toys and we have not found anything to last more than 5 minutes - literally - before they are chewed to nothing. She rips balls to pieces, more recently I have got her bringing a ball back but if I left her have them for too long they end up ripped to bits as well so I take them off her when we have finished playing.

I work form home and have a unit at the bottom of the garden and she will come down there with me and play in the garden but keep on coming back to check I am still in there.

The kitchen is right next to the street whereas the lounge backs onto the back garden - we would certainly hear her.

I think that when I go out I am going to have to start putting her in the kitchen again. I think that she associates that with me being gone and being in the lounge means I am in the house, nearby.

I did not know if it was an age thing really as she has been fine up until now. I have a crate but I do not really think I need to use it and only used it when she was here for the first few days while she found her feet.

I used to think people that got dogs and left them all day were mean but I am starting to think her being with me all the time is not doing her any good either.

mrcol1000

blue_monkey wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I am not sure what I can give her to do in another room - if that sounds daft. Should I maybe shut her downstairs and go upstairs and do some work or something. I don't want it to escalate, she is a real chewer when it comes to toys and we have not found anything to last more than 5 minutes - literally - before they are chewed to nothing. She rips balls to pieces, more recently I have got her bringing a ball back but if I left her have them for too long they end up ripped to bits as well so I take them off her when we have finished playing.

I work form home and have a unit at the bottom of the garden and she will come down there with me and play in the garden but keep on coming back to check I am still in there.

The kitchen is right next to the street whereas the lounge backs onto the back garden - we would certainly hear her.

I think that when I go out I am going to have to start putting her in the kitchen again. I think that she associates that with me being gone and being in the lounge means I am in the house, nearby.

I did not know if it was an age thing really as she has been fine up until now. I have a crate but I do not really think I need to use it and only used it when she was here for the first few days while she found her feet.

I used to think people that got dogs and left them all day were mean but I am starting to think her being with me all the time is not doing her any good either.

Leaving your dog all day is not a good thing but it does need to have some time on its own. My staff was from a rescue and also was very clingy at first. The rescue warned us this may happen. But now nearly two years since we got her she is happy to snuggle on the sofa with us but sometimes will wander off on her own to a different room to play or sleep on the bed.
You just need to build her confidence that your going to leave her and never come back. Best way is by short duration on her own and gradually get longer. We had endless trouble with our Staff chewing stuff on her own and so had to crate her at night and while we were out. But then gradually we could trust her on her own and at night with no problems.

If you don't have the time to slowly build up the times you can leave her I would crate her while you go out for a few months as she will probably be more happy on her own in a smaller space than in large one and once she is more confident on her own let her out every other time you go out till you can leave her all the time.

skipsmum

My dog (abused rescue terrier) suffered terrible separation anxiety for the first year or so. I only go out for an hour or so, but my neighbour could hear her running up and down the stairs crying.
A friend suggested she was trying to protect the whole house and it was too much for her so we bought her a large crate and put all her toys in it. She was much happier.
Now her crate is in the dining room and if she feels stressed she just goes and gets in it. She likes to be shut in it when there are fireworks (prefers that to attention), and we always take it on holiday for her.

Raggs_2

I found developing a routine helped settle my dog, though he was pretty relaxed to begin with. He used to bark when we left him, but once we'd told him off for doing so he learnt it doesn't gain him anything. I wouldn't suggest this in your case, for us, he just wanted attention, he wasn't worried that we'd left him, whereas yours sounds as though she is upset at your absence.

Whenever we leave we always give him the same phrase, so that he knows that we're going out, and we'll be back.

Have you tried a kong? Stuff it with some food and let her try and work out how to get it out. Keeps my dog entertained nicely (I think the cat entertains him too, and we're currently baby-sitting a friends dog so it's quite crowded, but entertaining).

Start getting her used to it with practice runs, give the kong (perhaps rather understuffed if you are going to repeat a lot in a day), say the phrase, leave for 5 minutes, come back and lots of praise on the return.

Waterfalls

it might be worth also purchasing a DAP collar +/- diffuser to help keep her stress levels to a minimum until you get her into a routine
good luck

happylion1

I have no experience of this technique but it impressed me when it was on tv some years ago. A man had a Jack Russel with separation issues.He saw (whichever tv dog trainer presented the program ) and was told to tape his voice. He recorded his voice by reading a book out loud for an hour. When he was away he left the tape playing in the room. Result one happy dog.
Might help.

mrcol1000

happylion1 wrote: »

I have no experience of this technique but it impressed me when it was on tv some years ago. A man had a Jack Russel with separation issues.He saw (whichever tv dog trainer presented the program ) and was told to tape his voice. He recorded his voice by reading a book out loud for an hour. When he was away he left the tape playing in the room. Result one happy dog.
Might help.

Just a word of warning on this one. I tried this when I use to shut my dog in a room when I went out before she was caged. The first and only time I tried this I came back to find she had nawed at the door trying to get out as she could hear me on the other side of the door. Thank goodness for plastic wood otherwise had a big bill for the damage from the landlord.

blue_monkey_2

Good morning everyone,

Thanks for the suggestions. Something more has happened since so thought I would put them here while I work out what to do.

Recently we have allowed the dog into the bedroom while we get the kids ready for bed but she comes down with us. Last night she went off up to the bedroom and we called her and she came back down - but when we went to bed I found that she had weed on the bed and on the quilt.

Yesterday I went to the school and left her shut in the kitchen again - no crying when we came back. This morning I had to take my son to the docs before school so we left early and she was on her own for an hour, after 45 mins I came back and parked the car - no crying. Then when I got back from the school she was crying in the kitchen. Moreso she had pulled a couple of things of the kitchen side (a bag of bark, and some papers and cans waiting to go to the recycling bin) and destroyed them.

She tried to greet me and I ignored her, told her to get on her bed, and cleaned them up in silence while she was on her bed.

I've never had dogs before so I am not sure if that was the right thing to do but it is very odd. I have been home more than usual lately but she has got very clingy. If I go to the loo and leave the door open she will come in, see I am there, I send her out and she will sit outside the door and wait for me. When I do my work in the evening she sits beside me on the sofa.

Is it time to give her some distance and tell her to go to her bed instead? I feel mean but I know I've got to do something before it get's bad and I find I am not able to go anywhere.

We have been away for the weeken before and used a dog sitter, now I am wondering if a night in a kennel might be more useful. We do not go out a huge amount because my son has ADHD and SAutism so we are not really able to go anywhere so we are always here with her.

I thought I was doing the right thing but maybe I've been here too much.