Seperation Anxiety

PuppyLove_2

Hi Guys,

I need to advice from you clever people!

My baby beagle is now 4 months old and spoilt rotten. So much so that he now goes mad when we are leaving him alone! He knows the signs when we are going out and refuses to move from the doormat, starts shaking, crying and the other morning was actually sick. Hes only left on his own for about 3 hours a day 3 days a week but it breaks my heart everytime!

Now i have read that beagles hate being left alone and shouldnt really be an only dog. What can i do? Would you get another dog? I would love 2 dogs but was thkning of getting an older rescue but not until the puppy was trained and about 1 year old.

Also i love Cats and have actually been considering getting a kitten, would this be some company for him?

Thanks!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I personally, would think of getting a kitten instead. As long as they aren't put together (like in a crate) unsupervised when the kitten is tiny, there's no reason why they shouldn't learn to adore one another.


Two dogs together can make a heck of a lot more mess than one cat with her faithful sidekick hound. Although the teamwork involved in getting hold of snacks and treats when one animal can smell Mum coming down the road and the other one can get up onto the top kitchen shelf can result in quite enough mischief for anybody. :cool:

Caroline_a

PuppyLove wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I need to advice from you clever people!

My baby beagle is now 4 months old and spoilt rotten. So much so that he now goes mad when we are leaving him alone! He knows the signs when we are going out and refuses to move from the doormat, starts shaking, crying and the other morning was actually sick. Hes only left on his own for about 3 hours a day 3 days a week but it breaks my heart everytime!

Now i have read that beagles hate being left alone and shouldnt really be an only dog. What can i do? Would you get another dog? I would love 2 dogs but was thkning of getting an older rescue but not until the puppy was trained and about 1 year old.

Also i love Cats and have actually been considering getting a kitten, would this be some company for him?

Thanks!

Spot the Big Clue. Ok, firstly you need to stop making any fuss about going out and leaving him. Start by putting him in a room on his own, go out, shut the door for a minute, then just come back in, no fuss, as if nothing has happened. Then make the time longer and longer.

Do the same if you need to leave him for any longer time - don't do the 'aww baby, we're going to leave you now, I'm sooooo sorryyy...' or he will play up all the time. What does he have in terms of playthings when you go? Kongs/ bones? I used to leave my shepherd with a nice marrow bone that he could chew on - straight out of the freezer when he was teething!

The important thing is to ignore bad behaviour and reward good behaviour. So if he's wingeing and whimpering, don't do the pick up and cuddle thing, just ignore, put the bone near him and go! Is he crate trained? (do you have a crate?). Lots of things to try before you get another animal...

Spirrelbabe

I have a beagle who will be 2 in June, he has/had terrible separation anxiety. He is crated when we go out but he had a tendency to bark constantly when we were out. We live in a rented house so can't really annoy the neighbours. So we have a system.

He is walked for half an hour twice a day. He eats natural organic food to curb his hyperactive behaviour. He is on Clomicalm tablets (this is a recent addition as we moved from the US to the UK recently and his separation anxiety returned) this balances him, stops him from drooling, shaking, digging to get out of the crate and being nervous at every noise. Beagles are very high energy dogs, they need lots of toys to occupy them and exercise to keep them happy and balanced.

So before we go out, we take him for a walk (have an actual route you do everyday) when we return, we go about getting the house settled, close curtains/blinds where his crate is, turn the radio on or washing machine if i have load to go, spray DAP in his crate (adaptil spray), fill his kong up with peanut butter and treats,put a toy in his crate, a rawhide, the kong. While you are doing all this ignore him, don't speak to him, being cooler with them in general will help. Then when its time to go ask him to go to crate, if they go in and sit nicely, treat, close door, silently. walk out, don't say anything. Grab your keys and coat, go. The more you muck around getting ready the more anxious they get. So its best if you have your bag and coat ready to go by the door, preferably out of site of the crate.

Like the previous poster, leave for a bit at a time, 15 mins, then half an hour, 45 mins, an hour etc. This takes time but it will happen. I use to pretend to go out and hide in my hallway (it was out of his view) That way I know what he's doing, is he barking, is he distressed. If he barked then when I returned after the time I set i'd open the door of crate (no talking) no treat. If he was silent for the majority of the time he would get a treat.

There is no overnight solution, it takes weeks to settle. But it will happen. I know they are cute, but be more colder with them, don't let them sleep on your bed, sofa, or on your feet. Do they follow you around the house? Your little shadow? You have to stop that, they have to learn to be on their own and enjoy their own company. Make them go in their bed more, rather than be glued to you.

Good luck!

vicx

My Yorkie who I lost 10 months ago, suffered with separation anxiety. When he knew I was going out and would be left alone, he would follow me and shake. The problem started when my other Yorkshire Terrier passed 5 year ago. I couldn't even go to the toilet without him following. If I left the room without him noticing, he would get distressed and run up and down the stairs and in & out every room until he found me.


We are the most important thing in our dogs lives and they become dependant on us especially if we have a tight bond with them. If your dog had a choice he would spend every minute of the day with you. When you leave him at home, he gets distressed, wondering where your going, why he can't be with you and if/when you will be coming back.

There is no quick and easy way to treat this problem so whichever method you choose to treat the separation anxiety you need to sick with it and not expect immediate results.

Is your dog always by your side when your at home? You need to slowly teach him that he does not always have to be close to you. Ignore his attention seeking behaviour - jumping up, barking etc. Slowly extend the time and distance you's spend apart until he's happy to be left alone for up to 30 minutes.

Get him used to being outside when your inside. Start off with small periods apart and gradually increase the time over 2 weeks but don't leave him and let him get all worked up and distressed. Maybe start by leaving him outside for a few seconds.

Eliminate the distress caused by you getting ready to leave the house. Note what is triggering his anxiety, like putting on your shoes, picking up your car keys. Make a list of all the things that trigger his anxiety then do these things but not actually go anywhere. Put on your shoes but dont leave the house, Pick up your car keys and carry then around the house, put on your coat then sit down and watch tv or read the paper.

When you notice a change in him and he's much calmer. Then you can start to leave the house for short periods, like 30 seconds to start with then gradually increasing the time.

Have you tried leaving a kong for him to keep him occupied? Remember the separation anxiety is not something that can be easily fixed so it will take time and patience.

krlyr

Some great advice from Spirrelbabe. I recently had to deal with seperation anxiety in my dog, triggered by our house move.
Firstly, if it is true seperation anxiety, a second dog or a cat may not fix the problem. I have two dogs and it didn't help in my case. Kiki knew when someone was upstairs (even if they were asleep) and was fine, but the minute there was no one home (just her and the other dog) she would bark..and bark, and bark, for 4 hours straight with just 5 or 10 minute breaks here and there. We hadn't realised until the neighbour said something, because she's been fine left home alone before.
Firstly, find out the extent of his behaviour when left. Find a way to record him on video and see how he acts. Does he sit by the front door looking pitiful but take himself off to bed after 10 minutes and sleep the 3 hours away? The being sick could have been a coincidence, just a funny tummy. Or does he show obvious signs of distress, pacing, panting, whining, barking, chewing things, and so on? If it's just a little bit of worrying at being on his own because he's a spoilt boy used to all the attention, it could be easily fixed by tiring him out more (at his age, rather than up the exercise, try more mental stimulation - teach him how to track a scent in your garden, it can really wear them out to use their nose and brain!), occupying him with a Kong and giving him some background noise with a radio or TV left on.

As Spirrelbabe says, there is no overnight cure for real seperation anxiety and it takes time. Can you make any arrangements for someone to stay with him (or him to stay with someone) those 3 days a week? Dealing with seperation problems will progress much quicker if you can manage the situation in the meantime so he's never left alone - unfortunately life does get in the way, I managed to arrange to change my work hours for 2 weeks but I still had to go into the office for half a day. The way I dealt with this was, on the advice of a behaviourist, to use a radio - not to comfort the dogs (I'd tried that and it had no effect) but as a cue that Mummy was going out and wouldn't be back for a while. You ONLY use the radio for those 3 hours, or any other time you can't help leaving him for long periods, and it helps him differentiate between the times you know he'll flip out, and the times you're training him to be left.
So, with plans in place, you want to start at the beginning. If he is clingy in the house, encourage independence. Get a really cosy bed and make it a great place for him to be. Keep it in the same room as you initially, but a metre or so away from the sofa for example. Give him really tasty chews or a stuffed Kong on his bed - if he moves away, send him back to his bed so he learns that bed = yummy treats. Teach him the "settle" command on his bed too, and make sure his bed remains a calm zone - no instigating excitable play when he's on his bed, but give him calm massages, grooming, etc. - every interaction should encourage him to relax when he's on his bed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ0Rii_5ckE
Don't let him follow you everywhere. Babygates can help because there's not a solid barrier - he can see that you're still there but not shadow your every move. Have times when you shut him behind the gate, like when you're cooking dinner. Give him something yummy like scattering treats on the floor or a Kong smeared with cream cheese every time you shut him behind the gate - even if you're just nipping up to the loo - so that he learns being away from people = positive thing.
Desensitize him to your leaving routine. Get home for the evening but leave your keys on the coffee table and your shoes by the sofa. At random intervals in the evening, pick up the keys, walk around, and sit back down. Put your shoes on, sit for 5 minutes, take them off. Put your coat on, take it off, put it on, take it off. You want him to lose the association that going through this routine means he's going to be left alone. Some dogs will only get upset if the routine is followed step-by-step, so if he's not upset by you putting your coat on when you're not wearing your shoes, go in order - shoes on, shoes off, shoes on, shoes off - when that doesn't elicit a response, shoes on, coat on, coat off, shoes on, etc., adding in the next step one he stops reacting to the previous ones.

As mentioned, you want to slowly build up the time left, but I would go much slower than 15 minutes. Use a webcam or other recording device to monitor progress and start off low, e.g. a minute. If he's distressed within a minute, you're going to have to go even slower. You might even have to start by just spending time walking to the front door and putting your hand on the latch, before leaving it and sitting down again. As with the above desensitization, you need to undo the previous associations he's gained. Next step would be to open the door and close it again, then step outside it, close it, open it straight away and come back in. Then wait outside it for 10 seconds, 20, 30, a minute, etc. - you always want to come back *before* he gets distressed so he learns that it's OK to be left. If you watch back the video and see him getting worried, or hear him whining, you know you need to go back a step. It's tough, and can be emotionally draining, but you will get there.

Products on the market that can help
- Kongs, very useful to leave food down unattended. Many chews can present choking hazards and I don't like to leave mine with a chew on their own, so I have 4 Kongs and I stuff them with their breakfast to leave them when I go to work. Having 2 per dog allows me to either leave two down, or prepare a spare for my OH to put down when he goes off to work too (his working hours vary so it's handy to have a distraction ready for him to leave the dogs)
- activity balls, you can stuff dry food or treats in these and he has to work a bit harder to get food out
- DAP/Adaptil (same stuff, recently changed names). Mimics the pheromones of a mother dog, to calm dogs down. Available as a collar for permanent use, a plug-in diffuser for particular rooms, and a spray to spritz 15 minutes before you leave.
- Pet Remedy plug-in. Similar to the Adaptil diffuser but instead of pheromones, it's essential oils, e.g. valerian oil. Can work where Adaptil doesn't (the thing with all these products is that every dog reacts differently)
- Zylkene, a capsule containing a milk protein to calm dogs. Administered daily, takes a little while to build up in the system but can take the edge off their anxiety
- Calmex. Another capsule but this one is amino acids and B-vitamins. Administered as and when needed, 30-60 minutes before needed, and effects can last 4-5 hours+
- Stressless or other magnesium supplements. The theory behind this is that magnesium deficiency can cause anxiety. Also, stress causes a dog to burn off magnesium more quickly. So a dog that's already deficient could become even more deficient as it stresses out, or the stress could cause a deficiency in a healthy dog
- prescription medication. This will require a vet visit but sometimes it can be necessary to go beyond training and supplements. Clomicalm is one but there are various meds, e.g. Selgian is another. These should be used in conjunction with a behaviour modification plan, it is unlikely that a course of medication will cure the problem, but it will take the edge off a very anxious dog to allow you to deal with the behaviour better

A couple of books worth reading (you can order them onto a Kindle/Kindle app) are "I'll be home soon" by Patricia McConnell (short, lots of information can be found online if you know where to look, but a good basic guide) and my preferred one, "Don't Leave Me! Step-by-step help for your dog's seperation anxiety", very thorough and good value for money IMO.

shegirl

PuppyLove wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I need to advice from you clever people!

My baby beagle is now 4 months old and spoilt rotten. So much so that he now goes mad when we are leaving him alone! He knows the signs when we are going out and refuses to move from the doormat, starts shaking, crying and the other morning was actually sick. Hes only left on his own for about 3 hours a day 3 days a week but it breaks my heart everytime!

Now i have read that beagles hate being left alone and shouldnt really be an only dog. What can i do? Would you get another dog? I would love 2 dogs but was thkning of getting an older rescue but not until the puppy was trained and about 1 year old.

Also i love Cats and have actually been considering getting a kitten, would this be some company for him?

Thanks!

Yep,Beagles are prone to it! With mine,walk and play to help tire him out,crating him before we went out and giving him a peanut butter filled toy before going out helped.He did apparently howl after a while though so I made the mistake of letting him run around the house instead -free reign-came home to him eating my lovely new bedside lamps:rotfl: After that,and he'd become more used to it and as he got older he'd have the living room,hallway and kitchen to roam free in.Treats out if he wanted them,along with favourite toys and the tv on.On the occasions he didn't run to the front door whining in excitement before I'd even got to it to open he'd be laid on the sofa 'watching' tv or fast asleep

I remember asking advice on here for the same thing actually:o:rotfl: Bless those Beagles!! Anyway,we started leaving him for short periods while in a different room,then going outside for a while and coming back in etc to build it up and get him more used to it.

PuppyLove_2

Thanks so much everyone!

He has a 20 minute walk and a play session before we go out, obviously i cant walk him for too much longer than this as he is only young, even though he would love to stay out for much longer! He gets 3 20 minute walks a day at the moment and lots of play sessions and running around in the garden so even this may be too much.

I dont crate him, he didnt get on with it.

I always leave him with lots of toys/chews and a stuffed kong and a ball which dispenses treats when he plays with it. When i am going out though he is NOT interested in treats or toys, he just sits on the mat.......looking at me.....crying

I dont make any fuss when i am going, i just pick him up, put him in the room and shut the door.

Hopefully he will get more used to it as time goes on. I like the idea of playing the tracking games with him tho, how would i go about teaching him to do this? Although hes a beagle sometimes his sense of smell doesnt even seem that great, he never seems to sniff treats out when i have them in my hands lol!

I would love to get a kitten but just think maybe this would be even more work if they didnt get on

PuppyLove_2

Also forgot to say i have an adaptil plug in as well and always leave the radio on for him!

I was going to leave a marrow bone as he loves these but i heard not to leave marrow bones or rawhide chews with thiem unsupervised as they could choke?

Also how often can he have the marrow bones? And once the marrow is gone do you take it away or continue to let them chew on it?

krlyr

I personally wouldn't leave my dog with a bone - I might leave them a large marrowbone when I nip up for a bath (my dog with SA was whining even when I just went upstairs - a behavioursit advised I make every trip out of the room a positive experience, even if it was running upstairs for 30 seconds to fetch something, or going up for a bath) as long as it was large enough that I knew they wouldn't eat the whole thing before I finished (so I could come down and monitor them eating the last bit to ensure they didn't choke)
I don't feed rawhide at all as I don't like the way it get slimy and the dogs try to swallow large chunks, too much of a choking hazard even with supervision. I prefer to feed chews like pizzle sticks, cows ears, etc. (Zooplus is a good shop to check out)
Here are some basic guides for scentwork/tracking, though there are classes and workshops you could attend too.
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6283453_train-dog-scent-detection.html
http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-activities/article_378.aspx

PuppyLove_2

krlyr wrote: »

I personally wouldn't leave my dog with a bone - I might leave them a large marrowbone when I nip up for a bath (my dog with SA was whining even when I just went upstairs - a behavioursit advised I make every trip out of the room a positive experience, even if it was running upstairs for 30 seconds to fetch something, or going up for a bath) as long as it was large enough that I knew they wouldn't eat the whole thing before I finished (so I could come down and monitor them eating the last bit to ensure they didn't choke)
I don't feed rawhide at all as I don't like the way it get slimy and the dogs try to swallow large chunks, too much of a choking hazard even with supervision. I prefer to feed chews like pizzle sticks, cows ears, etc. (Zooplus is a good shop to check out)
Here are some basic guides for scentwork/tracking, though there are classes and workshops you could attend too.
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6283453_train-dog-scent-detection.html
http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-activities/article_378.aspx

Thanks very much! Are you a professional dog trainer or just a very experienced owner? Just curious as your advice is always great!

This is my first dog so im new to everything, hence why im probably asking some silly questions!

Will check out those links and give it a go this weekend!

The bones i got were from pets at home and they were called mini roasties, as they are a bit smaller. Ive also got him a ham bone but havent given that to him yet!

So do you give your dogs bones everyday as well as their normal meals?