Help rescue dog suffering with separation anxiety

toejumper

thanks for your replies, paddypaws101 i have a neighbour from hell unfortunately we haven't spoken in 20 yrs issues over a cat i once had going into his garden. I have now moved max into the utility room for now with a baby gate at the door, i have been putting him in there for a few minutes at a time then letting him out and giving him a treat hoping to lengthen the time very slowly. if i can do this on the days i'm at work i can go out of the front door and he might not even realize ive gone.

krlyr

One thing I found helped was to leave a radio or TV playing in a different room - behind a closed door. The dogs could hear it and I think they thought someone was up there (my OH is into music and our second bedroom is a music room - so the dogs are used to hearing music and knowing OH is upstairs)

GoldenShadow

I am a massive advocate of crate training. Saying that, neither of mine (two retrievers) have access to crates at the moment but that is due to space.

We moved house and my golden just cried and whined and howled intermittently whenever I left him. He was crate trained from 14 months - 2 years but not in the new house. I got his crate back up a couple months into being at the new house and he was instantly happy again. He would settle down and go to sleep without a fuss. I was then able to wean him off his crate again (its 42 inches long and meant he and the other dog were separate), but it was the only thing that helped. It just made him feel safe and secure.

I would love to live somewhere big enough to have crates up 24/7 for them both, preferably in a conservatory or something. Saying that I wouldn't shut them in them when I go out, but they would have free access to them all the time (and with covers on they are very snug and cosy). I started off by feeding the golden in his and then giving him special toys in there and encouraging 'in your bed' and wait commands for a few minutes at a time and before long he was having an hour or so naps in there and would willingly go in and be closed in at night.

Dogs are pack animals and its not about trapping them in, its a den style environment which the vast majority are very content with. Also super helpful if they need an emergency stay at the vets and you can proudly say 'oh he's already crate trained, just tell him 'in your bed' and he'll hop straight in'