Seperation Anxiety

moneymuffin

Hi

Sorry in advance if this goes on a bit (very stressed).

I got a 12 month lab/collie cross 2 weeks ago. He is a fantastic dog in general but we are having a real problem with leaving him at home on his own.

Anyway have been spending a lot of time reading up on things like seperation anxiety and have managed to totally overwhelm/panic myself to the point that I am unable to decide what to do.

He has only ever been left on his own the once for three hours, during this time he broke out of his crate and dug up the living room carpet. Since then have been leaving him for only a few minutes at a time (longest period being 15 minutes) and he just barks and barks none stop, don't think he has had time to do any damage. Obviously we need to be able to leave him for period without worrying about the house being wrecked when we get back.

As I say have been reading so much am now struggling to come up with a consistent approach. I am due to go back to work a week on Tuesday so need to be able to leave him for a while if possible then.

I'm hoping you might be able to offer me some success stories and encouragement to try and focus my mind and decide on what approach to use. I am going to list below what we've tried so far (by this you will probably see that I am panicking and proably trying too many things for not long enough)

Crate - Broke out of this first time we left him in it, worried he might hurt himself in it and that this may be increasing his level of panic. Am willing to try it again if this is generally the best solution.

Pheromone Collar - Has had this about a week, can't really see any improvement but we've bought it so are keeping it on him

Thundershirt - Does not seem to have any effect, we followed the sizing guide and got a large but now wondering if this might be too big and would have been better with a medium for a snugger fit, he was at the low end of the large sizing. Think may be making use of the money back guarantee.

Through a Dogs Ear CD - Does seem to relax him when we're about but no discernable difference when we go out. Think he's so busy barking he can't hear it.

Kong - Have tried filling this with goodies but seems to not bother with it

Lots of Comings and Going - Have been spending a lot of time leaving house and just coming straight back in over the last week, have seen a slight improvement but nothing epic.

Bach Resuce Remedy - Just got this yesterday so has only had a couple of doses so Jury still out.

Serene-Um Tablets - Have bought these but not used, going to see if Rescue Remedy takes the edge off.

Well I think that's the lot. It will probably be time and patience that is needed the most but I suppose as I have to go back to work am probably stressing too much (which won't help I know.

Also I have been doing lots of short periods on his own but other people are saying I need to leave him longer with a view to returning to work. I'm not sure which approach to take. Part of me thinks that if he can't go 5 minutes how is he going to go for a couple of hours and that if I can do lots of short periods that he will get over the initial panic period when we leave and be ok for longer. e.g if he is OK for half an hour he is unlikely to suddenly start panicking after that, whereas if we suddenly leave him for an hour he's going to be in a panicked state and not be able to calm himself down. I suppose what I'm wondering is if there is a case of if they are going to panic they will do it in the first 30 minutes or not at all. Hope this make sense.

Well if you've made it this far, thank you for your patience.

I know there is no magic fix and it is probably time and patience that is needed but I just need some pointers/encouragement/ success stories to point me in the right direction.

Thanks again

zaksmum

Do you know anything of his history before you got him?

My dog also has separation anxiety - he's 5.

I managed to be able to leave him in his crate by first putting him in it with the door open and staying nearby where he could see me. If he tried to get out I'd say "No...stay." and he did.

I made the crate a nice place for him to be. I bought a memory foam offcut to use as a mattress, wrapped in an old duvet cover. He loved it and started to go in of his own accord.

When I let him come out of the crate I gave him a high value treat and praised him.

He did also bust out of his crate in the early days but I made sure he couldn't by reinforcing the latch with cable ties. he accepted it after that.

My daughter tried Serene-Um for Lucy when she was a pup and prone to eating the skirting boards in her house.

Lucy conked out and slept for most of the day so they do work if that's what you want.

Show him any damage he's done and say "What's that? NO!" he'll soon get the message.

Good luck!

moneymuffin

Thank you. It's always nice to know I'm not the only one.

I am still doing crate training with him (quite loosely). I am throwing treats in to encourage him to go in then giving him treats while he stays in there. He also has all his meals and drinks in there without any problem. I'll probably carry on doing this for another week then will think about trying him with the door closed. We have cable tied the side of his cages so hopefully couldn't break out again. I suppose my main aim is to not have to crate him but am keeping my options open in case it is necessary. I like the idea of him having his own little area that he can enjoy and chill out in when we're not around, or even when we are.

krlyr

I dealt with this last year, when moving house seemed to trigger separation anxiety in one of my dogs (despite having another dog for company). A neighbour mentioned that she was barking the whole time we were out - recording her proved that he was pretty much right, it was on and off until we got home. She was also destructive towards exits, so doors and door handles, she broke the babygate chewing through the handle, scratched at the floor under the door, jumped up at the walls by the window, etc.

A book that I found very helpful was Nicole Wilde's "Don't leave me". Patricial McConnell does a good booklet (it's not quite long enough to be a book IMO) called "I'll be home soon" - I did find it repeated a lot of what I'd read online, but at least it does only include the positive stuff (so no punishing the dog for having chewed the doors etc.)

Another thing you might want to look at is the recent channel 4 show, Dogs: Their Secret Lives - it's about separation anxiety and shows some basics on how to tackle it (not that indepth really but it shows a good method using a special bed/blanket and a Kong to recondition the dog to being left alone)
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dogs-their-secret-lives/4od

From my personal experience, and something I wish the TV show had touched on, I would really recommend a thorough health check. Physical examination, possibly even x-rays, plus a full blood panel including as many thyroid levels as possible (not just TSH which is the standard). And also asking to take a look at these results yourself.

After trying to tackle Kiki's separation anxiety (I had bought about every OTC product available for anxiety!), I was beginning to think prescription medication was the only option. However, I wanted to rule out any health issues - the medication can have side effects so it's not something to go into lightly (it also needs to be used alongside a behavioural modification program, so not just a case of popping pills and the dog is fixed). I had heard about hypothyroidism in dogs from various forums I was on, so thought it I was having blood tests done, I might as well have a thyroid panel done too. The results came back as 'in range', but I asked my vet to fax me a copy across, and I looked up the results (which were right at the bottom of the range), and found articles by an American vet specialising in thyroid disease, who believes different dogs have different ideal ranges, and also that dogs can be borderline hypothyroid on paper yet show the classic symptoms. I sent the scan of the results to this vet, who kindly gave her interpretation of the results along with the symptoms and she felt Kiki needed thyroid supplementation. My vets agreed to trial it for 6 weeks, and in half that time she already showed a massive improvement.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an instant fix and even now we're still dealing with some issues caused by the anxiety, and there's still some limitations on when we can leave her (she knows when I'm going to work, and when we're popping out at the weekend..former is fine, latter we're working on and slowly getting there!) but she improved so much, the barking nearly completely stopped within a couple of weeks, the pacing and spinning stopped, and gradually she began to relax more and more (I was still recording her every day and it was great to see the progress).

Whilst some of her behaviour has been learnt, I know a lot of it was down to the thyroid as she began to have an unexplained lapse after 6 months..I went back to the vet and asked for a retest of her levels, and sure enough, she'd dropped to the bottom. Her dose was adjusted, her behaviour improved, and the thyroid levels were back within the ideal range at our checkup retest.

As a result, I really recommend thorough health checks with any behavioural issue, as I have seen first-hand how much it can affect a dog. She didn't even have many of the classic physical symptoms - some weight-gain I'd chalked up to all the Kongs I was giving to try to deal with the issue, some excess moulting I thought was down to the central heating in the new house, a bit less energy which I'd put down to her age and getting a bit calmer (within weeks of treatment it was like she reverted to being a puppy..and when we had the relapse, several family members had commented on her loss of energy again..so I did begin to recognise those symptoms).

There might not be a medical cause behind it, but I would rule it out. I think if I hadn't, I'd still be tackling the worst of the issues even now, because I'd be waging an unrealised battle against a medical condition causing the anxiety (and as the thyroid deteriorates over time, she could have even gotten worse).

Good luck, I know it is frustrating, upsetting, and seems like there's no end in sight. But there are lots of success stories, I found plenty online myself.

I would say not to force the issue, so building up the short periods before trying longer is sensible. I think you'll just go back a step if you try to leave him to 'work through' his stress.

Also, I've been told not to do the treat toss thing with a crate - you want the dog to choose to go inside it, not feel co-erced into it with treats. If you clicker train, ideally you'd click and treat for him looking at the crate, for walking towards it, sticking his head inside it, etc. - then make the criteria a bit harder, so he has to have his head inside for 3 seconds before the click/treat, has to put a paw inside it, etc. - so he's being rewarded for choosing to enter of his own accord.

surfsister

I dog and house sit and am often employed due to this anxiety problem. The tips I have found works are along walk in the morning to tire the dog out, maybe leaving a chewy toy/log/hard bone of mock bone for them to chew on. Also leaving the radio on for company and to prevent loud noises scaring them. I do find that collies are one of the worst breeds for being anxious maybe as they are bred from farm dogs who run all day outside.

Good luck!! maybe as the dog gets older and used to you and your home he may calm down. I had a German shepherd puppy of my own who ate all of the bottoms of my kitchen cupboards when I left him for the first time! Then the lino!! Luckily we were just about to refit the kitchen!

He calmed down eventually into the most lovable and gentle dog ever!! so you may well be fine eventually!!

seven-day-weekend

Also, just walk out calmly and close the door when you go. If you want the dog to go in the crate, do that, but don't make unnecessary fuss. Don't make a big thing about it because this can cause anxiety in dogs so inclined.

any_name_will_suffice

Rocky had terrible seperation anxiety when he was younger- chewing the house and everything in it, howling, soiling, even with our other dog there. We tried everything the behaviourist suggested, and eventually she admitted defeat and suggested kennelling him in the garden (we never did this).

We had always tried to confine him- downstairs at our last house as it was open plan.

He is incredibly good at breaking out of things- stair gates, inward opening doors and high fences have never been a problem for him, and all he ever wanted to do was get back to me.

We had tried everything that had been suggested to us, and then my circumstances changed, I moved with Rocky (leaving the other dog) into a new house.

I tried confining him in the kitchen, that went horribly wrong, and he destroyed the doors and door frame. He was really stressing out.

I was seriously considering rehoming him, as it was breaking my heart to think about how stressed and upset he must have been.

In a final attempt to keep him, I bit the bullet and gave him free reign of the house (dog proofing it first to make it safe), and bought a DAP diffuser. Something seemed to help, as overnight his behaviour changed, and I remember coming home to find him appear, blinky eyed, at the top of the stairs- he had been fast asleep on my bed!

I am not suggesting giving your dog free reign of the house will necessarily help (and don't want to feel responsible if you do and it goes badly:eek:).

Other things to think about-

Leaving a kong- although Rocky won't touch his if he is stressed about being left
Leaving something with your scent on it (that you don't mind being chewed!). You could sleep in an old tshirt or something and then leave it for the dog- Rocky loves my pyjamas!
Not making any fuss as you go out. Go through your usual getting ready routine, get the kong ready and then sit down and ignore the dog for a while. Then when he is settled, put the kong down and walk out without making any fuss or talking to him.
I wouldn't suggest leaving the radio or tv on, you have no control over what noise might come from it!
We unplugged or turned off the ringer in the house phone so he wouldn't hear that ring.
On your return, ignore the dog and any mess. Rocky would run around making stressed noises, and I didn't acknowledge him until he was lying down calmly.
When everything is calm, quietly go around tidying up any mess. I again didn't acknowledge the dog while I was doing this, and don't let your body language or tone of voice show if you are upset, when you walk in the door or while you are cleaning up.
A good exercise before you leave the dog- including some training to help tire out his mind, and off lead exercise if you can- a tennis ball chucker is good for this!

any_name_will_suffice

We did eventually start confining Rocky in a crate when he had an injury. To begin with he hated it, and the first time I went out I came home to him physically shaking. Again, we made sure he had his bed (we out the crate in the place his bed has always been in the kitchen) his bunny (don't ask!) and some pyjamas for scent, as well as a kong- it was a good job we bought a humongous crate! I also bought a refill for the DAP diffuser.

You could try putting his food bowl in his crate at dinner times without closing the door so he associates it with something positive.
We now have a blanket over half the crate, so it stops any draft and blocks out the morning sunlight, but I think Rocky quite likes having a 'den'.

I also leave the light on if it is going to get dark while we are out. I worry that although dogs can't tell the time (apart from dinner time!) when it goes from light to dark he will feel like he's been on his own for ages.

When we were getting him used to the crate, we never told him to get in it. I waited until he was lying in his bed, then without any fuss, closed the door and walked out the room. Then when I walked back in, again without any fuss, opened the door. Sometimes I closed the door without going anywhere other than pottering round the kitchen before opening it again, just to get him used to the idea of being confined.

Mulder00

Oh my goodness, so glad to know we're not alone.

We've got two dogs, they are 10 and the separation anxiety has gone on for as long! Have tried everything, but I can see the one is still very upset even if left alone for 20 minutes.

I've tried everything mentioned, Serene-um (did nothing), Rescue Remedy (have used this for two years now, but really pointless as it's doing nothing), Thundershirts (I stop using these in summer, but they seem to make a slight difference, but will have to see because the SA just seems to be getting worse each year).

The only thing that makes leaving okay is to leave them with Jumbones as they don't notice me leaving then, but this unfortunately creates that routine which we want to break.

Moving soon, so worried that they will freak out and we will make bad neighbours with the barking. Have found the next thing I'm going to try...called Zylkene. (And a bunch of new toys...)
.0

mtbbuxton

I know you've read a lot but I'm going to post links to the advice section of the Rescue I help. They are specifically written for this type of situation and more importantly, the advice works

Read this one first and it may help you see where you might have gone wrong - it's easily done and not a criticism at all.
http://greyhoundgap.proboards.com/thread/29756/new-hound-home

Then have a look here for some simple, effective advice on addressing the issue.
http://greyhoundgap.proboards.com/thread/29758/okay-late-seperation-anxiety

We had a few settling issues with our first lurcher who has a healthy dose of collie in his mix, but by following this advice he soon relaxed into family life.
Good luck to you both and hopefully your dog will learn to settle alone and be happier.

M x