Separation Anxiety

WolfSong2000

Hey guys,

Hoping some of you can offer some suggestions...

As I mentioned in another thread, I have taken on a 1 year old lurcher as an emergency foster. Lovely, sweet dog, but he has had a bit of a rough time of it recently and as such has become far too attached to me. The attachment issues vary depending on how stressed he is (he was attacked by other dogs this morning on a walk, so is now totally neurotic and following me from room to room - when I left the house he went totally mad and started destroying anything he could reach (luckily nothing valuable). This is a new behaviour from him and I am sure it is down to stress, but I want to nip it in the bud.

At the moment I am working on separating us within the house for very short periods (usually a minute) and then returning, so he realises I am not going to leave...this had been working, until I had to leave him in the car to feed friends dogs yesterday, when he went mental, and then friends dogs attacked him on walk this morning. I have now said to friend I am not visiting her place whilst I have him, and we are not walking together whilst I have this dog, either. It's not safe for him and it stresses him out. Plus I am the one dealing with the fall-out.

Friend is the one who rescued him initially until her dogs turned on him, which is when I took him on temporarily. She called me at 7am this morning asking I walk with her, and against my better judgement (she has been going through a rough time) I did...now bitterly regretting it, obviously.

Anyhow, other than going back to square one with the training (short periods of separation) and trying to minimise stress (which is going to be interesting as I have to drive to pick someone up from the airport today - dog will be coming with - and attending a memorial service tomorrow, which wont be happening unless I can find someone to look after him) does anyone have any suggestions?

For the record he's not too bad at night...he barked a little last night, but I think that was just stress. It's just being separated from me during the day that seems to drive him loopy.

krlyr

Firstly, I would search the pet forum as there's several threads on separation anxiety - seems a few of us have had to deal with it!

Secondly, I would buy Nicole Wilde's "Please don't leave me" book - it's available on Kindle so you could start reading it today (you can download a Kindle program for computers if you don't have a Kindle or smartphone either). It's very in-depth, I found it to be the best book on the market.

Dealing with the behaviour, you're right in taking baby steps, trying to avoid leaving him alone whenever possible (as it will set him back and allow him to rehearse the unwanted behaviour), work on it bit by bit at his pace.

Something shown on the recent TV show "Dogs: Their Secret Lives (watch on catchup here, it's about separation anxiety - http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dogs-their-secret-lives/4od ) is to buy a blanket/bed you use specifically for 'alone training'. You put the blanket down, sit nearby and give the dog a yummy stuffed Kong. Once the Kong is empty, you put the bed away. Once the dog is used to that, you then repeat but take 1 step away from the dog. Increase to 2 steps, 3 steps, etc. but only if the dogs is not distressed. You build up to leaving the room (door open) and returning straight away, leaving the room for a few seconds, leaving for a while, shutting the door, etc. The idea of the specific blanket is that you're giving the dog this physical cue for this new behaviour, i.e. being relaxed when you're gone. It helps differentiate from the behaviour he has currently learnt. I've heard of it done in different ways, e.g. a certain ornament you put on the mantle piece when you feed the Kong, or a post-it note stuck on the fridge/TV, etc., basically it's to show the dog "The blanket is down/note is on the TV, it's time to relax and eat your Kong"


There are lots of products on the market for general anxiety and separation anxiety. They won't work equally for every dog, so you will have to try them and see.

Supplement products like Zylkene (given daily to build up in the system), Calmex (given a few hours prior to stressful event, e.g. firework night), Stress-Less (magnesium supplement - magnesium deficiencies can cause anxiety, and anxiety will deplete the body of magnesium, so a vicious circle there), herbal supplements like valerian and skullcap (available in products for dogs, or human supplements you could work out the right dog dosage for) and so on may help. I found Zyklene not to have much effect on mine, but Calmex did make a small difference, I know some find valerian brilliant - try one at a time, trial for a short period and see what helps.

You can get 'environmental' products, e.g. diffusers that release pheromones or herbal extracts into the room to calm the dog, like Adaptil or Pet Remedy. These products can be available as sprays or collars for the dogs to wear too. There are music CDs, with songs apparently tested and shown to be more relaxing to dogs. Classical musical is supposed to help too - I left Classic FM on for my dogs and I don't know if it was a coincidence, but I think it did help!

There are also products like the Thundershirt, a tight-fitting 'coat' type product that works on pressure points. A bit like swaddling a baby to calm it, or hugging an autistic person, the pressure helps calm them. You do need to introduce them gradually, but the idea is that the dog wears the Thundershirt and it helps to keep them calm. It would be an aid alongside your training really.

You may also want to look at the diet. Some foods can worsen behavioural issues - the cheap, highly coloured foods often are the culprit for some behaviour issues, but dogs can react strangely even to better quality foods. I know someone who noticed a direct correlation between behaviour issues in her dogs and feeding Pro Plan food - which isn't the cheapest.
And there are some foods that may have positive reaction. For example, porridge is apparently given to racing greyhounds to calm them down as something in the oats has a mild sedative effect. It's something I tried and I do think there was a mild improvement when I fed porridge for breakfast! I also made sure to feed meaty bones (mine are raw-fed anyway) and also feed the majority of food in Kongs - this doesn't just take the dog longer to eat (I freeze their mince in Kongs so it takes 25-30 minutes to empty) which is good when you're building up the time you leave a dog, but also licking and chewing produces endorphins to help the dog's emotions.

There's also the vet route. Vetscan prescribe medication for separation anxiety, I think Selgian and Clomicalm are the more common ones. They are not without side effects (not just behavioural but they can have physical side effects too), and should always be used in conjunction with a behavioural program rather than expecting them to be a solution on their own. Research the medication carefully - there are some sedatives available that aren't the nicest, e.g. ACP can have a physical sedative effect but often leaves the dog mentally alert. They experience the same emotions, yet are physically unable to express them, which can make the anxiety worse.

Also with the vet thing, I would stress the importance of a thorough vet check. Not just a "oh, he was there for his boosters last month and they listened to his heart", but a full physical examination of all joints etc., possibly even x-rays, and a full, comprehensive blood panel (including all thyroid levels).

I didn't go down this route straight away, but after 6 months of up and down improvements and relapses, I went to my vet with the possibility of asking for prescription meds. I wanted to rule out any health issues first though - either contributary factors to her behaviour, or issues that might rule out using the medication. When her thyroid panel came back, it showed low levels that were consistant with her mild symptoms of hypothyroidism. We trialled treatment and her separation anxiety improved massively within weeks. I don't think it was the sole cause - we're still not perfect with her being left, despite her thyroid levels being ideal now, but it's certainly related - she had another lapse with the separation issues and when I went to the vet and had her thyroid levels checked, they had dropped below ideal and her dose needing adjusting. So I definately think it's something that contributed majorly to the issues, and I think I was fighting a losing battle until we went to the vets about it, so I'd always recommend doing it a bit sooner than I did to others with the issue. Her physical symptoms were so mild I'd chalked them up to other things - thinking the weight gain was because of the Kongs I was feeding, the excess moulting because of the central heating, the anxiety out on walks because of the separation anxiety at home, the drop in energy levels down to getting older and calmer, etc. but these all improved on her Soloxine.

It's not just hypothyroidism that can cause behavioural issues though. Kiki was also recently diagnosed with tendonitis in her shoulder, a condition that flares up every once in a while, calms down a bit but can cause discomfort, and now she's on treatment her reactivity with dogs has improved massively. So whilst she wasn't in enough pain to be showing major signs, it obviously was affecting her enough to cause the reactivity.

Good luck. It is hard work, but you will come out the other side of it eventually. We've gone from Kiki barking on and off the whole time we left the house (whether it was 3 hours, half an hour, 5 minutes!), chewing door handles, scratching the floor, and pacing non-stop, to being able to leave her for work and she'll eat her breakfast, go to bed and then sleep most of the time.

I use a program on my laptop called Debut Video Capture to record her when left - I was doing it daily, and the software allows you to record for however long you like (so not limited to 30 minutes or so). I initially watched it through - you may spot triggers for the behaviour, like we realised she was barking at a certain time each morning and it turned out to be the same time my nan (she lives opposite) was leaving her house in the morning. I think the dogs recognised her car door noise and thought she was visiting, as we'd not long moved to this road so prior to that they only heard my nan when she came over. Noticing that trigger allowed us to make the changes, e.g. my nan made sure to close her door quietly!

It's also great to record to watch the progress. It's a frustrating progress that seems like it's never going to end, but being able to go back and watch how she was on week 1, versus how she was on week 6, and then knowing how she was on week 12 was great, as you really could see the improvement.

WolfSong2000

Thanks for the detailed reply - will definitely try some of your suggestions.

I have no intention of keeping the dog (called Red, by the way). I just took him on as an emergency as he needed to be seen by a vet after the first time he was attacked as he was limping (turned out to be just bruising, but not looking forward to the vet bill!). I have spent the last week housebound (due to his anxiety) and desperately trying to find a home for him. He's a lovely dog, very sweet natured, just very stressed at the moment from being moved about and attacked, so I can't blame him, really.

Food wise he's fine now - on good quality dry food and naturediet as his original dry food was utterly c*ap. I think it is literally just stress that's caused this issue to arise, and once he settles into his forever home he should be fine. His first owner (the one my friend rescued him from) left him cooped up in a tiny room with next to no exercise, so it's a miracle he's as stable and friendly as he is.

As for the king idea...I like it, but he's not remotely food/treat driven. He picks at his food throughout the day and I have tried giving him treats like Dentastix (he has awful breath, probably due to the poor food he's been on) and he'll take them, but just wander off and drop them somewhere and forget about them. His only motivation is praise (verbal and physical), which is probably one of the reasons behind his anxiety.
Next challenge will be leaving him in the car whilst I fill up with petrol...hopefully the forecourt will be quiet so no one will be bothered by his barking *sighs*.

mtbbuxton

I'm going to post links to the advice section of the Rescue I volunteer for, which just happens to be a greyhound and lurcher rescue . They are specifically written for this type of situation and more importantly, the advice works

Read this one first for advice on settling in a hound - I know Red's been with you a little while, but it's still relevant.
http://greyhoundgap.proboards.com/thread/29756/new-hound-home

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

We had a few settling issues with our first lurcher but by following this advice he soon relaxed into family life. The Rescue Remedy in particular was a Godsend and really made a difference to him. You can get it in a spray bottle for easier administration.

Regarding Red's pickiness with food, I'd be inclined to control when he gets fed rather than free feeding or leaving him to his own devices. Put the food down and leave for 10 minutes. If not eaten, lift and don't feed again until the next meal is due. He may take a day or two to cotton on, but he won't starve himself. Doing this then gives Red a couple of highlights to his day and his meals become something to look forward to. It might also make a kong more of a treat too.
Good luck to you both and hopefully Red will learn to settle alone and be happier.

M x