Dog with separation anxiety

Sazzarella

I need some help from seasoned dog owners re:separation anxiety. I'll admit this is my first dog and I really didn't think it would be this problematic :eek: but would love some help to fix it.

We have a 7month old mini dach with separation anxiety. I already worked FT and last month my husband moved from PT to FT so there is some amount of time that the dog is on his own now. We leave about 7.45am and currently my mum picks him up at 12pm.

I've been recording him to see what happens and he is vocal for about the first hour after we leave. His crate is in the livingroom with his bed in it, my husband walks him at 6.30am and we leave the TV on when we go. I've tried the DAP plugin, KalmAid tablets, Thundershirt, one of my tshirts in his crate, kongs, toys. Nothing seems to change the fact that he will cry for at least an hour.

We have an XL crate and we put a puppy pad in it (he's trained to pee on pads atm as we live in a flat but we're moving to a house with a garden next month). For the past month he's been using the puppy pad in the crate but now he's not bothering and peeing in his bed

Are we doing something wrong? Is there anything else we can try?

Obligatory pet photo for your pleasure

danih

Your dog is georgeous!!!

We have 2 dogs. Max suffers from separation anxiety. We've never been able to completely clear this. He was 2 years old when we got him and there were issues with his previous owner.

You have tried all the most obvious things. I only have one idea - if you google dog TV you'll find programs specifically designed for dogs. It doesn't work with all dogs. Max is oblivious unfortunately, but Teo, who is super confident loves it. He'll happily watch (and woof at ) Doggie Tv - and any human TV with animals (also crawling babies, elderly / disabled people with walking aids, any human that can loosely be described as using an extra leg or 2.)

Best of luck - hope he settles.

artbaron

Can't advise on the core issue I'm afraid because my dog loves his 'me' time, but I'd recommend stopping putting his pad in his crate. Once he's associated his crate with toileting it will be very difficult to retrain him to stop it and the distinct between his pad and his bed will become more and more blurred in his mind (like it appears to have done already). It's far better to let him have the run of a room with the pad outside the crate.

Sazzarella

danih wrote: »

Your dog is georgeous!!!

We have 2 dogs. Max suffers from separation anxiety. We've never been able to completely clear this. He was 2 years old when we got him and there were issues with his previous owner.

You have tried all the most obvious things. I only have one idea - if you google dog TV you'll find programs specifically designed for dogs. It doesn't work with all dogs. Max is oblivious unfortunately, but Teo, who is super confident loves it. He'll happily watch (and woof at ) Doggie Tv - and any human TV with animals (also crawling babies, elderly / disabled people with walking aids, any human that can loosely be described as using an extra leg or 2.)

Best of luck - hope he settles.

Thanks for the suggestion, hadn't heard of doggy TV before

artbaron wrote: »

Can't advise on the core issue I'm afraid because my dog loves his 'me' time, but I'd recommend stopping putting his pad in his crate. Once he's associated his crate with toileting it will be very difficult to retrain him to stop it and the distinct between his pad and his bed will become more and more blurred in his mind (like it appears to have done already). It's far better to let him have the run of a room with the pad outside the crate.

We have tried leaving him out of the crate, unfortunately he chewed the veneer off the kitchen door and peed on the laminate anyway. We live in private rented accommodation so can't really chance him chewing the place up as its not ours

krlyr

I imagine it's not a case of him choosing not to use the pad, but that he's just not even really thinking about it. I find the best way to think about separation anxiety is like a phobia - if the dog were thinking rationally, they wouldn't be barking, howling, etc., his peeing in the bed is just another symptom of SA like the vocalism and destructive behaviour.

The first episode of the TV series Dogs: Their Secret Lives might be worth a watch if you didn't see it first time around. It doesn't go really into depth but gives a good base understanding, and they do show a method of training a dog to manage to cope on its own.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dogs-their-secret-lives/4od#3624538

Sounds like you've tried quite a few things already so I'll try not to repeat things. Howver, have you had a thorough vet check done? Unlikely to be medical at his age, but worth checking there's no underlying condition contributing, such as pain. My Rottie x turned out to have hypothyroidism, it was diagnosed after 6 months of trying to battle her separation anxiety in a similar way to how you have been, and she improved a lot once on medication for it.

You've tried a lot of products, but have you done much in the way of behavioural modification? Desensitization to leaving cues, e.g. picking up keys, putting them down, putting on shoes and coats for a bit and taking them off etc. to negate their meaning?

Ideally, you wouldn't be leaving him for any longer than he can cope with - if this is only 5 minutes at the moment, you need to be only leaving him for 4. I know it's tough when you work fulltime though, but try to find ways to work around it. I managed to get some time off, then do half days working from home (with OH's work timetable it meant one of us was home), and then roped in family and friends to help by either popping over to stay with the dogs, or me dropping the dogs to them for the evening/day. By avoiding leaving him, he's not experiencing the fear of being alone, it gives him a chance to 'detox' from the stress, and for you to reintroduce him to being left alone bit by bit, at his own pace. Other options could be doggy creches or petsitters.

You mention exercise, but well worth looking at the kind of exercise you're providing. I found that high energy exercise like playing fetch worsened Kiki's anxiety - it left her with a build-up of adrenaline, which excerbated the stress. Switching to nosework by throwing her toy (or some treats) into grass to hunt out meant it was a more calming activity for her. Brain training games are a good way to provide mental exercise to tire a dog out in a short period of time - a 10 minute clicker training session in the morning will help tire him out. I tailored our sessions to her separation issues too, for example we worked on 'settle' a lot (different to a cue to send the dog to bed - you actually teach them to relax on a bed by rewarding each stage of relaxation, so firstly going on the bed, then sitting on it, laying down, resting their chin on the bed, etc.). Working on her self-control helped too - although teaching 'leave it' or to not dash through doorways may not seem related to separation anxiety, teaching self-control can help the dog to learn that bit more control when being left alone.

A couple of products I had a bit more success with was Calmex - an oral supplement, you give a short period before it's needed, and I'm now using Melatonin on occasions (she's a lot better than she used to be but can relapse when her thyroid levels drop). They do really vary from dog to dog - I find DAP stresses Kiki out, but a friend swears by a pheremone collar for her dog with other anxiety issues (not DAP but similar), so it's worth trying a variety.

I also found that by recording her on webcam, I could see what worked and what worsened her, for example she was at her worst when confined to one room with a babygate, but calmed down more when allowed run of the downstairs. I could see on the video that she was watching through the window waiting for me to arrive, which wound her up, so tried with the blinds shut and that helped her too.

Some books I'd recommend
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ill-Home-Soon-Separation-Anxiety-ebook/dp/B001CSLJR2/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1403955614&sr=8-8&keywords=patricia+mcconnell - short but concise

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leave-Step-Step-Separation-Anxiety/dp/0981722733 - much more indepth, this was the one I used mainly when tackling it with Kiki

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Treating-Separation-Anxiety-Malena-Demartini-Price/dp/1617811432 - not read this one through the whole way (bought it out of curiousity after having tackled the bulk of the issues), but it was highly recommended to me and seems great from what I've read.

Sazzarella

krlyr, thanks for you're post. I hadn't seen that program so I watched it this morning. I didn't think he was doing it to be naughty but it deffo shows some insight into why he does it. Its more of a high pitched whine that he does which according to that program means he's scared and thinks he's in danger which is really sad. I will try the training they done on the show as I can't leave the room on my own atm so would be good to learn that one.

I haven't mentioned to the vet about it yet, actually he got castrated last week and I asked my OH to ask about it and he forgot! So I might need to make another appointment but as far as they're aware he's happy and healthy.

Haven't done much with desensitsing him although he doesnt seem stressed when I'm doing these things and he's generally happy in his bed/crate as long as we are there but maybe thats also something we need to work on. According to the recordings I've done he is quiet for the first 5 minutes and then whines his head off for the next hour.

He is gorgeous and generally a happy little guy, if only I never had to leave the house lol

Astara

My mini dachshund puppy also has separation anxiety and I was wondering about trying melantonin. How do you use it krlyer and when do you give it to your dog. I don't leave him on his own very often because I work from home but I'd like him to be more relaxed when I do go out. Sorry I can't suggest anything new for you Sazzarella.

krlyr

Astara wrote: »

My mini dachshund puppy also has separation anxiety and I was wondering about trying melantonin. How do you use it krlyer and when do you give it to your dog. I don't leave him on his own very often because I work from home but I'd like him to be more relaxed when I do go out. Sorry I can't suggest anything new for you Sazzarella.

The dosage I've seen is "Up to 16kg - 1.5mg, 16-45kg - 3mg, 45kg+ - 6mg, all up to three times a day"

You can buy it in capsule form and either feed the capsule whole (mine is on other medication she can't have with food, so was trained to take a tablet popped on the back of her tongue - I do this with the capsules too) or sprinkled onto food.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/melatonin-side-effects-in-dogs.html may be worth a read

Astara

Thanks kryler that's useful to know.

Marshmallow82

I have ended up with a MD (edinburgh too, maybe they're related?) from a relative who works. She was leaving dog in all day the dog was very distressed and crying on the webcam. We all told her you can't get a dog if you work but she wouldn't listen. I was the only one who could take as I work from home.

Funnily enough, dog now regards my cat as the master and is devastated when she goes out the catflap, howling til she comes back in. Dog is indifferent to me going out as long as cat is in.

I think they're just dogs that can't be left alone at all

Sazzarella

Marshmallow82 wrote: »

I have ended up with a MD (edinburgh too, maybe they're related?) from a relative who works. She was leaving dog in all day the dog was very distressed and crying on the webcam. We all told her you can't get a dog if you work but she wouldn't listen. I was the only one who could take as I work from home.

Funnily enough, dog now regards my cat as the master and is devastated when she goes out the catflap, howling til she comes back in. Dog is indifferent to me going out as long as cat is in.

I think they're just dogs that can't be left alone at all

He came all the way from Devon so probably not. I didn't realise it was gonna be quite like this although Ive been recording him the last few days and he seems to be getting better. Only barking for 30ish mins and then going to sleep/playing with his toys. Thats still 30 mins of barking/whining though. Thankfully the way my OH shifts work its only 3 days a week and my mum's been helping out by coming to pick him up. Its like having kids, I can't even go to the loo by myself lol! I think moving to a house with a garden will help with the peeing as we're gonna do away with the puppy pads completely. Still, thats a month away.