Dog barking when i leave the house

slipthru

Luckily she is not to much of a chewer, but will prob leave the camera on the stairs as there is a baby gate at the bottom at the moment.

Krlyr i will take a look at those books you mention.

Kmr1984 the scout cam sounds interesting bet its expensive, will take look at that to.

Took her for an hours walk today, she played with her usual dog friends, but as soon as i got home, gave her the kong and left, she was barking and didn't bother with the kong till i got back 25 mins later, haven't had time to set up the camera yet, but it seems as though she has gotten worse as the kong at least distracted her when i left before. Have only had to leave her once today though thankfully.

Might try something different in the kong tomorrow, to see if i can get her interested again.

Have started the walking out the door and treating treating, which has gone fine so far, but it may have been because the children were around. When i try later will be the proper test as I'm the only one home this evening.

krlyr

If she's used to a Kong, you can extend the time it takes to get through it by freezing it. However, stressed dogs often won't eat, and if it's too challenging she might not want to work through a tougher Kong. You could always stick two Kongs down for now - an easier, unfrozen one, and the tougher one. That way if she's only fancying the unfrozen one, she's at least had something - and can eat the contents of the other Kong later, when it's defrosted.

Just don't forget to adjust her daily meals to account for the extra food - I made 'light' Kongs for mine when I was using them a lot for the separation issues, by mixing some fish with some blended veggies. Yummy enough to eat, but less calories.

krlyr

Also, if this is a sudden change in behaviour, it's well worth a vet check. Mine developed separation issues when we moved house so I assumed it was down to that, but after 6 months of struggling to get solid progress on it, I went to the vet and had bloods done, and we found she had low thyroid levels. Once on medication, her anxiety improved a lot - not a total fix, but it has a massive influence on her behaviour when her thyroid meds need adjusting again.

slipthru

It might have something to do with the kong being too frozen as its been in the freezer a couple of days, where as its usually made an hour or 2 before i have to go out.

Think I'll invest in a large kong next, would be better having 2. I usually just put her normal food in with the occasional treat, will look into other things though as she always seems to get through it quickly.

Shes always barked but we were unaware until we left her one evening and the neighbor finally complained, wish they had months earlier as it may have been easier to sort it had we known earlier.

mtbbuxton

Do you only give her a Kong when she's left? If so, she may associate it with your imminent departure. If this is the case, try feeding her meals in it at other times too to break the negative association. Many dogs won't eat when stressed, so that could also be why it's not touched.

One of our current dogs has Separation Anxiety and we were advised by the Rescue to alter our behaviour patterns so we didn't give off so many signals that we were leaving. Put your coat on and then sit down again, pick up your keys and then put them down, walk to the door but don't go through it and repeat until you're both bored We were also advised to use a different doors to leave the house with our dog and without him - we left through the front door, he came with us through the back door. As far as he was concerned, the outside was only behind the back door
We were also advised to completely ignore him for at least 10 minutes when we came home again. No stroking, no eye contact and no treats until he was completely calm and resting on his bed. Only then did we call him over for fuss on our terms
.
Your dog may also like the security of a den when left. We had a large covered crate for our boy and he loved it. Dogs are naturally den animals, so they don't all perceive it as being locked up. You don't even have to close the door for many dogs, they just like to have somewhere dark and quiet to retreat to. In fact, if you do decide to try a crate, please don't just shut her in it without taking the time to accustom her to it. Leave it set up with a comfy bed in it and let her find it herself. Feed her treats and/or meals in it and make it a nice place to be.

Ultimately it's going to take a bit of time and effort to resolve, but please try not to get cross or frustrated with your girl. Dogs don't have an agenda and don't set out to annoy or wind us up. It may be that your girl is one of those dogs that genuinely needs the company of another dog, but you need to be careful you don't simply magnify the problem and end up with two howling, barking dogs! For the last 6 years we've had two dogs and it hasn't made a jot of difference to our first dogs potential anxiety levels. Thankfully, our girl is very relaxed and doesn't mind our leaving at all. Our boy is much better now, so long as we stick to the "rules" and manage him carefully, but 8 years on he still doesn't like being left and has the potential to be noisy and destructive if we're not careful.

I hope you find a solution for your girl and you're all feeling much happier very soon.

M x

slipthru

Just a quick update, I have been doing the things recommended like putting my cap and coat on and sitting down.

I have managed to progress to walking out of the front door and shutting it but not locking it and walking back in 30 seconds later, hope to get this up to a minute before i try locking the front door.

I've given up on giving kongs on leaving as it no longer works even though i have been using the kong at other times of the day when i'm not leaving her on her own.