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Old 01-23-2009, 04:53 PM   #1
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Default Separation anxiety. Am I doing the right thing?

My 8 month old puppy has separation anxiety that's pretty bad. He's torn up carpet (I made a pic post about this a few months ago lol), he barks (he never barks otherwise), he CRIES and WHINES like no other. It's driving me insane!

I just recently started not letting him out of his crate right when I come home and waits for him to calm down (meaning calm, no whining). I've been home for 30 minutes right now and he hasn't stopped whining ugh! I also stopped allowing him to sleep on my bed. I put him in his crate in another room and my roommate said he heard him crying overnight (I can't hear anything bc I have my fan on full blast). I think I'll keep him in my room tonight just to be respectful of my poor roommate that's been so patient with it all. I'll just keep him in his crate.

Am I doing the right thing to help cure this separation anxiety? Are there any other tips to help out? Thanks!
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Old 01-23-2009, 04:55 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lovemyalfie View Post
My 8 month old puppy has separation anxiety that's pretty bad. He's torn up carpet (I made a pic post about this a few months ago lol), he barks (he never barks otherwise), he CRIES and WHINES like no other. It's driving me insane!

I just recently started not letting him out of his crate right when I come home and waits for him to calm down (meaning calm, no whining). I've been home for 30 minutes right now and he hasn't stopped whining ugh! I also stopped allowing him to sleep on my bed. I put him in his crate in another room and my roommate said he heard him crying overnight (I can't hear anything bc I have my fan on full blast). I think I'll keep him in my room tonight just to be respectful of my poor roommate that's been so patient with it all. I'll just keep him in his crate.

Am I doing the right thing to help cure this separation anxiety? Are there any other tips to help out? Thanks!
well he is really young still. At night he needs to be able to see you- but there is nothing wrong with him being in his crate. Dogs are pack animals and he is crying because he isn't used to sleeping alone- so make sure he can see you.

I'm not sure about the sep. anxiety during the day- i'm sure someone else will come by that can help you- but i'd let him out- he is getting himself worked up and that's not good either. don't pick him up tho until he is calm and then give him lots of loving.
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Old 01-23-2009, 05:14 PM   #3
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yes, i agree that you should let your baby sleep in your room at night, because your puppy wants to be with his pack.

as for the separation anxiety. you can work with him on it. try telling him to wait while you leave the room, and close the door and leave him in your bedroom. and then open the door after a few seconds, reward and lots of praises. then tell him to wait again, and each time leave him in the room a bit longer, and reward him with treats and/or love.

this will allow your puppy to learn that you WILL return! and that it is ok for you to leave.

you don't have to use the word 'wait', you can use whatever word you want, but be consistent with it.

good luck!
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Old 01-23-2009, 05:36 PM   #4
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and i thought bella was bad! u are strong tho for not letting him get over excited, i try to be but i am not
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Old 01-24-2009, 01:33 AM   #5
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Thank you so much! I'm going to keep Alfie in his crate in my room tonight. His separation anxiety breaks my heart. I've done the whole bit where I leave the room for a while and come back five-ten-fifteen minutes later though not consistently.
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Old 01-24-2009, 11:04 AM   #6
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Thank you so much! I'm going to keep Alfie in his crate in my room tonight. His separation anxiety breaks my heart. I've done the whole bit where I leave the room for a while and come back five-ten-fifteen minutes later though not consistently.
yea, the trainging process DOES take a lot of patience and time. i've been meaning to work on it with milu as well, but have not really been consistent either.

it has to be gradual and consistent, and it will take some time. but i believe it will work and help you and your baby.

good luck!
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Old 01-24-2009, 04:00 PM   #7
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I am having this same problem. I leave my little one in the guest bathroom that is basically his room. I set his crate in there, I have an automatic food dispenser so he doesn't 'free feed' all day and puppy pads. Well He flips out while he's in there and barks to no end and gnaws at his pad all day. He has yet to catch on after 5 months that i'll be back home later on. (he's 8 months old)

I guess one day it will click for them both, eh?
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Old 01-24-2009, 08:01 PM   #8
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I am having this same problem. I leave my little one in the guest bathroom that is basically his room. I set his crate in there, I have an automatic food dispenser so he doesn't 'free feed' all day and puppy pads. Well He flips out while he's in there and barks to no end and gnaws at his pad all day. He has yet to catch on after 5 months that i'll be back home later on. (he's 8 months old)

I guess one day it will click for them both, eh?
I dont know. After more than a year and keeping ms Daisy in a crate while we are out, she would not stop going crazy when we left for work. We tried the leave and come back at different shorter intervals and nothing worked. She would always poop in her crate and make a huge mess of herself and her crate. We finally got another yorkie to keep her company and gave her a whole floor to run around on, and its improved the situation a great deal. She still has accidents, but they are much easier to deal with, and there is no poop stuck in her paw pads so she does not need a bath every day. That situation was unworkable. You may try at least letting your yorkie look out a window if possible, I think its less scary than closing them in a bathroom. When we did that, we always used a baby gate and kept the door open.
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Old 01-25-2009, 07:33 AM   #9
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I recently went through this with my 6.5 month Snickers. I dedicated my long weekend (MLK) to resolving this issue and to my surprise it worked. He still dislikes when we leave and will bark a little bit, but huge improvement. Everyone's situation is different, but hope I can help. I had major guilt issues keeping him in a crate all day but now I am better knowing he is safe and will not mess. What we did was, we put him in his crate (crate in an area he could always see us) with his kong stuffed with PB while we were home for 1 hour intervals. 1 hour in 1 hour out. We blocked off all carpeted rooms so his crate w/ blankets was his only soft spot to go to. He needed to nap so eventually he did in the crate. When he was out of his crate we would let him venture on his own and he would play with his toys, run to his potty door etc. Another thing that REALLY helped was we desensitized him with the things that would make him anxious when we left. Such as we would put on our shoes, coat, jingle keys, and open the door to leave but then close it and go watch TV (still dressed for outdoors.) We did this about 20-25 times each day. Soon enough, Snick stopped trying to follow us out the door and if he was in his crate would not even flinch and was uneffected. We still are doing this process this week. But after that long hard weekend of training, this past week was a BREEZE!! No crazy fits, no messy crate, and a much more calm dog. I would highly suggest you leave you pup where you confine him, while you are home. Let him know that place is not just for when you are leaving....for example Snick still has crate time on the weekends now, less, but still important he goes in so he knows we are not always deserting him when he is in.

Good Luck-
-Vivian

Ps...he sleeps with us. I could not bare him in a crate for 6 hours (2 separate-3 hour intervals) during the day and all night...no way!!!
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Old 01-25-2009, 08:59 AM   #10
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I recently went through this with my 6.5 month Snickers. I dedicated my long weekend (MLK) to resolving this issue and to my surprise it worked. He still dislikes when we leave and will bark a little bit, but huge improvement. Everyone's situation is different, but hope I can help. I had major guilt issues keeping him in a crate all day but now I am better knowing he is safe and will not mess. What we did was, we put him in his crate (crate in an area he could always see us) with his kong stuffed with PB while we were home for 1 hour intervals. 1 hour in 1 hour out. We blocked off all carpeted rooms so his crate w/ blankets was his only soft spot to go to. He needed to nap so eventually he did in the crate. When he was out of his crate we would let him venture on his own and he would play with his toys, run to his potty door etc. Another thing that REALLY helped was we desensitized him with the things that would make him anxious when we left. Such as we would put on our shoes, coat, jingle keys, and open the door to leave but then close it and go watch TV (still dressed for outdoors.) We did this about 20-25 times each day. Soon enough, Snick stopped trying to follow us out the door and if he was in his crate would not even flinch and was uneffected. We still are doing this process this week. But after that long hard weekend of training, this past week was a BREEZE!! No crazy fits, no messy crate, and a much more calm dog. I would highly suggest you leave you pup where you confine him, while you are home. Let him know that place is not just for when you are leaving....for example Snick still has crate time on the weekends now, less, but still important he goes in so he knows we are not always deserting him when he is in.

Good Luck-
-Vivian

Ps...he sleeps with us. I could not bare him in a crate for 6 hours (2 separate-3 hour intervals) during the day and all night...no way!!!
good advice!
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Old 01-26-2009, 05:29 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by viviansnickers View Post
I recently went through this with my 6.5 month Snickers. I dedicated my long weekend (MLK) to resolving this issue and to my surprise it worked. He still dislikes when we leave and will bark a little bit, but huge improvement. Everyone's situation is different, but hope I can help. I had major guilt issues keeping him in a crate all day but now I am better knowing he is safe and will not mess. What we did was, we put him in his crate (crate in an area he could always see us) with his kong stuffed with PB while we were home for 1 hour intervals. 1 hour in 1 hour out. We blocked off all carpeted rooms so his crate w/ blankets was his only soft spot to go to. He needed to nap so eventually he did in the crate. When he was out of his crate we would let him venture on his own and he would play with his toys, run to his potty door etc. Another thing that REALLY helped was we desensitized him with the things that would make him anxious when we left. Such as we would put on our shoes, coat, jingle keys, and open the door to leave but then close it and go watch TV (still dressed for outdoors.) We did this about 20-25 times each day. Soon enough, Snick stopped trying to follow us out the door and if he was in his crate would not even flinch and was uneffected. We still are doing this process this week. But after that long hard weekend of training, this past week was a BREEZE!! No crazy fits, no messy crate, and a much more calm dog. I would highly suggest you leave you pup where you confine him, while you are home. Let him know that place is not just for when you are leaving....for example Snick still has crate time on the weekends now, less, but still important he goes in so he knows we are not always deserting him when he is in.

Good Luck-
-Vivian

Ps...he sleeps with us. I could not bare him in a crate for 6 hours (2 separate-3 hour intervals) during the day and all night...no way!!!
Great advice! I'm glad things are working better for you It sounds like you found something that worked!
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Old 01-27-2009, 02:46 PM   #12
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i was watching it's me or the dog this morning. She helped the couple resolve separation anxiety by making the couple wear their coats and go in and out of the door a couple of times. After awhile the dog didn't care anymore and was fine. Charlie has separation anxiety especialy at night time. He won't sleep alone in the living room always want to be in our room. We have been slowly trying to get him to sleep by himself. We have been successful this past two nights. What I did was, I put a little of my body oil moisturizer I used on my bath robe. I put the bath robe on a chair next to his crate so that he thinks he is in our room. Every night, I always say "night night" to him before i go to sleep. So what I do is I turned off the living room lights before saying nite nite to him. He has been good..no barking until 5:30am for his bathroom break then he will bark. He is also his daddy's alarm clock for work. It works perfect for us. Now we have to resolve the separation anxiety when we are not home.
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Old 01-28-2009, 06:04 PM   #13
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Default LOTS of info on net about separation anxiety

I just recently found out my dog had severe separation anxiety. I always knew she barked for (what I thought anyway) was a minute or two when I left - and then the letter came from the condo association.

I used a video camera to record her during the day. What I saw brought me to TEARS. Long story short, she barked herself to exhaustion - in between neurotically pacing back and forth in front of my door, each time she'd get to the wall standing up, then push herself off of it and pace again. All I could think of was a lap swimmer pushing off a wall. She did this one day for over two hours. I was horrified.

I searched the net and there are tons of websites with VERY good information. It's not easy, but where your dog is still young if you start now it will be easier to break them of it. You also need to search being the pack leader. There are a lot of things you do that you don't realize makes them think you are weaker then them, or not their leader which causes a lot of problems, including separation anxiety. If the pack leader is the one that goes searching for food while the others stay behind, and they think THEY are the pack leader...enough said. Mine stemmed from my other dog passing in November. I didn't have Ruby from birth, got her at a year and she's never been without another dog.

I would really recommend reading up on it online.

I HAD to deal with the barking ASAP to avoid fines. I tried anxiety meds, it m was counter-active. She was off the WALL. She barked for three hours straight and I had no choice but to go buy the anti-bark spray collar. That thing has worked WONDERS. In three days, she has gone from barking non stop, to barking once or twice, to not barking at all when i'm not home. I managed to put a pair of big rubber boots in her "spot" where she'd pace and push herself off the wall and it threw her all off, so i've broken her of that. She's SO much more relaxed and calm, it's truly amazing. I really lucked out that she's done so well so quickly. Here are some sites you can check out:
Separation Anxiety in Dogs
Treating Dog Separation Anxiety: Helping Dogs That Are Afraid To Be Home Alone
Separation Anxiety in Dogs, Causes of Separation Anxiety and Cures for Separation Anxiety

Also, read up on the whole pack thing. I've had dogs all my life - and some things I never EVER would have thought of as showing them you aren't the pack leader, such as breaking eye contact first. It was a real eye opener, no pun intended! Good luck.

Last edited by rubydoo; 01-28-2009 at 06:07 PM.
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