Pooping and Peeing-----Separation Anxiety HELP!!
 

I have a 7 year old male yorkie who has horrible anxiety and separation anxiety. We got him when he was 3, and his previous owners had only told us that they were looking for a home with someone home with him during the day since he had anxiety. We didn't find out the extent of it until after we got him and had fallen in love with him. He has horrible separation anxiety! Whenever we leave, he gets extremely anxious and ends up peeing and/or pooping on the floor. Then, because he paces, he tracks the poop EVERYWHERE. We have been dealing with this for so long, and I feel like we have tried everything training and medication wise to help with his anxiety with nothing working. It's to the point where I feel trapped in my house because if I leave him to go grocery shopping for an hour, I come home to a mess to clean up. I have a 9 month old baby now, and trying to clean poop or pee off the floor whenever I come home is not convenient. We have the potty pads down, but even if he uses them he still walks through it so it ends up all over anyways. Anybody have this issue, and figured out a solution?? We've tried medications and natural remedies to help with his anxiety in hopes it would help with this issue, but he has side effects that just make it worse. Please tell me there is a solution?!? I'm thinking of putting a diaper on him in hopes that it will at least contain the mess. Washing him in the tub when I get home sounds easier than cleaning our floors when I get home. Also, we've tried crating him in a crate, like they say to do, and that was an even bigger mess to try to clean out all the crevices because he still went in there, and had it ALL over him and the entire crate :(

Have you consulted with a vet? Maybe he needs something to calm him. I really feel for you.

Thanks for your reply! I have consulted with a vet over the past couple years, and he's been put on a few different anxiety medications but none seemed to help, and he had side effects to all of them :(

What a sad situation. It appears that you truly care about this guy. You may have to confine him to an x-pen while you're gone. Although, he will still be able to poop and walk around in it, the mess will be confined to a small area. Can he be crated?

Robot Check Just read your last sentence about crates. Ok, no crates. But an x-pen may work for him. If all else fails, I would probably try the diaper solution. I'm not sure if this would stay on him though.

He needs a playmate .....my personal opinion is.... get another Yorkie....:)

Firstly I sympathize because I have raised my dog from a puppy and he displayed separation anxiety from four months old. It's hard and it seems like you really care for him which is great.

Have you used a behaviorist yet?

Oh my...poor little guy. He sounds so scared when you leave him all alone..

It's too bad that the crate won't work on him - it sounds like the anxiety has taken over the normal desire to keep his sleeping area clean.

Hmm..if I were in yours shoes, I'd use the x-pen as others have suggested so that the pee/poo is contained in a smaller area. And I agree to put a puppy diaper on him as well so the clean-up is less difficult for you. But before you start with the x-pen....

Couple nosy questions: how is he when you're around? Is he relaxed? Or still freaking out? Does he start crying/whining/barking as soon as he knows you're leaving or only after you leave? Or is he quiet but just pees/poops everywhere?

Though it sounds like you have quite a lot on your hand with a baby, I would think it's worthwhile to try to fix the anxiety issue instead of just putting on a band-aid. I don't know how long I could tolerate cleaning up pee/poop everywhere on a daily basis :( If you're able to find the time each day, even just 10-15 minutes a day, try conditioning him to learn to love being in the x-pen (ie. try to not have him associate x-pen as something bad and then turning into a place where he freaks out and wants to pee/poop). Make him LOVE this safe place. AND that you're always going to come back :D :D :D

So.....I'm not sure what your schedule is like, because this obviously won't work if you need to work or go out everyday...

But IF you have the time, this is what I would personally try on a daily basis to positively reinforce his love of the x-pen:

1. put him in the x-pen, play with him make happy noises with your best minnie-mouse voice, play with him with his toys for like 10 minutes, and then walk out of the room for 10 minutes. Even better would be to pretend to leave your house and close the front/garage door (ie fake being "gone"). *Pray he won't pee/poop in 10 minutes with you gone. If he does...then try just 5 minutes.

2. then come back, "SURPRISE!! Mommy's back!! Wooohoooo everything is A-okay!! Parrrrrty time! Wooooooohooo~~~~" And give him some yummy treats.

3. then, be in the room and do your usual stuff for a bit, but ignore him. If he makes crying noises, try to ignore him for a bit. Only once he quiets down, go back to him. I think it'd be good for him to relax in his x-pen while you're around and not freak out. Repeat Step 1 and 2.

4. Finished for now with the x-pen! Let him out of the x-pen and then do your usual stuff, let him roam, follow you around or whatever.

I'd say do this once or twice a day (morning and evening?) for a few weeks. They're really smart and eventually he'll learn that you're actually not gone that long and you WILL come back!

For the first few days be "gone" for 10 minutes. Then the next few days, increase your "gone" time to 15 or 20 minutes (hopefully he won't poop with you being gone for that long). Then increase it to 1 hour (or whatever you're comfortable with) and so on. OH! And since you have a baby, you must have a baby monitor - hehe you can watch him while you're away! Gradually increase to a couple hours, so you can actually go out and buy groceries or run errands. And then before you know it, hopefully, he'll be okay to be left along for more than a couple of hours. Just make sure you treat him every time you're back so that he learns that waiting patiently at home, means eventually you come home AND he gets yummy treats!

In addition to the above steps, I would also try to feed all his meals in his x-pen so that it's ingrained in his mind that this x-pen is an AMAZING place to be.

I know it's much easier said than done. You'll really have to be very consistent to do this every day and be super patient. Anyway, this is just what I'd do. If you manage to try it out, I really hope it works out!!

Sorry, just to add to my long post. Don't treat him when you get back to him and he's peed or pooped. Don't yell at him either. Just be neutral about it and clean it up. And then try again with being gone for a shorter period. He should only get treats when he's been good boy and no pee and no poop :);):D

Just to add onto that excellent post!

Use the monitor (I am assuming it has video) to see if he is calm. Time your return with calm behaviors on screen, like laying down. This avoids rewarding stressed and anxious behaviors by accident.