how to aleviate Separation Anxiety?
 

bunjee hardly ever barks or cries when i'm around, but whenever i'm away, he's just one crying machine. is there anyway i can help aleviate the crying from separation anxiety? one of my neighbors is complaining about the crying.

They sure do miss us when we're gone. What I do when I leave is not to make a big deal about it same for when I get home. Also you may try leaving a TV or radio on when you leave and some special treat or toy for only when you're gone. I hear kongs are good for this although I've have'nt tried one yet. Good Luck :animal36

I always leave the radio on for my two when I go out and if it is dark I always leave the light on.
Kongs are excellent at keeping them busy while your out.
Fill with peanut butter or pate for a quick and easy filling or of course you could choose a messier filling :D

Teddys are another good comfort for them as they can snuggle up to them :)

When I go out mine always sleep in their crates as I feel this helps them feel secure.

Hope this helps

Sharon,Charley & Melody.

I agree:

1. Never ever make a big deal when you leave or come home. Don't say good bye, don't acknowledge your puppy when you get home. Just leave and just come, as if you went to the garage or outside for a few minutes. No big deal.

2. Keep the puppy confined in a very small area or preferably in a crate. The more confined they are the more secure they feel when alone.

3. Turn the radio on or the TV on. I would suggest putting on a channel where you know there will not be dogs barking or loud noises. (We always put our TV on HGTV - lots of talking but very little excitement) We have noticed when we are watching Animal Planet that when there is animal activity such as meowing or barking, Millies does react to it as if it is coming from outside. She will also react to loud noises and doorbell ringing, so we keep it on HGTV.

Here is a link to a truly excellent article on separation anxiety. I hope you will read it as it really is good.

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002/sa.htm

Good luck!

http://home.gci.net/~divs/behavior/bemod_depart.html
Here is another link for you

[QUOTE=Ladylavender]I agree:

1. Never ever make a big deal when you leave or come home. Don't say good bye, don't acknowledge your puppy when you get home. Just leave and just come, as if you went to the garage or outside for a few minutes. No big deal.

I agree!!! and the sites given were excellent. I might add one more thing
I did when I was trying to get my first yorkie not to be upset when I left.
I tried to get her to want me to leave lol. Well it's better than thinking of her being upset all the while I was gone. She loved the little bil jac liver treats...so I gave her one only when I left but I didn't make a big deal out of and for sure didn't say much coming into the house again. It didn't take long and Molly was so happy to see me go, you just would not believe it. That was the only time she got a liver treat for the remaining of her life ( of course she got other things) now and then and yet I am not big on treats.

That's a really good idea with the treats Joan :)
Sharon,Charley & Melody xx

Great article! Alot of the dogs that come into rescue(I am a volunteer and foster), have problems with sep. anx. , amitriptyline really works , as does clomicalm....You really have to take away the anxiety to get them to respond to training... another thing that i read and I liked was , always make a distinctive noise(i.e , ring a bell , blow a whistle)when you exit and enter, and then use that along with the , "leave for 1 minute , come back".Then gradually extend the length of time between ... Also , you need to make sure you are dominant, confusion over dominance can cause sep.anx. . I have had a dog who would rip the end of its nose off to get out of a crate , pee and poo all over the house , was so crazed that it ignored all common rules of dominance with my dogs and would get bitten because of this... he is now in a good home , on meds and doing well.This is a serious issue.

we've been leaving NPR on for daisy to listen to while we're away. :p

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm definitely checking out all the articles posted. I figure I'd post a more detailed description of what I'm doing so maybe someone can provide more specific pointers.

So one of the major problems I have with Bunjee is that he hates being crated. Oh he'll go into the crate on his own and go to sleep in it. But he whines like there's no tomorrow if the door is shut and he does not see anyone there. I use a travel crate with him and I've come home from school before where the crate has moved 5 feet from its original spot, probably from him trying to get out.

I've also noticed that his amount of whining without me there is directly associated with the amount of space he's allowed to roam. He'll whine for a couple hours straight if left in his crate. He'll whine for 30 mins at 30 min intervals if left in the gated portion of kitchen. He'll whine minimally if left to roam the condo on his own (not of my own doing though, this is when he was able to climb out of his old gate.). But i'm not ready to allow him full access to the condo while i'm away just yet.

I've made every effort to make his confined area a happy, fun place. It's exclusively the area with all his toys, treats (like kong and other food dispensing toys), food and water. But it seems like he ignores all of that once the gate is closed. He'll ignore his toys, his food, his treats and try everything to get out of the gated area: whine, bark, cry, climb, jump an otherwise destructive in his gated area. He's even like this when I have him gated while I take a shower or a bath. I think he's viewing gated area as one big crate. And he hates being crated. He'll be "okay" with being confined if he sees me, but as soon as I step away even just to another room, the whining and frantic pawing at the gate starts.

I know many articles say to just ignore the whining. But that's just not an option for me anymore. I've been ignoring his whining and if it's more than 5 minutes then the neighbors will start complaining. That's just the problem with living in close proximity to your neighbors.

I've also tried giving him more exercise during the day so that he'll be sleepy and tired when I'm away. Which works for the most part when I'm present. But he'll have a sudden burst of energy when he's gated.

I always leave the lights on in his area so that he can see. I don't let him out of the gated area unless he calms down which he usually will when I'm there. I'm going to start leaving the radio on to see if it helps. If regular radio does't work, then I'm going to record myself talking and letting it play in a loop for a few hours while i'm gone to see if hearing my voice will work.

He's such a good boy otherwise. He's nearly potty trained (only one accident in the past week since he's been neutered and before that he went 2 weeks without an accident). He doesn't chew on furniture (although his baby teeth are starting to fall out and his adult teeth may be coming in soon so i'm not taking any chances). He's getting pretty good at his basic obedience commmands... except for (surprise, surprise) the "stay" command. The separation anexiety is just the one thing that we're having such trouble with.

I got a second dog and my Codie's SA went away.

Has anyone tried the snuggle puppy?
 

Has anyone tried one of these? I've been thinking about getting one for Buckeye before he gets here on Saturday so that when we go to work on Monday or even at night he'll have a little something to comfort him...do they work? hunniebunnie maybe something like this could help.

http://www.sitstay.com/store/toys/snugglepup.shtml

I too got a 2nd yorkie and Luigi just goes to his bed now and They fall asleep toether!!! No whining or barking when I leave!!!!

as much as i would love to get another doggie companion for bunjee, i'm just not ready for another one right now. and i don't want the risk of having two barkers instead of one...

so i gated bunjee in the kitchen area while i'm in the living room watching tv. i'm staying quiet with only the tv on. he's still whining and struggling to get out of the gated area. is there anything else i can do to make it more comfortable for him?

My husband and I went away for a night for our anniversary. Our 7 yr. old yorkie stayed home with our 22 and 18 yr. old children. They were up with him all night. He cried and they said he was acting like he did when he had a kidney stone. Once we were home he was his old self. I think he just missed his mommy and daddy. I am somewhat bothered by this because now I am afraid to leave him.

The best advise I have is ignore it and give him something that he ONLY gets when he is in his gated area or crate. I know ignoring is not the best option for you, but it helps sooo much. My new girl is having the "OH MY GOD MOMMY WALKED OUT OF MY EYESIGHT!" problem and she whines in her crate. I simply ignore her. She may stop in 5 minutes or she may go on for 30 minutes. I hope you get through it. Just be perisistant! They will test you and see what they can get way with and ocne they figure you out, they have GOT you figured out!

i actually do try the ignoring thing. during the day when i know everyone else is at work. sometimes i'd stay in my room working while he whined and sometimes i'd walk pass or into the kitchen area, but never giving in to his whining. i never pet him, give him treats, play with him, or let him out if he's whining or jumping for attention. he'd whine for 30 mins minimum to three hours straight if i'm not in his line of sight. but he'll start to quiet down when he sees me. i've been doing this since i've gotten him at 8 weeks old more than 2 months ago.

i'm taking him over to my parents tonight while i'm at school. i'm hoping he'll be quiet while at my parents. he has more room to move and run around there and my parents will be home. this is just a short term solution though. my brother is mildly allergic to bunjee so i can't leave him there for too long.

my mom thinks i should just let bunjee have the run of the condo. she thinks maybe he's whining because in addition to being alone, he does't have enough space to move around so he's sad and depressed by that. but i really want him to be 100% or at least 99% accident free and finished teething before i do that.

so i'm testing the radio thing right now. jazz music seem to be working a little better than tv or spoken word radio. he's in the gated area of the kitchen and although he's whining a little in the first 15 minutes, he's been quiet for the past 10 mins. keep your fingers crossed!

well, on the brightside, at least he quit eating and playing with his poop now. :rolleyes:

I don't know if my dog cries when I'm gone. I have listened outside the door for a while after I have gone out - and he hasn't started crying.

I don't say "Goodbye." I just get her his toys, etc. and quietly quickly leave. He honestly doesn't even know I'm gone for a while.

I do know when I get back he is often sleeping away, but is happy to see me.

I leave the radio on and a light on.

**** I got my puppy and then had to go back to work a week later. At that point, (9 weeks old) he was still sleeping almost all the time - so, I think he is just used to my being gone several days a week.

I have another dog. This may or may not help. The pup is confined to the kitchen while I'm gone and the other dog is usually sleeping or looking out the window at the other end of the house when I leave.

Good luck! Carol Jean

PS: I just have to add this. My little puppy absolutely drives my other dog crazy - playing, jumping, biting his ears, etc. etc. etc.

So - I am sure that while I'm gone and the puppy is confined to the kitchen is pure heaven for my other dog. It's the only time he doesn't have this little puppy jumping all over him. They do play together a lot - but my other dog still needs a break once in a while.

evidently, bunjee doesn't have separation anxiety as much as confinment anxiety. i moved the baby gate to give him a little more space (kitchen plus hallway, all tiled area) and now he's fine. he'll paw at the door for half a minute after i leave and then just go back to bed. then stay there until i get home. according to my mom, he does the same thing when he's at her place. he'll play for a little bit, then just go to bed and wait for me to show up before he gets really excited and wants to play again.

so, no more whining! and more importantly, no more notes from annoyed neighbors!