Seperation anxiet

[rang_27]

My sister & her friend recently bought a house. Her friends 6 year old dog developed seperation anxiety during the process of the move and has one about $1000 worth of damage in the last month. Does anyone know anything about seperation anxiety? Having never had a dog I'm at a loss. My sister has begun doing obdience & is doing a 2 mile run every morning & is setting a morning routine. Any other ideas?

 

[arlyn]

My dog suffers seperation anxiety, one of the best things I did was crate train him.
It gives him a 'safe' place that is all his as well as keeping him from harming things.
Also, never make a big production of leaving, or returning, carry on as if it were business as usual, try not to give the dog too many cues that you are leaving him behind.
Ignoring them for 5 minutes after you return helps a lot too.
I let Bear out of his crate and put him outside for 5 minutes before I lavish any attention on him.

 

[rang_27]

Well she did well yesterday, didn't destroy anything??? She does not like to be confined & last time she was crated actually destroyed the crate, lost several teeth & managed to push a tooth through her upper lip by shoving her face through the crate trying to get out. I guess they have a behaviorist coming on Sunday. It's a place called Bark Busters. Anyone know anything about them?

 

[sweet72947]

I would not use Barkbusters for a dog with seperation anxiety. They train your dog by throwing a bag of chains toward them and yelling BAH because its supposed to simulate the growling and snapping of the alpha dog telling the other dog not to do something. Training a dog with seperation anxiety like that will just make it worse.

 

[yorda]

The people that purchase a franchise and go through training through Bark Busters refer to themselves as “behavioral counselorsâ€- but does not mean they come with the same knowledge and training of an actual behaviorist. (Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not saying there arenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t some wonderful dog savvy trainers, but just to make sure you know who you are dealing with. If the person can only recite what theyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve been taught and not develop a program for that individual dog I would not want them.)I would want to talk to the trainer to get a feel of their abilities and hear what qualifications or training they had outside of Bark Busters before deciding if they had the experience to work with an issue.

I will PM you my experience with a BB trainer, nothing too scandelous, just part of the reason I wouldn't recommend them.

 

[sharky]

I had one dog that got puppy prozac... today OTC homeopatic formulas are safe and work .... coupled with the crate

 

[rang_27]

Sweet, do you know someone that used them, or how you heard the use this technique? I know almost nothing about dogs so forgive me if I'm clueless, but I do understand how that would cause more anxiety in an already anxious dog.
Sharke, I'm very curious about what you are using? Unfortunately this dog HATES the crate & being confined.

 

[sharky]

I use one of two remedies... Rescue remedy or the( calming moments I think)( calming chewables from Petco or Pestmart

 

[loreye]

Our puppy was in danger of having seperation anxiety. Our remedy was not to make such a big deal when we come home. Because she would be so excited to see us, and we would get her all hyped up and even more excited.

We built a pen downstairs, somewhere where she wouldn't see or hear as much outside noises that would get her rattled. Lots of toys, have the television or radio on and she is just fine on her own now.

 

[miagi's_mommy]

http://www.wagntrain.com/SeparationAnx.htm

there are some tips to help seperation anxiety on this website. you can print it out and show them. hope it helps!!

 

[leto86]

Giving the dog things to do while they are gone also helps. Bones to chew on, kongs, hiding food throughout the house.

I buy the stewing marrowbones from the grocery store and give my dogs one of those once a week. They love them. I also give it to them raw, as i am going to be switching them over to a raw diet anyways.
raw is better than cooking it, if cooked the bone can break of in shards and the dog can choke on it.

A couple kongs stuffed with goodies worked for my seperation anxiety dog. But once we got other animals, his seperation anxiety went away. So it' s been 3 years since I've had to deal with it.

But ggood luck, hope you find something soon.