Separation Anxiety

YesPlease

Hey folks,

Left our new dog for 5 hours today while I went to work & came home to the house trashed! She has access to the kitchen & the room her crate is in & I don't really mind the trashing reckon she's just being nosy - only part that bothers me is she seems to have scratched the door frame of the door from her room to our sitting room to bits, this makes me think she's probably displaying separation anxiety & just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to deal with this.

Am in the process of googling sep anxiety but don't want to take any bad advice - she is a 2 year old large dog & we don't really know her history, just that she was probably dumped & is very underweight. As I type this she's currently fast asleep - makes me think she didn't sleep at all while we were out & is wrecked!

Just to paint the full picture - she sleeps the full night in her crate no hassle, we left her access to the two rooms & her crate while also leaving her bed & a frozen peanut butter kong there, didn't make a fuss when we left / came back.

Thanks in advance!

me0w

My suggestions:

1. Get a companion dog so he's less bored
2. Make sure to exercise him before work so he's more likely to sleep during the day. Exericse reduces stress in humans and animals
3. Leave stimulating toys (like a big bone or kong) around & leave radio or tv on might help too.

YesPlease

Thanks for your response me0w.

We have only just got her so definitely won't be flooding her with a second dog just yet! She is very underweight / has no injections so cannot be walked at the moment, she is being played with plenty though but we'll try some more outside time tomorrow morning

Tranceypoo

I wouldn't recommend getting a second dog for many reasons but mainly because there's no guarantee it will help your own dogs separation anxiety at all! I have 2 rescues, they both suffered varying degrees of separation anxiety when I got them, the older one who I got first, grew out of it but it took a good few months, the younger one who we've had over 4 years now, still hasn't gotten completely over it, she's well exercised, well fed, well loved, gets on great with the older dog who is very calm and lazy but she's still anxious when there's no humans in the house and like your dog, she sleeps when I get home as if she's been pacing the whole time I've been out, she's an anxious neurotic soul in general so I've come to the conclusion there's nothing I can do about it, I'm rarely out for more than 3 hours, 4 hours would be max, she's safe and warm and comfortable while I'm out (TV on, access to all downstairs of house with other dog) so I just try not to feel guilty or worry too much!

I would give it time with your dog, you say you've only just got her so there will be a settling in period for sure, some posters recommend an Adaptil plug in thing that's meant to calm dogs down, I've never tried that myself, or a Thundershirt which I keep meaning to try, once she gets into a routine with you hopefully it will all settle down.

awanderer

YesPlease wrote: »

Thanks for your response me0w.

We have only just got her so definitely won't be flooding her with a second dog just yet! She is very underweight / has no injections so cannot be walked at the moment, she is being played with plenty though but we'll try some more outside time tomorrow morning

I agree with you. I wouldn't rush to get a second dog, I would wait until the first one feels secure first!

Do you leave the radio on when you leave the house? I am in no way an expert in dogs but, with ours (a bit of a velcro dog), increasing very progressively the time alone (which I understand that we were quite lucky to be able to do), going for a long stroll,giving a frozen kong full of a mix of yogurt and his normal dry food and leaving the TV on seems to work.

It looks like your dog is very lucky to have found a patient and understanding new person anyway .

deadwood85

Set up a camera or laptop and record what he gets up too while your out.So you can confirm the sep anxiety.

Leave the radio on,exercise the dog before leaving,I used to leave stuff toys kong etc also I would leave a paper bag,plastic bottles or a box so they could destroy it,so he won't damage other stuff like the door.

If you are gone under 4 hrs you could leave the dog in the crate to avoid damage to the house.

It takes a while before he will get use to being alone at home.