I need help badly?

[Nicholle]

Hi my name is nicholle and I just got a four month old puppy. She is boxer/sharpei, I am at wits end she is the perfect dog but she crys all day long until we get home. When we are at home she is very well behaved. My other dogs does not do this she is such a good girl. I am sad because I have neighbors and I do not want to cause any problems. But I cannot just stay home either. Any suggestions I am beggining to feel like I am doing something wrong and I do not want to give her up either. Help help help me.

nicholle

[aly]

Your puppy is most likely suffering from seperation anxiety. I know about this all too well because Reece has an EXTREME case. I just got home so after I eat dinner, I'll come post a lot you can do to help with seperation anxiety.

[aly]

Ok, first I'll tell you what worked for Reece personally and then I'll do another post with extra suggestions.

When I brought Reece home, he had it so bad, I could not even go to the bathroom by myself. He would NEVER walk into another room on his own so I had to go stand by his food bowl whenever I wanted him to eat or drink. He didn't always have to be right on my lap but he had to at least be by my feet. It took a lot of hard work and patience but he is a lot better. He still follows me around like a shadow, but I have a system that makes it easier for him to stay home alone.

The first step I did was I spent a whole day just walking in and out of doors and making him stay behind. Bathroom doors, bedroom doors, and especially the front door. When I first started, I'd just shut the door behind me and stay out for about 2 seconds then come back in. I gradually increased it to 5 minutes. Then I'd switch around, sometimes 15 seconds, sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 45 seconds. An important thing to do is not to come in the door if the dog is yelping or barking. This will teach that whenever they yelp, you will come in. Don't correct for barking, just ignore. The reason you don't want to go in and correct her is because with seperation anxiety, even negative attention is attention and they will be getting what they want.

Next, you will want to get your pup used to a crate. Some people view this as cruel but it is really an essential asset to training. The dog considers it his 'den' and feels quite comfortable in there. When I started putting Reece in a crate while I was home, he was fine as long as I was in the room. If I was out of eyesight though, he'd yelp and yelp. I remember sitting in the other room listening to him yelp for 2 hours! I found out that putting a blanket over the crate helps a ton. I periodically put Reece in his crate when I was on the computer or doing house work so he'd get used to being in there but still hear me in the house. I also play new age music for him and give him a stuffed kong whenever he goes in his crate in the morning. I do this same routine every day and it calms him down a lot.

When I first started, I'd come home and he'd be hunched in his crate shaking. He would always push all his blankets to the back and sit on the hard floor and just wait. Now when I come home, he's sleeping on his blankets being a good boy and not a nervous wreck.

One thing that could help without doing all the other stuff is to ignore your dog 15 minutes before you leave and 15 minutes after you get home. Don't make a big production out of it. If you give your dog a lot of attention as soon as you get home, the dog will become very anxious waiting for that and will probably chew, dig, bark, etc. I know its hard to ignore our babies when they are so happy to see us but it really does help.

Ok, I'm going to start a second post now..

[aly]

I'm going to type out a sheet from the humane society. You don't have to necessarily do everything they suggest, just judge your dog and what you think will help. There will be a lot of trial and error in the process.

Home Environment and General Interaction with the Dog
1. In general, make the dog less demanding of attention from owners. Owner should not pet or interact with dog when dog demands it. Instead, require the dog to wait, obey a command or become calm and relaxed before receiving attention. Ignore dog until he lies down and stops pestering.
2. If acclimating shelter dog with seperation anxiety to new home, be careful not to dote on dog during the first few weeks. Make dog feel comfortable, loved and secure, but DO NOT CODDLE.
3. Attention should be regularly scheduled so that anxiety is not allowed to build up.
4. Provide plenty of owner initiated play and exercise (DAILY), so that energy is burned off.

Departure and Return
5. Arrivals and departures should be quiet, calm events.
-Prior to leaving, provide happy fun interaction with dog, followed by downtime, then begin departure
-Do not pay attention to dog during normal departure sequence; NO CODDLING if dog begins to show signs of stress
6. Upon return, do not make an immediate fuss over the dog; instead, ignore or give simple acknowledgement only. First go about tasks (unload groceries, greet family, change clothes) then interact with dog.
7. Vary sequence of departure routine.
-Make preparations the night before (pack lunch, put briefcase by door)
-Back car out of garage first, then come back inside and finish leaving sequence
8. Make departure cues less predictive by repeating discrete behaviors.
-Back car out of garage without leaving
-Put dog outside(or in crate) without leaving
-Get purse, toss keys, put on work clothes without leaving
-Do repetitively, 10x per day

Tips and Training Exercises to Ease Seperation Anxiety
9. What distress cues does dog exhibit before owner leaves? Do not reinforce. Reward calm behavior. Desensitize to cues - any event that triggers anxiety in dog should be uncoupled from departure (See exercises above).
10. On weekends or when owners are around, play a piece of recognizable music. In futre, use when owner is leaving. Serves as bridging stimulus.
11. Accustom dog to being left alone for brief periods
-In general, owner should be out of sight, briefly and frequently
-Leave room when dog is being calm, not focused on owner, occupied with a toy or other activity
-Put in crate (if that is where dog stays during owner's absence), go to another room for brief period
-Must return before dog becomes anxious (even if at first this is only a minute)
-If dog stays calm, reward with praise (mostly verbal)
-Gradually increase time of out-of-sight periods.
12. Practive desensitization, crating, discrete behavior cue exercises.
13. Make crating fun. Use highly desirable rewards (food, toys) when dog goes voluntarily to crate. Reserve certain toys , food, treats for use only when dog is crated while owner is gone.
14. Use pet sitters, especially during reconditioning, to help alleviate anxiety if owner is away at work all day.

Whew, got it all typed. Let me know if you have any questions. If I find my other sheets on this, I'll type those too.

[This message has been edited by aly (edited June 08, 2001).]

[RachelJ]

My goodness, Aly, you have done wonders with Reece!

[karen israel]

Aly, you are so patient and awesome! Luckily I never had the problem, but I printed out your info, cause you never know! Great advise!! Thanks!

[aly]

Yes, I'm SO proud of Reece. I've just never seen a case as bad as he had it. It took so much work but I'm happy to say its worked http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif

I talked to Nicholle over email and she is going to try some of my suggestions. I hope it all works out for her.

I'm gonna post some more info tonight after Reece's obedience class.