Destructive Separation Anxiety?!?!?!

[Zoe&Nina's Mom]

Not in my situation...anyone else?

[rebeccarichardson]

We have a rescue dog who came w/"mild" SA. Fortunately, my husband and I are retired and absolutely devoted to our dog.

No, adding another dog does not usually help.
Our behaviorist gave us the "alone-time" protocol [in short increments--mins at a time] to follow.

Also, we would NEVER leave our dog alone in a crate for more than a few minutes.....

We take our dog w/us, or one of us stays home w/her, or if we both have to go and cannot take her along, we hire a sitter.
Our dog also has issues w/other dogs, andso we cannot drop her off at a daytime dog care facility

It is an ongoing project overcoming this problem. It has drastically changed our lifestyle.

[IRescue452]

Unless you are planning on rescuing an older, calm dog I would not recommend getting another yet. A puppy will learn the bad habits of your SA dog even though they are not done out of seperation anxiety. My toller had SA badly when we rescued her. Our older dog seems to have calmed her a lot though. Also I stopped letting her up on my bed at night until she learned to be alone for short periods of time. Correcting SA is a time consuming process. Just start with leaving for small periods of time and start getting her used to the routine you go through before you leave the house. Autumn used to be able to escape any crate so we shut all the doors to rooms we didn't want her in. She discovered the joys of stealing big bags of dumdums and it seems to consume most of her alone time. I don't recommend giving your dog rawhide unsupervised or any other toys that she can get pieces or chunks off of. Autumn doesn't get any toys when I am away because she will shred them. I've had her 5 years and she still has some anxiety, but I keep her so busy when I am home that she is happy when I go away. She gets a quick run before I leave so she doesn't have so much energy when I am gone. It will take a long time, hang in there and good luck.

[Summer Magic]

Magic had a severe case of SA. It's not completely gone but within two weeks she was satisfied that I wouldn't leave her forever. We have three "safe places" for her in our home. Her crate, my easy chair and an occasional chair. She also used to sleep with me but for a the two weeks of training I put her in her crate out of my room. She was brushed up on her stay technique, put in one of her safe places and told to lay down and stay as I walked out of the door. There were many times that I'd have to stop and correct her by puting her back in the chair, etc.. but now she goes readily and doesn't require any further correction. (also it saved my screen door, I'd replaced it three times a month before I hit on this training)

[Summer Magic]

If you don't want to crate your dog is there a room where he can be put where he can't cause any distruction? Like the bathroom?

[Queen of Poop]

Before I leave for work every day I scatter, throughout the entire house, treats for Sasha. A rawhide here, a cookie there, jerkey treat over there. She spends so much time running around to find them all that she must be worn out cause since I've been doing that all has been well.

[rebeccarichardson]

"Awesome photo of your doggie".
I guess I'm a little confused......your dog had "severe" SA and within two weeks you [mostly] conquered it by having her "stay" in certain chairs....?
How long would you be gone at a time?
She no longer exhibits signs of severe/SA during your absence?

I'm only asking, because we have a [rescue] dog who has SA also-She has become spoiled rotten because being retired we have dealt w/her SA by taking her w/us where ever we go--or one of us stays home w/her, as I have indicated in an earlier post.
We have yet "tried" testing her SA, as it is usually easier to just take her along--and we don't like "stressing her out".

We will have to try your technique.

"Jasmine's" mom