Dog help! Severe separation anxiety

russianhorse

russianhorse

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Hi All. I'm looking for some experience and advice please before my head pops

I have a rescue white boxer (age unknown but poss 6?) and a 3 year old boxer x rottie who has been with me since a pup. We do know that he was one of 3, one died in the womb and 2 survived by a whisker as they were already breathing when the C section went ahead.

Anyway..... the issue I have is the extreme separation anxiety the boxer x possesses. If I crate him and go out, he's destroyed the crate and ripped my sofa apart (not every time) I might add, and I've done lots of work with him for crate training). If I leave the room he follows. If I shut the door on him to go to the bathroom, he licks the door uncontrollably. If I take him everywhere with me, he pants so much when I get out that the car steams up. If I tie him to a gate where my horses are and am out of sight for a split second, the 6 bar metal gate is off its hinges. Recently he's been going to the toilet outside, as usual, but within minutes of returning is pooing and peeing in my house. If I sit down he lays at my feet, but as soon as I move he's up)

Any advice because I've tried pretty much everything I can think of including clicker training, but am very open to new ideas or ones that maybe obvious I've not thought of

Medically there's nothing wrong, he's been given all the all clear by the vets.

Thanks in advance
 
A veterinary behaviourist who can prescribe medication as well as advise re behaviour modification. Sometimes a dog needs to be helped by drugs to be in the correct mental state to learn.

Also, review the diet. Cut out anything with colourings/additives. Before leaving consider feeding a protein feed that is high in tryptophan and add B6 then 3 hours later a carb feed. This has been proven to alter the neurotransmitters, although certain medications can do this more effectively.
 
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My daughter has a rescue dog with separation issues and she was helped by several home visits from a dog behaviourist. Good luck because it isn't easy.
 
Have you tried excercising him until he is really tired then some discipline commands such as simple ones such as recall and lying down and stay.Then some praise and a good feed when he should be feeling tired and ready for a sleep.Some treats for staying in his crate with the door open when you are in the same room.Is he left with your other dog for company.? At his age its something that has happened in his past that triggers it and its probably always going to be there and very difficult to eradicate now. My daughters dog had similar issues simply because he had never been trained to be left alone for short periods as a puppy. There was always someone at home and that was what he was used to.Its something that people dont always realise can cause issues in later life. Dorwest have a tincture to calm dogs.Maybe a short course could help while he is crated and you are in the same room until he calms down .Leaving him on his own while you are out the house will just cause him more anxiety and obviously so stressful for him.
 
i would seek professional advise as it sounds very severe. Have they always been like this? Or have you only recently had to leave them?

I have read as much as I can about separation anxiety as just 2 weeks ago we got a new rescue dog and she does have separation anxiety. Although she has already made progress, so a lot of it may be down due to the stress of the move and needing to get her confidence with us....

the first few days if we even went upstairs and shut her downstairs, she would howls and poo within minutes. she had to sleep on our bed and was right next to us all the time. But we have just slowly been showing her she can relax not right next to us! so we have taught her 'bed'- so when we are in the lounge she has to go and lie on her bed, not right next to us, but within view. again at night, we brought the bed into our room and she had to sleep on that, not our bed. then we moved it to outside our bedroom door. Now she manages downstairs all night as she trusts we are just upstairs.

but in terms of leaving her alone in the house, we are taking it very slowly. we have left her for 30 minutes, and she has not soiled, but she wont eat her treats until we are back and is anxious and very full on when we return. However, with your dog I think even a few minutes at a time sounds like lots.

I do think the first step is to work on you being able to move around the house without them having to be your shadow, before you even think about leaving them alone.

this is only from my limited experience and reading, I'm sure some more experienced people will add to the post.

I find it so interesting how another dog doesn't always count as company!
 
russianhorse said:
Hi All. I'm looking for some experience and advice please before my head pops

I have a rescue white boxer (age unknown but poss 6?) and a 3 year old boxer x rottie who has been with me since a pup. We do know that he was one of 3, one died in the womb and 2 survived by a whisker as they were already breathing when the C section went ahead.

Anyway..... the issue I have is the extreme separation anxiety the boxer x possesses. If I crate him and go out, he's destroyed the crate and ripped my sofa apart (not every time) I might add, and I've done lots of work with him for crate training). If I leave the room he follows. If I shut the door on him to go to the bathroom, he licks the door uncontrollably. If I take him everywhere with me, he pants so much when I get out that the car steams up. If I tie him to a gate where my horses are and am out of sight for a split second, the 6 bar metal gate is off its hinges. Recently he's been going to the toilet outside, as usual, but within minutes of returning is pooing and peeing in my house. If I sit down he lays at my feet, but as soon as I move he's up)

Any advice because I've tried pretty much everything I can think of including clicker training, but am very open to new ideas or ones that maybe obvious I've not thought of

Medically there's nothing wrong, he's been given all the all clear by the vets.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

We had this too but ours was on the yard and panicked when we went out of view, he gradually realized we would return. I would suggest Cesar Milan videos https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cesar+millan+separation+anxiety+
 
pippixox said:
I find it so interesting how another dog doesn't always count as company!
Click to expand...

Separation anxiety and isolation anxiety are two separate things.

If a dog has true separation anxiety then it is only that one person that can provide 'relief'. If a dog has isolation anxiety it can often gain confidence from the presence of another human being (as in a random stranger as opposed to someone known to it) or indeed from another dog - so long as that dog has the right personality.

I have a 10.5 year old bitch that has been a house dog (as opposed to working gundog all her life) due to various health issues; she formed a VERY strong relationship with one of the male dogs I had, and when he retired and came into the house to live they were inseparable. When he passed on she developed what I thought was separation anxiety like I had never seen before. However, she would be fine if I left her with literally a random stranger. Also, someone who had a very confident male lab that she had never met before, came around to the house, had a coffee and biscuit with me and then we went out and left them (video cameras set up for remote monitoring) and the bitch went into the back room and fell asleep on the sofa! However, when I conducted the same experiment with a male dog of similar age that she had known all her life she was at the door howling!

So, it's not necessarily the presence of another dog, but the presence of the RIGHT type of dog. :)
 
I hope you're successful with your dogs anxiety. My last dog was never cured and believe me I tried everything. I did eventually get him to settle in the car but only in daylight or in a very well lit areas. Obviously in summer it was very difficult. He would be ok at my parents house for a few hours but would start to get anxious for longer periods unless one of my children was there. It was hard work but he was worth it.
 
I am not going to recommend Cesar Milan as I am not a fan of teaching dogs by fear and intimidation. Personally I would go with gunnerdog's advice - get a behaviour referral who will work in conjunction with the vet to provide medication if necessary, along with coping strategies for your dog and teaching him to change the way he views being left alone. He does sound like an extreme case where short term medication may be necessary.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
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