Dog's going mental when i leave her.

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To keep it brief.

i have a spaniel x (i know how manic they are!) - shes retired from agility due to naffed wrists and elbow displasia. (both mild and ok!).... Shes currently lame on the back but thats waiting on another referal and this problem below is there whether shes lame or not!...

When i leave her - she barks, badly. I know its because i leave her as shes my shadow :/ She stalks me round the house - yet im not the one who mainly walks her - but she slept on my bed from 6 weeks old and refuses to leave my side...

Anyhow - when we go out (weve taped her) she howls/barks/whines etc.... so i have tried everything.....building her up leaving her for 5 mins then increasing....caging......bark collar (eliminates the bark and i have NO choice she has to wear this as the neighbours are complaining badly...)!!....had the radio/tele on etc....

This weekend we have encouraged her activly into her crate - with her bed/treats/kongs when we leave her (and a walk always...) to make her feel 'safe'.... but she whined for 5 minutes then settled! so mabey a little progress there (but she wont go in the cage!)...which is fine

Shes obviously distressed (evident on the video) but other than taping her mouth shut (im kidding....) what can i do???

The neighbours are complaining (rightly so....) as shes constantly crying when we go out (whimpering)....

Any advice??? theres probably a ton of things ive missed out but any questions ask as i really need help with this...................................


ets - I work 4 hours a day 3x a week - and at uni - but shes never left for more than that as im utterly manic about how long shes left etc....


shes NEVER left for full time work (student) - (my boss thinks im crackers i have to go home in a 6 hour shift and break it up but shes my dog and my responsibility)......
 
I'd just up the time in the crate and be consistent.
Or get her a pal.
Or leave her with someone/someone with dogs/a pet sitter when you're out.

Do you actually feed in the crate? You really need to make it somewhere awesome to be, not somewhere the dog is shut when you go out. I find chicken wings help :p
 
Tons of people more experienced than me will no doubt be along with advice but I would suggest starting by breaking her of the habit of following you round the house. Send her to her bed or crate her while you go to the other side of the room/ the next room etc. That was the first effective step I took with mine when I first got him and he had terrible separation anxiety. :)
 
yep we feed her all her meals in the crate.... (as of 3 days ago introducing sometihng new!)

We constantly have feeds doted round the crate - so much so she now enters a room and walks straight over to it!....

Id love to get her a pal - but i dont honestly have time (uni) to train a pup yet - plan to get another next year when i move out from home - but it also depends on the state of her health. (she sholud be fine but im protective of her :D )

It wouldnt bother me but shes obviously upset (we always tape her to see what she does etc because we know how bad her problem is)... and how badly the neighbours are complaining........ (walls are soooooooooo thin)

Thanks for the replies.... :)
 
Where does she sleep at night? if the answer is what I think it will be;) then crate her in the bedroom:p she needs to be crated when you are in the house when starting to introduce a crate, this period will be the longest she spends in the crate and for now she must only be "closed in" door shut when you are home and preferably in the same room. Because effectively what you are doing now, is crating her when you leave (here lies the problem) she is associating crate with= being left= you dissapear:)
So make the crate more postive, when se goes in you are present, so when you are watching v and eating your tea (she is in her rate) wit her dinner in a kong (which will be something delicious like sardines/tuna and given before her main meal to increase her hunger.
Place a blanket over the crate, so most is covered but a descent size peep hole to see you.
By a second crate for the bedroom, again lovely comfy bed inside crate, descent thick blanket over crate (no treats) it's bed/sleep time. If she cries "sushhhh" at bed time, downstairs let her whinge for a while.
She needs to know that for now, never release her whe she is whinging, never fus her when you release her for being quiet, when she goes in, you don't leave her. Build up over a few weeks to starting to pop out of the room into kitchen (now make sure all the cover is covering all the crate) if she is crated in the living room, no fuss on return or alerting her to u leaving, make sure tv is on.

Then place the crate in the kitchen/wherever u want it to be perminantly and again when you place her in, cover on, radio up, kong inside with her dinner in it or pre treat b4 meal and remain in the room, cook, clean do whatever, then gradually leave that room and come in and out, you are crate training her in the correct positive way and at the same time training her to feel comforable in her own company.

SA is a human induced issue in regards to dogs, we need to create positive routines for our dogs and not allow them to follow us constantly/be in our constant company (some breeds this is detrimental), in time you can do this but 1st a routine must be in place.
When you need to leave te house fo now, leave crate open, snuggly bed/cover, she is far more likely to take herself in it now that you are having her in for periods when you are home and for bed time, gradually start to lock the door of the crate unless you hear no noise/destruction then just leave it open for her to go in herself.

* Get a DAP plug in for beside the crate (help with her anxiety)
*Always leave back ground noise on (radio/tv)
*Always cover the crate
*Introduce treat giving whilst you are there (dogs won't eat in an anxious state)
* Where you can exercise the dog before leaving it crated for day time periods)
*Always tackle the crate training slowly/gradually/be patient.
* Never fuss her upon your return home, simply release her from crate to garden for her toilet, no more ott greetings.

Hope that helps:)
 
CAYLA said:
Where does she sleep at night? if the answer is what I think it will be;) then crate her in the bedroom:p she needs to be crated when you are in the house when starting to introduce a crate, this period will be the longest she spends in the crate and for now she must only be "closed in" door shut when you are home and preferably in the same room. Because effectively what you are doing now, is crating her when you leave (here lies the problem) she is associating crate with= being left= you dissapear:)
So make the crate more postive, when se goes in you are present, so when you are watching v and eating your tea (she is in her rate) wit her dinner in a kong (which will be something delicious like sardines/tuna and given before her main meal to increase her hunger.
Place a blanket over the crate, so most is covered but a descent size peep hole to see you.
By a second crate for the bedroom, again lovely comfy bed inside crate, descent thick blanket over crate (no treats) it's bed/sleep time. If she cries "sushhhh" at bed time, downstairs let her whinge for a while.
She needs to know that for now, never release her whe she is whinging, never fus her when you release her for being quiet, when she goes in, you don't leave her. Build up over a few weeks to starting to pop out of the room into kitchen (now make sure all the cover is covering all the crate) if she is crated in the living room, no fuss on return or alerting her to u leaving, make sure tv is on.

Then place the crate in the kitchen/wherever u want it to be perminantly and again when you place her in, cover on, radio up, kong inside with her dinner in it or pre treat b4 meal and remain in the room, cook, clean do whatever, then gradually leave that room and come in and out, you are crate training her in the correct positive way and at the same time training her to feel comforable in her own company.

SA is a human induced issue in regards to dogs, we need to create positive routines for our dogs and not allow them to follow us constantly/be in our constant company (some breeds this is detrimental), in time you can do this but 1st a routine must be in place.
When you need to leave te house fo now, leave crate open, snuggly bed/cover, she is far more likely to take herself in it now that you are having her in for periods when you are home and for bed time, gradually start to lock the door of the crate unless you hear no noise/destruction then just leave it open for her to go in herself.

* Get a DAP plug in for beside the crate (help with her anxiety)
*Always leave back ground noise on (radio/tv)
*Always cover the crate
*Introduce treat giving whilst you are there (dogs won't eat in an anxious state)
* Where you can exercise the dog before leaving it crated for day time periods)
*Always tackle the crate training slowly/gradually/be patient.
* Never fuss her upon your return home, simply release her from crate to garden for her toilet, no more ott greetings.

Hope that helps:)
Click to expand...


Cayla - thank you for that reply....

her crate is in the living room (where we leave her when we goes out) - we have shut her in (built up) when we have been here - treats - she cried and barked once - ignored her then when she was settled and quiet - let her out....


when we go out - we dont shut her crate door - she is left in the living room and loose - with the crate open - bed in - with treats (but as you say they dont eat when upset - she dosent....)



I had a brainwave earlier about another dog....... im not willing to go out and just buy another dog (we used to have 3) - id happily have an older rescue dog (which i was planning for next year anyhow...).... but would it be possible to have afoster dog on a short term basis??

to see ^ what shes like with a friend - if shes any better/worse?

Ideally we would rent a dog for a week lol and see how that goes but i dont know if this is even possible and i certainly dont want to be taking on anyone elses problem - just an older (or old!) dog that needs a quiet life with a 4 year old crip :D lol!
 
IME experience with Harley, another dog helps, but doesn't solve the problem.

H is now 100% ok at home, but when we go visiting to people's houses he screams when left. He is better if there is another dog there, the screams reduce to the pointer whinge ;)

My problem that is because I am a freelance instructor he can come just about everywhere with me. Took me a bit of time to realise that this really wasn't helping me!!!! I also don't have a big house so most of the time he was always with me (except nightime.... he has always slept downstairs). So I started spending a lot of time in my bedroom and kitchen.... basically the 2 rooms I could shut him away from me. So he learnt he did not have to be in the same room. I did this every day without fail and built it up to longer periods. I then found when I started leaving him he was fine, and now he doesn't care at all. He isn't in a crate anymore. I just put a bone and a biscuit on his bed which he walks over to and watches me walk out. But I've gone back in a minute later (when I forgotten something) and he's just eating his biscuit. :)

I'm still working on the friends/families house thing. It is very difficult when it's not your house as you feel stressed that he's being disruptive which makes it so much worse. But I'm doing the same thing and shutting him away from me. Hopefully it will work eventually.
 
Todays update;;

we left her this morning.... treats/cage open/collar on (bark collar - we have no choice else the council will soon be involved - its that bad)....

she was as quiet as a mouse :o (we taped her!)....



BUT


I have contacted a rescue centre.... they are going to put me in touch with someone who works with dog fostering.... so we are going to look into that over the next few weeks and hopefully try her with another dog and if it works out adopt the dog instead of fostering to give back :)

if anyone knows of any fosters (with a view to adopt!) in cheshire let me know - we dont want a puppy though as my dog is very laid back in the house - so ideally an older dog who just wants a quiet life :)

we will see how she goes minus dog but she still isnt happy beingleft - she didnt touch the treats and was obviously very tense - which is not ideal!.... so the rescue 100% agreed with me that another dog (foster) was the way forward.....

I have a week off in 2 weeks time so hopefully if we can get another dog then that would be ideal (again if this is the right way to go)!

Id appreciate all views on that ^^

:)
 
This may be 'out there' but have you tried giving her something that smells of you to cuddle up with?
Our girl had a teddy which I had cuddled and she settled more easily with her 'baby' when I wasn't there!

I hope yoiu get to a place where she's happy to be alone...
 
As was said on another thread, while it might work for other cases, a smelly blanky won't work for a dog with hardcore separation anxiety. I think you could offer an older rescue a great home or provide a great foster home and think that would be an awesome idea :D
 
^^ i agree!

ive registered with a localish (about an hour away) rescue - and made my intensions clear about a older rescue.

I have ordered the DAP thing from ebay (brand new) so giving that a shot but tbh i know its going to come to fostering then adopting an older dog......!!!

id love a pup to train etc but right now its not possible as i havent got 12 months of hard work to put into a dog right now - id rather have an old dog that just needs a nice life :)
 
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