Seperation Anxiety, any tips

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Louby

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My lurcher is now nearly 9 mths old and hasnt needed to left alone very much. We have left him for short periods of time in his crate and he was fine or so we thought.
Hes a big lad now so Ive pushed his crate up to the conservatory door with one side open so he now has access to the conservatory just to give him a bit more room as when stood up his head touches the top of the crate and I dont feel its fair to leave him for any length of time in such a cramped space. He does however sleep shut in the crate at night at the moment.
Today my hubby put him in his crate (with conservatory access) and went to do a few jobs in his garage which is behind the house but cannot be seen from where our boy was. He couldnt believe the noise he made, he was howling and barking minutes after he left him and continued for a while, shutting up then starting again. Our neighbours have been very good but they texted my hubby to say how bad he was.
So we really have to try to sort this out. Tonight I have started by leaving the room for seconds, shutting the door and leaving him, then returning without looking at him or speeking to him. He even wimpered at this.
He is our first dog and I know it is our fault but we really need to try and sort this out as we feel like we cant go out.
He spends a lot of time with his brother and sister at the farm whilst Im at work or doing my horsey jobs in the dog run and he is the noisy whiner, barker even with them for company.
Has anyone any tips as to how we start to try and rectify what we have done wrong. I admit he has been treated like a baby
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Try reading these, I hope they will help:

http://www.grwe.com/homingWelfare_careGuidelines.asp

Interestingly I have just been on a greyhound forum about Flick, my new rescue greyhound, because I am having house training issues with her, and they have explained to me that these are due to seperation anxiety as well. I always thought it showed itself like it does with your lurcher!

Hope the fact sheets help, they are very good
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Thanks for the link, Ive just read it and it looks like Im starting to do 'the right things'
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. Only thing that confused me was the praise when you come back in. Ive tried reading up on SA on various sites and lots of info suggests not to praise when you come back in as it makes them anxious waiting for you to return.
What do you think as tonight Ive been ignoring him more. Its so hard trying to undo my wrongs as poor little thing looks a bit confused now
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I read the praise bit as only praising when the dog is calm and relaxed when you come home? Flick goes absolutely ballistic when I come home, jumping up and down and delighted to see me, so I am thinking that I have to ignore that until she has calmed down and is acting sensibly, THEN praise her?

So I think you have been doing the right thing by ignoring him, I seem to be doing the right thing when I go out (very casual, pick up my bag and just say 'see you later dogs') but I'm obviously not doing the right thing when I come home
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I can see this is more complicated than I realised
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Ahhh, thats what they all seem to say, dont make a massive fuss when you come in but praise a bit later on.
I did read that some dogs wee, poo when anxious and also eat more too which is true with Boris as he can be so faddy but when we leave him, hes nearly always eaten everything. And I thought he must be relaxed and eating, more fool me
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Hes an odd boy as after his whining tonight for just shutting the door behind me, later on I left the door open for him and he got on the sofa and went to sleep
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. Im sure he aint got over SA that quickly and instead is a good actor
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. I was told Lurchers are great drama queens
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I've copied and pasted this advice from Lisa who runs greyhound gap.

Start to think from your dogs point of view not your own, he/she doesnt understand why sometimes when you get up to leave, you put on your shoes, you pick up your car keys, and you place on your coat, he/she gets to come, other times you leave them behind! They dont understand you need to go to work, visiting they think your life revolves around them and the park, and the truth of the matter is you have probably let them.

Follow the outlined steps on the Youve got your new Hound Home thread and make sure that whilst at home your dog gets time out while you are in and around the house. You cant have your dog glued to your hip when you are in and then expect it to just accept you are out can you? Think about it sensibly.

SA training needs the use of a smaller, securer area, too big an open space can give the dog to much to think about and too much responsibility.

Things you need to deal with SA :

1 dog gate Argos £34.99
rescue remedy (chemist)
Dap Diffuser ( vets)

If the methods I explain dont work you may need to consider investing in a crate for an initial training period.

Once you have started to establish a routine whilst you are home and the dog has started to learn to stay in the safe are alone while you are home then you are already making progress.

When you first start to leave a dog with SA even for five minutes there are things you need to do before leaving. Dogs anxiety levels usually peak within the first twenty minutes of you leaving and any damage done is usually within this time. So take the 20 minute peak out of the equation. Place the dog into the secure area 20 minutes before you leave, put on your shoes and coat, pick up your keys, you bag everything you would do as you are about to leave the house and then SIT DOWN!! Spend 20 minutes drinking a cup of tea, reading a book whatever. Then simply get up and leave without saying a word. Its no use telling the dog, its okay im going now but I will be back, what the dog heres is come on then lets go for a walk. They dont understand simple!! Leave the house and hang around and listen!! If after 5 minutes you have no barking howling go back into the house, dont say a word, NO GREETING, hang up your coat, your bag take off your shoes and still do not speak to the dog! By this time if true to form he/she should be bouncing head height with you, fine let them, make a cup of tea and ignore them. Then go and sit down, once the dog has given up and settled YOU then call the dog over for a fuss on your terms, not when they are demading who is in charge here?? Continue with the time out while you are in aswell. Push the time you are out of the house after going through the shoes, coat, keys routine to ten minutes, then twenty, then thirty and upwards.

If whilst you are listening outside the dog barks or yaps DO NOT go back into the house whilst they are doing it, wait and listen till they settle down then go back in. If you walk back through that door as the dog is kicking off you have just taught them that if they kick off you come back

What is the rescue remedy?? The rescue remedy is a mixture of bach remedies used to quell anxiety, it is used in humans aswell as dogs, if you keep this up at times of stress it will help the dog settle.

What is the Dap Diffuser? A Dap is a plug in device much the same as the plug in airfreshners only it releases appheasing phenemones similar to what a lactating bitch would release whilst feeding her puppies. It helps to give the dog a sense of security and calmness and helps them settle easily. The Dap should be plugged in and left running at all times in the training/secure area of the house that the dog is being left in.

The main results in SA dogs are maintained with consistency, do not think oh okay after three days he has been fine and drop your guard, you should never greet a dog on return to the house period, always allowing 15 minutes settling down, if you greet a dog on return its not hearing see I told you its alright its hearing im soo soo sorry you got stressed out when I left you I wont do it again This is something the whole family needs to keep up, children, in laws, dog walkers whoever. Also if you return home and the dog has soiled, damaged whatever DO NOT use the training/safe area as somewhere to place the dog for punishment! Not rocket science but they will no longer feel safe and secure there.
 
Thanks so much for that, it makes a lot of sense.
I think I need to go back to the crate really. I just felt he was too big to be left in it for any length of time and in my human thoughts, thought he'd be happier with a bit more room, ie the conservatory as well. I just cant get my head round him sat or lay in such a tiny space.
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Thanks for that from me too Skinnydogs2, really useful and interesting reading
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I shall be mostly practising leaving my greyhound this weekend...
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