Dealing With Separation Anxiety - Page 2

Brent, I used to crate Star when she was younger when I had to go out. I also did it for awhile while she was settling into the new house. Now she's fine, except when I'm leaving. If I leave her in the crate, Julie says she cries and whines and is obviously unhappy. I can tell she also rocks the crate around in her efforts to get out. If she's allowed out, and has Ranger for company, she settles down eventually, except for getting up on the sofa and bed.

SOCKS, you say?? OMG, good LUCK!

I should have kept the sock Star kept sneaking out of the wastebasket on me. Eventually all that was left was 2" of the cuff!

I'm darned lucky her digestive system was able to handle it! 

Deb, my room mate hasn't even got enough dog knowledge to housebreak her 5 lb. mutt! As for leash training, if the mutt were any bigger, it would be pulling HER down the street! It's always out front, and pulling as hard as it can.

I've made some efforts, by suggesting she read some of my dog books, but she's shown no interest in them.  She thinks I'm being mean by telling my dogs to 'wait' before I let them at their food!

I seriously don't understand this "crate" business and what it's supposed to achieve. My GSD is nearly 2 years old, has the run of the house as all my dogs alway's have over 40years and has never chewed anything. The last chewing I remember was in 1990 with a 12 month old Golden Retriever locked in the kitchen and he chewed the back out of a chair because he was locked away isolated in one room. Having the run of the house with a doggie flap out into the back yard, can look out windows, sleep on the couch, on someone's bed etc, they don't chew as their surroundings are no novelty to investigate things they have access to at all other times.

What's the point of crating a GSD when not home, so your TV and video can disappear without the dog's interaction???.

Having two dogs, the one left at home alone will play up feeling as if it's been left out of an outing opportunity which it has, one goes they both should go together which eliminates the problem.

Oh, ok. Your room mate is one of those people who doesn't understand the doggy pysche.  Never mind then.  I feel your pain.  If she won't read books will she watch videos?  Can you make a movie night with her and get her to watch the dog whisperer, Ceasar Milan?  Sounds like she needs to be educated but you know the old saying...you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. 

I've had people chastise me for even having a crate for my dog.  My own father teased me about wetting the kibble, "what, do you chew it for her too?"  We work very hard to have a well mannered dog so when friends come over to visit we don't spend the whole time yelling at our dog like they yell at theirs when we visit them.  The one that gets us teased the most is asking them to not make eye contact and to push her away when they first arrive.  If we didn't insist on this she would be jumping on them, into their laps, racing around the room.  Everyone complies and in a matter of minutes when she calms down I tell them it's ok to call her to them if they want to.  But I get a lot of crap from them about it.  Most of them don't care if she jumps on them BUT I DO! 

I know people think it's odd that I have a dog but when I come to visit them I push theirs away.  I can't stand to be jumped on, humped on, licked etc. so they think I hate dogs.  Not all dogs, just ill mannered ones.  And they wonder why we don't jump at every invitation to come over.  Go figure.

At least you know that when you are gone, you are missed.

Deb
 

We can't get Cesar here in the frozen north, but Julie does watch his Canadian equivalent, 'At The End of My Leash', with
Brad Pattison.

Can't say it's helped, though she did mention the counter-surfing Great Dane to me, as my GSD's have taken stuff off the counter a few times.

Oh, yeah. She also feeds her dog Ol' Roy, inspite of me showing her an article about what crap that food is. Hopeless case, I'm afraid...

Thanks for the suggestion about not using 'stay' when I leave. That does make sense.

I crate some of my dogs when I leave the house because they do stupid things when they become anxious......

One dog in particular will try to eat the front door to try to excape - she is most definately crated, for her own good.

My family had a mutt, Bootsie when I was very young.  I haven't thought about her in years.  She was about the size of a cocker spaniel and may have had some cocker in her.  She was fine in the house as long as she wasn't alone.  If we forgot to let her out when we left she did horrible damage in an attempt to get get out.  She didn't necessarily want to be with us, just out.  She would panic.  One day after church we came home and she had shredded mom's new living room drapes, chewed the wood around the window so badly we could see the corner of the glass.   Now that is some separation anxiety!  All of our out going doors were scarred from other times, all the windows had some kind of damage.  When we got moved to the country, Bootsie became an outdoor dog but only after that last drape shredding incident.  You could tell she didn't bite them, she scratched them while digging on the window frame.  That was the straw that broke the camel's back.  Other than that, Bootsie was a good old mutt that we all loved.

Thanks for the memories!
Deb

Had the first tracking class yesterday. Both dogs did really, really well, and my worries about Star were for nothing.

She fussed a wee bit while I was in sight, laying the track we were going to do, and cried when I left her alone in the car, but quit soon after I left. At least I think she did, because no one mentioned she was crying (I wouldn't have heard it, anyway. Being hard of hearing sometimes has its advantages...)

She did chew up my sunglasses, but I think that was due to boredom more than anything else...

My bad...I got in a hurry while loading the car, and decided not to lug that big size 500 crate down the stairs, and put it in the SUV!

She's gained so much weight over the winter that I really need to buy her a bigger harness! It's in the last hole on both sides, and looks like it may rub the fur off.  She doesn't look fat, though. It's probably just that she's fully mature now, having just turned two.

 

Hey that's great that both dogs did well.  I hope you really enjoy tracking with them.  Personally, I really like tracking.

"I seriously don't understand this "crate" business and what it's supposed to achieve."

One, it does keep your dogs safe and in a controlled environment when necessary. Crates keep your dog safe when traveling if you have to stop, swerve, or have an accident. Much better to be crated than being tossed through a windshield.

Two, if your dog is recovering from an injury or surgery, they often need to be kept still and quiet. Free range of the house means moving around, jumping up and down and getting wound up when you come home. That's not beneficial for healing.

I have a little cavalier spaniel that we adopted as a 10 year old. She's never been crated trained and has major separation anxiety. It is difficult to deal with her, she must be crated if I take her to training with me because she'll find a way out of the van to get close to me, which could be very dangerous. Because she's never learned that a crate is a good place to be, she bites and scratches at the crate until she's completely panicked and lame. Whoever owned this dog did her a major disservice by not crate training her.

One of my shepherds rarely is ever crated except while traveling and when eating. But he is crate trained, which is certainly a good thing since he ripped his toes open and is on strict crate rest until they heal.

The only way I've been able to overcome, or at least minimize sep. anxiety is to never say a word when I leave or when I come home, the idea being it's a non-event.

I couldn't live without the crate either.  I've never had a dog that wouldn't destroy something, or get into trouble when left alone, at least until two years old. 

 

Like joonbug said, it is for your dogs safety as well as the safety of everything in the house!  

Dogs actually like their crates, it becomes their den, safe haven, escape, and it is only necessary to lock them in until they are mature, and trustworthy enough.    Ditto on the seperation anxiety also.  No big deal coming or leaving.