How to overcome Seperation Anxiety with my pup - Page 1

Hello,
I have a 8 month old Female Shepherd who I belive has a case of seperation Anxiety. I stay home with her so she is used to me of course follows me everywhere waits for me to come home when i do leave. I wanted to overcome this obstacle so when she was little I would put her in her kennel even when i was home so that she would get used to me not always being with her. Well needless to say that we had to go out of town for my husband to have surgery and left her with a dog sitter. The entire time i was gone she refused to eat would not use the bathroom outside only inside and chewed on her things. She has been house broken since 3 months old and is not a distructive dog at all i am very lucky with her. We did have an issue with her peeing when she gets excited but even that has gotten a ton better she barely does that anymore. I felt terrible for the sitter and not to mention for her because in a week she dropped weight and i hated it. :( I hate leaving her as it is but when a situation comes up and i need to take her somewhere I dont want to worry about this again. Any information would be helpful thank you.

Is your "kennel" an outside kennel?
I would suggest getting a crate for inside (like a flight box) which she can use as her den to sleep and relax. Whenever she would be unsupervised, put her in the crate so she can't destroy stuff. Dogs very rarely pee in their own crate. Make sure she gets enough exercise with the dogsitter and goes for long walks, enjoys some play time. If she has lots of exercise and distraction she will eat and will be less destructive.

her kennel is inside the house we live in Germany and I do not leave her outside unsupervised as she is very smart and can open all the doors in the house and outside lol not that she goes anywhere but its not worth the risk to me lol She did fine with the sitter when i am there its just when i leave she freaks out, she does it when i am home too, if i leave her in the yard and go across the street to my neighbors she will either open the gate and follow me or try to jump the fence to get to me. The trainer could not get her to stop peeing in the house or pooping in the house, she refused to go outside and not eat, when i saw her she was happy to see me but i could tell she was thinner and now she will not leave my side at all, everywhere I go, there she is...

I just read up on this and it may or may not be this, she does not act that way with me in my house, she will not cry or get mad or use the bathroom in my house, it was only at the sitters house, would that be seperation anxiety or her just being mad?

She's only eight months, right? The next time you go away, if you use the same sitter, it should be more familiar to her. You left her there and came back once before, yes? If you do it enough, she'll figure that out.

True separation anxiety,  I believe can be aleviated over time, but never really goes away. If the worse thing that happens is your dog goes off her food, consider yourself lucky. That's an easy fix, the moment you return.