Separation Anxiety

[jodysh]

Yikes!! Jesse (the lab) bent the door up to his crate when he tried to stage his jail break and it would never close and lock after that. But as it turns out leaving him with free reign of the house was ok so long as we didn't have any of his treats out where he could get them (there were a couple of unfortunate incidents where he ate WHOLE bags of treats and puked) and put the garbage can away somewhere where he couldn't get to it. And then we had to remember to close the bathroom door because he'd go in there and get himself shut in.

I'm not ready to let Malcolm have free reign yet, so. He's going to have to be crated or blocked off in the kitchen. I got his Thundershirt today at Pet People. I think it works...because I left him in the car to run into the store real quick and he didn't say anything about it and he stayed quiet and calm when I got out to pump gas whereas he usually pitches a fit.

So next test is putting him in his crate *crossing fingers*

[Pupster]

I wrote a longer reply before, but I think I may not have hit "post" or something . Anyway, we got the Thundershirt on Friday and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. She is not comfortable in it, but seems to be more comfortable each time we put it on. She doesn't run away from it when she sees it, so that's a good sign . Also, we took her to a friend's house last night and there was another dog there who was much smaller. She was much friendlier and playful with the Thundershirt than without it. So I think it does work to calm her down in some situations. (Also, she did not seem to notice that she was wearing it while she was playing!) I'm glad it worked for you jodysh -- have you tried the crate yet? Una is still grumpy in the crate, Thundershirt or not.

[jodysh]

Haven't tried the crate yet. Planning to try it out tomorrow.

The only thing I really worry about is that he'll get too hot in the shirt if he's in it all day. But I guess we'll see...I have 30 days to return it

[ScruffyJ]

I'm so sorry for your damage. Our Scruffy who is now 5 years old went through many different phases of separation anxiety and we didn't attempt to get any professional help until he attempted on numerous occasions to jump through our windows (noticed by the middle slats on our window blinds being destroyed while we were away). The first call was to the Vet who said that medication could be an option but only if an Animal Behavior Specialist was involved and the Animal Behavior Specialist said that her effort would be wasted without some mild medication. Just for everyone's information, a true separation anxiety dog cannot be left in a crate (they will rip their teeth and nails out) or any small enclosed area very well, so it's best to give them some space to move around in. This takes some time, but you will need to find out what the triggering event is that causes your doodle this anxiety. We determined that ours was taking a shower, because Scruffy learned that shortly thereafter, we would be departing. Next is baby steps and I will warn you that this takes lots of time. First day, grab the car keys and sit down for awhile. Next, get the car keys and a coat on and sit down for awhile. Next do the above and step to the garage for 30 seconds. Next, the same but a minute. Next, start the car and come back in. Next, back out of the garage and come back in. Next back out of the garage and stay outside for one minute. Gradually increase this by 1-2 minutes/day and before you know it, the separation anxiety will be improved. This total effort for us was about 3 months and yes, we never left Scruffy for any long period of time during this 3 month window because otherwise, we would be taking steps backwards if we did and we didn't want to do that. Our 5 year old Scruffy is off all medications, and is able to stay home for about 2-3 hours at once now without a lot of problems. If we need to leave him for longer than that, he goes to Doggie Day Care and loves to be active, but at least is not suffering from anxiety.