Separation Anxiety

[littledrover]

My 10 year old female Cairn Terrier (Skye) recently had to spend 8 months with a friend and her dog because I was ill in hospital. This is the first time that Skye had been separated from me. I have now left hospital but am living at my friend's house, camped on her property in my motorhome the problem is that Skye now seems to be confused as to whose dog she is. She comes into the motorhome quite readily and eats her dinner there, however if I close the door she whines and pants continuously, when I turn off the light and go to bed she eventually quietens down and comes to bed herself, she starts whining and panting again at daylight. When she is let out she goes immediately over to the house. My friend says that when she comes into the house she says "hello" to her dog then goes and lies before the window in the sun as is her usual custom.

Have tried ignoring her; letting her out and my friend not letting her into the house, when you do this she comes and sits and waits at the bottom of the step to be let in, after a few minutes she recommences the whining and panting.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to tackle this behaviour. I need to stay here for another 3 months or so until my strength returns.

Annie

[Nekhbet]

I think Skye is more reacting to now her routine has been changed and she's a little confused.

Give her a routine, you be the only one to feed her even treat her and get your friend to ignore her a little more. She will get used to it she just needs some time to adjust

[Erny]

Has Skye been/stayed in the motor home before this? I'm wondering if the behaviour (panting/whining - both signs of stress) relates to being so enclosed. (You say it starts when you close the door of the motor home.)

Have you tried being the one in the house, with your friend in the motor home, and your friend closing the door of the motor home?

I'm not getting any feeling of SA being the issue here - to your friend, her dog or yourself.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Erny

[Tenties]

No this doesnt sound like seperation anxiety at all...i have a girl who suffers from this and she is as happy as a pig in mud when she is with me.....its when i leave her and come back is the problem... she " screams " when i return she is so happy that im back, you can see in her eye's that nobody is home when she is like this....... now on the other hand , i have a boy who was my little mate loved driving to show's and would sit in the middle next to me in the ute and put one foot on my leg as we drove....i went to hospital and was in there for 3 months and when i came out he was a nervous wreck he would panic being in the front of the car and just plain old panic just being in the car , huffing and puffing the whole time he was in there.

After watching his reactions for months i became aware that some of my family were intent on "re-training " my dogs to what "they " wanted or thought they should act like..... i now dont let any family members try and tell my dogs to do anything and i have noticed my " boy " is almost back to normal these day's.

Linda....

[littledrover]

Thank you very much for all your responses. We tried having all 4 of us (my friend and her dog, myself and Skye) in the motorhome and as soon as the door was shut she commenced whining and panting - so at least that narrows things down a bit. Skye has travelled quite extensively with me - since she was 8 weeks old - so this is something new. The only thing I can think of is that when I became ill we were in the motorhome and I was carted off in an ambulance at 3am and Skye was left in the motorhome until 8am when she was taken to a Veterinary Clinic where she stayed for a week before my friend collected her - apparently Skye was in a sick and sorry state.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to acclimatise her to the motorhome (it's 28ft in length so isn't particularly cramped). I'm concerned at the panting and shaking as it's quite excessive. She is being fed there and also sleeping (eventually) there - it's been 3 weeks now and no signof change so far. She's definitely a stubborn terrier!

thanks,

Annie

[midnightmint]

How about installing a doggie-door into the motorhome's door? Or a flyscreen/security grill door.. she might not feel as "locked in"..

I would suggest (if it is safe to do so), encouraging her to stay in the motorhome with you during the daytime.. but leave the door open.

Also, I would be feeding her in the motorhome, giving her lots of cuddles, bellyrubs etc while in there.. anything to make her feel like the motorhome is her "happy place"..

[Erny]

Does she enjoy a game of tug or chase ball? Don't know how crowded (or not) your motor home is and would imagine you wouldn't be able to go full bore, but perhaps closing the door over and going into a game such as those would help. Even better to begin with would be for you to be in the midst of a game and have someone quietly close the door over whilst you're in the middle of the game, as if she gets so stressed when the door is closed it might put her off starting up a game after the door is closed, in the early stages.

[littledrover]

Thanks to everyone for their help, in the end I saw the Vet and he put Skye on Clomicalm - after 4 days she stopped shaking and whining. I kept her on it for 2 weeks, then slowly stopped the dose - she has been her usual happy, bouncy self since

[persephone]

Good news! Glad to have an update- I hope YOU are your usual bouncy happy self as well