quesada Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 (edited) My staghound x pup (14 wks) is suffering from separation anxiety. When I leave for work, he is put into the back part of the house. He has towels that carry my scent, I leave the radio on. He has ample water, food, chew toys, chew bones, etc to occupy him. I also take him for a good brisk walk before I go to work, and also after work. When I got him 2 wks ago, I did a letterbox drop of close neighbours and let them know that I had a new puppy that might take some time settling in, and to let me know if he was noisy. Yesterday, I got a knock on the door from a 'trying to be understanding but unimpressed' neighbour, who said that Caspers' barking is very loud and incessant through the day, when I am not home. I have today, got a small doggy companion from the shelter that I got Casper from, to see if some company might settle him when I am away from home. He knows this dog already, the little fellow is a sturdy, quiet little chap and is tolerating Caspers' enthusiasm about seeing him with patience and only the odd snarl and snap. I realize that I have to give the two dogs time to settle in together and also time to see if this settles Casper. As you can imagine, I am feeling very stressed and feel like I am 'failing' as an owner of this rescue boy, even though I am doing my best. Does anyone have any other suggestions? ETA - I have tried putting Casper out while I am home also and just ignoring him. I have left him for reasonably long times, up to 2 -3 hours and didn't open the door until he was actually quiet, as I thought it might reinforce the behaviour if I gave in and opened the door when he was crying and barking. Edited March 3, 2007 by quesada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonymc Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Quesada,my suggestion is firstly start seeing things differently.Why are you beating yourself up about this supposed Failing?Who said you were Failing?Nobody said you were failing but yourself!!!Time to ease up on yourself my Friend. You have made others aware of your new Dog,your aware of your Pup and his issue and then you took a step to rectify the problem.Thats hardly failing in my Book!!! You only got the Pup two weeks ago and what experiences he had before you got him,were out of your control. I would relax and let the two of them get along.I am sure you can ask the Neighbour if the Barking has stopped or changed. Quesada,I do not go much on the word failing.We in everything we do have a desirable outcome.When we take an approach that does not give us the outcome we want,we have not failed.We just have not got the result we wanted.So we go back and keep changing the Approach till we get the result we want. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quesada Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Tony, you are quite right in what you have said. Will look at the problem in the best possible light and with the best possible outcome. Thanks for the pep talk, I needed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonymc Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 no probs Quesada.You can of course inregard to the anxiety,practise leaving Home through different exits,come and go for short periods and do not ritualise leaving. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quesada Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Yep, Tony...have done that, leaving by front and back door. I work irregular shifts, and also go out shopping, etc. for periods. When I can take him out in the car, I do so, to break up the monotony of him being home all the time as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonymc Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Quesada,the only thing you need to do is throw that F word out!!! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doghouse Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Hang in there, it will get better.. My girls carry on when I leave but settle (they tear lounges apart) but they are fairly quiet about it.. It will get better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R00 Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 ok at the risk of a terrible flaming, Don't ever say goodbye to your dog when you leave, just walk off and leave. When you come home don't even say hello just continue on with where you left. (of course that doesn't mean you don't give your dog attention, just not attention that bookends a perceived negative from your dogs perspective. I actually say hello to my dog, but never ever goodbye and I never ever look back, I just pick up my stuff and leave, straight out the gate and gone. (that is of course when he is not coming with me, which is rare) Cheers Roo PS Oh and what Tony said too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonymc Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Roo,stuff the flaming BS.What you have said is fair enough and nobody should have a problem with that. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R00 Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Roo,stuff the flaming BS.What you have said is fair enough and nobody should have a problem with that. Tony hahah, yeah I know. But some people on this forum tend to take any advice given that they don't agree with to heart. Me I don't care I just put the anti flame statement in to remind people that what I post is my own opinion and I only post what works for me. Take it or leave it, everyone is different and every dog is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Can I suggest that when you are home "leave" as much as possible but for only short times - coming back when your boy is quiet or try to judge between bouts of barking. Try to make it a common occurrence to let your pup know that you are coming back. Yes I agree with ignoring the pup when you leave and when you come back - at least for the first 3 / 5 mins or untill he is no longer demanding your attention. Let us know how you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog_Horse_Girl Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Can I suggest that when you are home "leave" as much as possible but for only short times - coming back when your boy is quiet or try to judge between bouts of barking. Try to make it a common occurrence to let your pup know that you are coming back.Yes I agree with ignoring the pup when you leave and when you come back - at least for the first 3 / 5 mins or untill he is no longer demanding your attention. Let us know how you go. Yes, alone training is the key here. Very short absences building gradually into longer ones. Ignore the dog when you come and go. Also get a DAP diffuser. This will hopefully help to calm your pup and help him adjust to a whole range of new things...new home, new surrounds, new people etc. It's a HUGE adjustment for any creature but dogs are routine-driven creatures of habit. Try to have the routine as similar as possible until the pup settles in properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quesada Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Thankyou very much everybody for all the info above...anything I havn't tried, I will put into practice. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 (edited) If you like, catch me on msn: [email protected] There are some great methods that work well for dogs with mild-average type aniexties. Steph & Bam a Doler has recently gone through this so you may like to have a chat with them, Steph couldn't leave bam alone for 1 minute to start with, now she can go out without him in tow. Click here for their profile Edited March 3, 2007 by sas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steph & Bam Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 (edited) Thanks Sas!!! Yep you can chat to me about it too - my msn is [email protected] Although, I can only go through what Sas has taught me, and I only know what works for me lol. I couldn't even go to the mail box without Bam having a panic attack! Now he doesn't even bother looking up when I leave. ETA: Let alone leave the room, How dare I go to the toilet!!! Edited March 4, 2007 by Steph & Bam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steph & Bam Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Thought I'd add the link to my problem with separation anxiety. http://forums.dogzonline.com.au/index.php?...;hl=sep+anxiety Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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