Separation anxiety

[g0ldie]

Hello. Any help welcome.

I am going back to work in 2 weeks after a year on mat leave.

Our dog is a labradoodle and is a year old.

He is becoming increasingly distressed (barking and damage to home) when being left for periods - problems as little as 1 hour at worst.

I have always popped in and out during day but it seems to be getting worse rather than better and I feel sick to think the worst case sinario is we have to rehome him if he is too distressed.

When we leave he is in the utility room with crate door opened with water.

It is a small room at back of house so not disturbed by noises at front.

When I work I will be 3 days a week. One of those will be based at home- so in and out. One my mum can be there for the afternoon.

For the last 2 weeks we have been repeating the leaving for work routine today I went out for 3 hours and he barked for the last hour.

I have had 2 sessions with a dog trainner but they are away currently.

I have adaptil on order. Hopefully will arrive tomorrow.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom or sucess stories?

He is a very loved family dog, feeling desperate for this to work. I called about dogie daycare today but realistically I can not afford after paying for two children in nursery.

[g0ldie]

One more thing. We have arranged for a dog walker to come in but he will be alone for 6 hours then 3 hours 1 or 2 days per week.

[nikiw99]

Sounds like you are doing all of the right things! Sorry I can't be more help!

[Deadnettle]

We used this book to help our poodle.

I won't lie, it has taken months (six in fact) of hard work but we can now leave her for 1.5 hours (we're working on longer) when we couldn't leave her at all.

Good luck

[g0ldie]

Thank you. It terrifies me that it's such a long term issue.

It is only recently I cottoned on that it was seperation anxiety I thought it was chewing in a puppy sense rather than due to distress.

I've left the house twice today and both times have been awful. It's getting worse not better currently.

The dog trainner said it would get worse before better so I can hope but in all honesty I am quite concerned as I don't have the option of not working.

Thank you for the book recommendaction.

[YvaineStormhold]

Have you googled Thundershirts?

[g0ldie]

I had not heard of them before - thank you. Is this something you have experience of using? What happened?

[Misskittycat16]

Bless you, you sound like a lovely, caring and committed owner.

Is the trainer a qualified dog behaviourist? Separation Anxiety is notoriously difficult to treat speaking from bitter experience so you need someone who has experience with this. Sorry if this is a silly question.

Adaptil is a good call but I would also look at putting him on a calming supplement for a while, best thing to do would be to speak to your vet or vet nurse and ask what they recommend.

You could also try activity/puzzle feeders to keep him occupied. Look up Kongs, they also have lots of ideas for recipes you can fill them with.

[g0ldie]

Thank you misskittycat.

I don't know her qualifications but she is vet recommended. I was wondering about medication so discussing it with the vet would be a good idea I think.

Puzzle toys are a good idea - thank you il order some.

We are doing the work routine everyday now. Even if we don't go out and he goes in his room for a while. He likes his room as he has so many treats in there so at least this is one thing. Unfortunately he panicked after half an hour when a parcel came so the postman knocked and he heard. The postman is very keen on dogs so may speak to him about it and ask him to not knock or something.

Thank you for your advice and support!!