New little lady in our lives in addition to our 5 year old black lab.
She's a mix, roughly 8 months old, found on the street after being hit by a car, was taken into a foster home and attached firmly to the woman there, and then since to me and my partner.
She's been with us 2 weeks, and her separation anxiety is starting to hurt my heart and also worry me on a practical level (we live in a building with other flats and not the thickest of walls). We both work from home, so we're not out even close to all day, but there are times when we need to run errands / do things that aren't dog-friendlyfor a couple of hours and we can't take the pups along.
She is WHIP-smart; very intelligent and thoughtful, and picks things up quickly (but is also smart enough to choose to ignore them, so we have to be crafty and consistent).
She follows me everywhere, including sticking her head under the shower curtain to make sure I haven't made a dash for freedom under the guise of a wash.
When we leave the house she hurls herself against the door and cries. It usually lasts about 10 minutes and then she quietens, but she's always pressed against the door when we come back (we can see her through the thin gap under our front door).
We've got a baby gate for the hallway to the bedrooms (our dogs aren't allowed in our sleeping areas), which she hasn't jumped yet, but she does wait there and cry quietly when we head to bed.
And even if one of us stays home, she still cries that the other one has left, and waits by the door with her nose pressed against it for at least 30 minutes.
I wanted to leave her with something high-value and brain-engaging to keep her mind off it, like a Kong full of something delicious, but our Lab is an utter glutton and will bulldoze the little 'un out of the way for anything that might possible be food, so that's out.
She's learned that keys and shoes mean we're going out, so we're trying to desensitise the stress of that by jangling keys and then going to do the dishes, or putting on jackets and shoes before we sit down to watch TV.
But I would really, really appreciate some more help and ideas on how to ease her panic about being left. Being with our other dog doesn't make a blind bit of difference, and I just can't keep leaving her in a state like this!
What have you done that's worked / helped?
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The doghouse
Separation anxiety – any tips?
14 replies
ladybee28 · 19/06/2019 17:05
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