Got my new rescue

[Bulbousbob]

We’ve had her nearly a month now. She’s utterly adorable and has brought so much joy our home. She’s very loving and we don’t mind that. I work from home so she’s rarely left alone. An hour at most. I’m a bit worried if we have to leave her any longer. She gets really anxious when my son leaves for work and she’s clearly got separation anxiety. Is there anything we can do to make her feel less anxious? Should we try leaving her on her own a little more often? At the moment we’re of course with her pretty much 24/7. This won’t always be the case.

[GreyishDays]

I would try and leave her every day, even if just for five minutes. Aw.

[Bulbousbob]

That’s a good idea. At the moment I take her everywhere. She’s so well behaved it’s easy to do so. I might start leaving her when I drop my son off in the mornings. It’s only ten minutes.

[Ihaventgottimeforthis]

There's some really good advice about how to build it up slowly, from just leaving the room and immediately returning, to leaving for a minute or so, to packing the car and so on.
Baby steps and rewards when they are calm.

[Kordelia]

I second the above advice. I had a dog who couldn’t cope if I spent the whole weekend with her then went out on the Monday. So for some months I left her for a bit every single day.

My recent rescue is fine, but even so I started with just a minute or two eg taking the bin out, and increased it gradually. And don’t make a big fuss of her before leaving. Be matter-of-fact.

[Bulbousbob]

I’ll give it a go. She’s currently snoring on the rug next to my bed rather than on it. This is progress. I’m grateful, particularly because her pimps smell especially bad tonight 😆

[WhySeaEmm]

I'd go out for a walk without her once a day, or perhaps pop to the supermarket. Build up to this. I think there'll be a lot of dogs in the same boat post lockdown when their people start returning to work.

[sillysmiles]

If she truly has separation anxiety you have to start with leaving the room first before leaving the house.
Luckily my guy doesn't have separation anxiety but even still I make a point of not fussing over him in the morning when I'm leaving and he has to be on his bed to get his treat. He now associates me leaving with him getting treats - but as I said, he's never shown anxiety signs.