Help, my dog barks and howls when I leave!

[BloodyDogHairs]

I've got 2 GSD's one has a few issues, doesn't like strangers touching her, raids the bin at night etc. Yesterday I went shopping and my DS who was still in bed said the dog had spent the whole time howling.

I set my phone to record and I have just left the dogs alone for 10 mins, as soon as the door was shut one dog jumped on the couch and slept the other barked and howled . My poor neighbours must be pissed off if this happens every time I'm out!

How the hell can I stop this? both dogs are 6. I'm a SAHM so the dogs are very rarely left but now I'm going to be worried about the noise when I am out (like tomorrow when I'm at the school for book fayre). I'm going to record them tomorrow too to see if she eventually calms down.

It's either boredom or separation anxiety. Given that she starts as soon as the door shuts, is most likely to be SA unfortunately.

It can be improved, even cured in some cases, but it's hard work and slow progress.

Have a look at some of the suggestions and links on this thread.

Basically you need to start teaching her to settle herself, starting with you in the room and very slowly and gradually moving to being elsewhere in her sight, then out of sight, then out of the house.

It's best not to leave them long enough that they go over threshold while you're going through the retraining programme, but realistically and having been through this myself - twice - there will always be times you don't have any choice. If you do have to go out and leave her, try using treat toys as a distraction frozen kongs, kong wobblers, treat balls etc are all useful. Also have a look at the supplements and plug-ins I linked to on the other thread, as some of them may be worth a try.

Do keep recording her. You never know, it could just be that she's feeling out of sorts or she was unsettled by your ds still being in the house when you went out.

Thankyou, it's definitely SA. She's always been a needy dog. It's funny I have 2 dogs from the same breeder and one is as laid back as you get and the other has every issue going!

I'll look at the link now.

I feel for you...we had problems with our dog also. He used to bark like crazy when we were not at home, and our neighbours complained a lot because of that. Both my husband and I work a lot and had no time to take our Bud to dog training classes. We asked one friend who works in foster care (he is always surrounded by dogs) what we should do. He recommended one online dog behavior trainer. I love this trainer bit.ly/1QfdUHX
It helped us a lot, and I strongly recommend it for you.