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Newly only dog is howling when alone

6 replies

VivaLeBeaver · 28/04/2015 22:59

We lost our older dog last week. So our ten month old dog is on her own.

I work 2 or 3 days a week and we have a dog walker come those days. Dd is also home at 3pm.

Dd said she heard dog howling as she got home Friday last week. I was at home yesterday. I got home early today and couldn't hear her howling when I got back.

Me and dd have been out this evening. Dh was home but nipped out for 15 mins to the shop and said as he walked back along the street he could hear dog howling/barking.

We're in a semi and I'm worried about the neighbours! I can start leaving the radio on and leave her a kong but is there anything else I can do? Is she likely to get used to being on her own and stop howling?

Ideally I'd get another dog but Dh will go nuts!

OP posts:
VivaLeBeaver · 28/04/2015 23:01

I think we might get another dog in a few months......I need time to talk Dh round. But I don't want to rush into getting another dog just to keep this one company. The type of dog I ideally want there is a months and months long waiting list for.

OP posts:
TummyButtonFluff · 29/04/2015 09:59

Could you foster one in the meantime?

moosemama · 29/04/2015 10:11

Lurcherboy did this when we lost our old girl. It was a huge shock, because he's a really laid back lad and nothing ever bothers him, but he grieved terribly and I came back to a very rude note from my neighbours one morning after attending one of my dc's school assembly. Apparently he started doing it straight after she died, but we had no idea. (We are in a semi too and our neighbours are retired with no kids or pets. Fortunately they were very understanding once I went to see them and explain that firstly, we had no idea he'd started doing it and secondly, we were working hard to help him learn to cope on his own and could they please let us know if/when they hear him, because it would help with his training programme.)

I did lots of things to help him - more walks in different places, keeping him busy with search, hide and seek and retrieve games and generally trying to wear him out as much as possible. I had a distinct advantage in being a sahm though, so was able to stop going out and build up the time he was left gradually. Kongs didn't work for him, he either didn't get them or couldn't be bothered to put the effort into emptying them. I thought it was grief stopping him wanting to eat at first, but discovered that he preferred treat balls, buster cubes and kong wobblers etc and they kept him busy for a while. Another thing I did was use a dictaphone to record him, so I had some idea of just how much howling he was doing and how he was progressing once we started working on it with him.

We had decided not to get another dog when we lost our old girl, but had to rethink when we saw how distressed Lurcherboy was. We were pretty sure getting another dog would work because it was Isolation Distress, rather than Separation Anxiety (as he was fine as long as somebody, anybody, was with him, rather than needing a specific person to be there). We lost our girl in April and picked up Pip early August. By then Lurcherboy was already coping with being left for an hour and a half, but it was hard work and often three steps forwards, two steps back. Once we brought Pip home Lurcherboy was cured overnight - despite not actually liking the annoying puppy - unfortunately with his bad start and being very poorly when we first got him Pip ended up with true Separation Anxiety in a big way. Two years down the line, I still can't leave him home along for longer than an hour - and an hour is pushing it sometimes. I often wonder if Lurcherboy would have just continued to improve had we not got another dog and anyway, he could go longer by the time we got Pip than Pip can after two years of hard work with him. I love Pip to pieces and would never be without him but to say it has been extremely hard and had a major impact on my life and freedom would be the understatement of the century. Hmm

Is there any chance you could find some dog-daycare locally until you get another dog or could she perhaps go and 'visit' someone on the days you work? It's going to be very hard to work training her out of it if you're not around, as the basis of the training is gradual desensitisation and teaching to self-settle and they need to be kept under threshold the whole time. Failing that, it's worth trying an extra long walk before you leave and then perhaps two visits from someone during the day, given that your dd is home at 3.00 anyway. I would also try a variety of treat dispensing toys and either rotate them or give her a couple at a time. Teaching her to search for hidden treats is another good game to keep her occupied.

The best books I've found to help me get my head around ID/SA are Don't Leave Me, by Nicole Wilde and Treating Separation Anxiety in Dogs, by Malena Demartini-Price.

VivaLeBeaver · 29/04/2015 10:35

I don't think fostering would be an answer. If the foster dog leaves we're back to square one.

Moosemama, poor you and Lurcherboy and Pip.

On the days I'm home I could do some work training her, so nipping out for ten mins and coming back and building the time up. See if that helps. I've got a Kong somewhere which we haven't used for ages as the dogs would have fought even if they had one each so it was put away. Will find it and look for other treat cube things. Thanks.

If things don't improve we might look at doggy daycare. There's daycare near where Dh works so it's an option.

OP posts:
moosemama · 29/04/2015 11:03

The nipping in and out will help, but you need to teach her to be able to settle as well. Some info on that here.

Ideally you would initially start by getting her used to being settled with you, there, then in another room but in sight of you, then out of sight, then out of the house etc. You would keep her under threshold in each location and if she starts fretting at any point go back a few steps/minutes and build up even slower.

Desensitisation to your leaving cues will help a bit too, so lots of picking up car keys/handbag etc, putting on coat, hat, shoes and doing whatever else you usually do as part of your leaving routine, then sitting down and having a coffee, watching tv or reading a book. You can feel a bit of a numpty sitting there on the sofa in coat, boots and hat etc watching daytime tv, but it does work. If she gets very stressed by you doing that, you can desensitise her to each individual step, so say, spend a day picking up and putting down your car keys or picking them up and putting them in your pocket or even clipping them to your belt so that they jingle all the time until she becomes desensitised to the noise. You can then work on something else, say wearing your outdoor shoes indoors or your coat or hat. Then you'd start to pair them until you can do the whole routine without her starting to look stressed.

To be honest, if you are going to get another dog anyway, then daycare might be the less stressful option for all of you - providing she's happy there of course. I would choose to put Pip in daycare for a day or even half a week if I could, just so I can have a bit of a life, but he's scared of other dogs too, so sadly it's not an option. He's a rescue that had a very bad start though, so isn't a typical case. Fortunately we do have a brilliant boarding kennels where, after really careful introduction, he's happy as long as he's with Lurcherboy, so we can get away occasionally.

FiveHoursSleep · 29/04/2015 13:11

We had this problem with our left behind dog. But he'd only howl sometimes and we couldn't work out the trigger until we arrived home one day to find he'd been howling for over an hour and the catflap had been left on 'out only' . If the cats were inside, he was happy as larry but as soon as they went out, he was sad:(
We wanted to get a specific breed of dog too ( a collie X), but couldn't find a suitable one, so in the end we just took our left behind dog on lots of blind dates with rescue dogs until we found one he liked!
He's the 'wrong' sex and breed but he gets on brilliantly with our left behind dog and has fitted into our busy household very well :)

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