Separation anxiety

[No52]

I believe DDog is suffering from separation anxiety and was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to help him please? He is 11 months old, is walked twice a day and is left alone for no more than 3 hours (mostly 1.5/2).

He started urinating on his bedding (usually a towel in his open crate) a couple of months ago if left alone either in day time or at night when we go up to bed, he has recently stopped eating treats when we are out (I came home to a defrosted, untouched apple filled frozen snake toy yesterday) and I found out today after setting a camera up that he does not settle at all when left, he was stood up for over an hour mostly in one spot - occasionally he would walk round the kitchen and then return to the same spot or he would lift paws randomly.

Any advice or ideas would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

[mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork]

Oh dear, mine has done this recently as she got used to me being at home and then I got some work and went back to work. She's fine when the dogwalker comes but she does sometimes not eat anything while I'm out. I do try now to leave her with a quick hug and adopt a matter of fact (all's OK) attitude when I'm saying goodbye. I think if I am too sympathetic (showing my concern about her), she will feel more anxious. I saw some dog trainer advice on popular tv series saying you should not actually say goodbye to your dog, just ignore it for last 10 mins before you leave and hand it a kong and leg it. Not sure if this helps. Have you tried leaving television or radio on for company? I do this for my parrot and I've noticed that the dog prefers a room with the telly on to one without. She hangs out with the parrot some of the time, especially if anxious. Has your any window to look out of, to see if you are coming home yet? Watch passers-by or birds in the garden, etc?

[alessandrae83]

My last dog didn't have separation anxiety but I left the TV on low anyway as it was normal. You could do that or try radio. Better yet soothing music, also try a calming plug in that is safe for dogs. Don't make a huge fuss before you go out and don't fuss the dog right away when you get back. Also give the dog some brain games to do whilst out perhaps?

[user1468246318]

My dog suffered with this, we used to leave classic FM on and ensure he’d had a good walk. He also got better with age, although I know that won’t help with the problem right now