Separation Anxiety in dogs

[Doggymummy86]

Hello,
I’m looking for all your helpful tips & hints to try and stop separation anxiety out of a 2 year rescue pup that I am going to rescue. My old dog had this but not to the extent that my new pup has, I want to be able to go to the shops without having to worry he’s getting too stressed out.
🐶💙

If your dog has real separation anxiety do not waste time and get immediate qualified behavioural support. It is essential that it is dealt with correctly and not to waste time on ineffective methods.

You can make things worse by trying anecdotal methods from people that have not seen your dog in real life.

The rescue should be offering you support and behavioural advice or be able to recommend a qualified behaviourist

The rescue centre have just told me he can’t be on his own in the house because the previous owner said he had separation anxiety - apparently he trashed their sofas but he also didn’t like their children and often hid from them under beds etc. At night he jumps at the living room door but when I shout “no” he stops and settles down all night. So I’m not sure if it is separation anxiety as he can go 6 hours + at night. I’m just slightly confused

@Doggymummy86 our rescue was 9 months old when we got him, never lived in a house before etc. We had 2 solid weeks off with him, tried building him up time in his crate and he absolutely hated it. In the end we spoke to our doggy day care and put him in with her while we were at work. He got to learn that we would leave and come back for him and now has no anxiety at all. Took maybe a few months at most for this to happen.

Not saying it would work for you, we were lucky he was young. Think we just had to build up the trust. We noticed he stopped getting so excited when we got back home (he used to do his celebratory little noise as we got to the front door) at the same time as being ok to be left for periods. Hopefully the rescue can help or see if there is a behaviourist attached to the rescue who can advise.

Our beagle has separation anxiety. He's much better than he was but he still doesn't like being left.

First thing, we never ever leave him unless he's had a good walk beforehand. Otherwise he has far too much pent up energy and he'll take it out on my furniture.

Secondly, start leaving him for seconds - and I mean thirty seconds or less. Go out of the front door, wait and come back in. Only return when he's quiet. No fuss when you leave or when you return. I always leave mine with a treat that he only gets when we go out - we use stuffed cows hooves but there are plenty of other alternatives.

We leave him after a good walk and with a chew. We also make sure curtains are closed and the TV is left on for him. We never make a big deal of going in/out of the house and ignore any barking. Only fuss him when he's calm and quiet.

Don't get me wrong it's hard. We can't leave him for longer than a couple of hours at 18 months old - luckily we have family who will have him if we want to go out longer than that, and we live in a very dog-friendly area so mostly we take him with us.

Good luck

Our little rescue is nearly 2, he’s a lurcher and they say all lurchers cant be left on their own but we managed to train our 9 year old rescue lurcher to be on his own while we were at work. I always come home for my lunch so the longest he would be alone for is max 3 and half hours each time, I never do over time. I’ve bought a crate and today I’ve slowly introduced treats & toys and he’s lay down on his bed in the crate. We’ve only got him on Sunday so I’m not expecting miracles. I’ve stepped outside of the house for 15 minutes and then came back in, ignored him until I was ready then gave him a cuddle. I just need to know what I’m doing is right, at the moment my gran is staying with him during the day because he is so new and I’m still doing my routine of coming home for lunch. I don’t believe dogs should be left on their own for long periods of time but I would like to go out and not have to worry he’s completely trashed the place