Separation anxiety success stories

[2catsand2kids]

We have a gorgeous 7 month old poodle (male). His training in most ways has gone really well, he sleeps well in a pen in the sitting room and has picked up all the commands we have taught well and has good recall. The one issue we have is around separation anxiety.

We have tried to build up leaving him but he has got worse at being left rather than better - when we leave him in his pen he just whines/howls/barks the entire time he is left - we have a camera so we can check on him. We have decided we really need to try and solve this issue now - I want to be able to leave him for short periods knowing he is calm and OK and not distressed. Yesterday I read Julie Naismith's book Be Right Back and we are planning on starting the training recommended in there tomorrow, but I just wondered if anyone had experienced the same with their dogs and had success stories and tips for us.

We accepted dpuppy hated being alone. 2020 saw our house full 24/7!! When that changed we juggled someone being home.
Once she got used to dc being at school and just 1 person being home she stopped following me even to the loo! At 18 months I can leave her the odd afternoon! Big achievement!

Maybe try leaving him for 5 mins in another room, no fuss going out, no fuss coming back. Build it up. He will start to realise that he can trust that you will come back.

The no fuss bit is crucial

yes practice leaving him in the house, dont rush it and yes no fuss. dont do big byes when you leave. I give a chew toy to distract sometimes.

We got a rescue 14 months ago with separation anxiety. In the beginning we’d do things like pick up keys, put our shoes (triggers for leaving) but then not actually leave, on repeat so she learned it was no big deal, then upped that to going in and out the door, again on repeat till she was comfortable. Then small timed alone sessions building up from 30secs onwards. As the time creeped up we would give a kong then leave, no fuss and then no fuss on return, we would ignore her until she settled and then praised her. She can do 1hr 45 now and we mix that up with smaller sessions, probably longer but with lockdown it’s been difficult to be out the house any longer as we wfh. Now things are opening we will build on that but in reality we wouldn’t leave her for longer that 3ish hours and only if we had to.

I’ve had some success with her book and with a lot of help from her (free) Facebook group. There is also a paid Facebook group / access to an app etc but I don’t have experience with that. The main thing I’ve taken away from it is you need to become the MASTER of recognising your dogs anxiety cues. Little things I didn’t actually think were signs of my dog being stressed actually were and returning at that point or before, rather than waiting a few seconds / minutes longer until he’s already anxious done such a wonder for us. Still can’t leave him alone for any longer than to put the bins out BUT my partner can leave for work now without DDog absolutely freaking out.