Rescue dog and leaving

[Reasonistreason]

DH and me are new to having a ddog. Four months ago we adopted a mixed breed 19 month old female (spayed). She’s mainly beagle, with perhaps spaniel or collie or maybe a bit of both in there - rescue not too sure and we’re not bothered! She’s absolutely lovely. Fully housetrained, sleeps at night in crate, fantastic temperament and funny. We struck gold. Except when it comes to leaving her. I don’t work so we spend a lot of time together but obviously I do need to go out occasionally. The rescue did say she’d been left 4 hrs in previous home but we started at few minutes as new home/family etc. Had got up to an hour but seemed to have slipped back. I have a camera on my phone and I think it’s boredom and not separation anxiety as she’s absolutely fine as long as she’s got something to eat (did I say beagle!!!) but as soon as it s finished she starts whining and barking. No problem in lead up to leaving her, in fact she’s excited to be having her frozen Kong which I keep for leaving her. Also tried leaving 2nd frozen treat but the same happens. Once food is gone she starts. I leave toys out, her special blanket, she has water, her crate, bed, everything. Has anyone any suggestions as I’m pretty sure it’s not SA and all the advice is for SA online. Thank you 🙏

Is she like it the whole time you're out? Our rescue doesn't have SA (very happy to spend time in a comfy place away from us!) but does have FOMO and will sometimes cry when we leave (even with a kong). We have a camera too and usually she settles within a couple of minutes. We're then careful to not make a fuss / ignore her when we get home too so it just seems like a normal thing.

How long once she's started whinying has she been left?

I'm wondering if it's a short phase and she'd settle eventually or does that stay happening for a few hours after the kong runs out?

Also, do you return while she'd whinying and acting up?

@Podenco1. No she’s absolutely fine the whole time she has something to eat. It’s once that’s finished that she usually lies down for a few minutes and then almost gets bored and starts whining/barking.

@sillysmiles I’ve been having to leave her for an hour at most once/twice a week. Once she starts whining/barking it continues until I come home. So maybe for about 30 minutes after eating for 30 minutes. Unfortunately it’s never easy to return immediately she starts whining and she’s very very excited to see me when I get home but I try to keep it calm and matter of fact.

Anyone??!! I’m struggling to find advice about this particular problem as most advice is about SA and I’m pretty sure it’s not that. Ddog is very happy to see me go out and whilst eating her frozen treat/s but it’s when she’s finished those that she starts whining and barking. Think bored but don’t know how to deal with that as I’m not there at that point!

YouTube have some great music play lists especially for ddogs!! We use for leave the TV on for ddog - never been alone due to Covid house full last year!!

Thanks @30degreesandmeltinghere. I have tried leaving on calmimg dog music via Alexa. Unfortunately not able to leave tv on as she’s left in different room to tv. But tbh she’s not been that interested when we have tried the dog tv channels of an evening. She’s very food oriented and even though I leave her toys in her room she just doesn’t play with them when I leave her. Been out one evening (2 hrs) and even after her evening walk she doesn’t/can’t doze until I return, whereas normally during the evening she dozes a lot of the time. What to do 🤷‍♀️

What happens if you leave for short periods of time - 15 mins to start with - but don't give her a kong?

I'm wondering if there is actually some SA there and once she's finished with the kong it kicks in and she's not able to settle herself?

@sillysmiles I think I’m going to have to go back to basics as you suggest. I’ve never left her without something to eat just because she’s so food motivated I thought it’d make it easier for her. Perhaps, like a human baby, she needs to learn to self settle? Thank you, I’ll try that.

Have you heard of the Facebook page Dog Training Advice and Support? The behaviourists on there are incredibly helpful.
Is she able to self settle or does she depend on you being around? I would start with very short periods of leaving her without food, return to her only when she’s quiet and reward her then. It may mean only leaving her for a minute at a time to start with.
I leave my puppy with a yak chew and her favourite toy, no food but she has her bed and water. When I return she gets plenty of fuss, sometimes a treat.

Have you tried leaving the radio on very low?

Interesting you mentioned FOMO (I hate these abbreviations) but my spaniel cross (5 year old rescue) had a fear of missing out when I went out or even to a differant room. I call her a bit of a velcro dog.

Now when I go out I leave her the run of the kitchen and hallways - she sees me leave by the front door but knows she has to stay. As she is not food orientated I do not leave her any kongs, chews or food.

I left a recording device to see of she whined or barked - not a peep.
When I return she is excited but I calmly greet her and say 'good dog'
I am steadily increasing the time I go out - it is now up to 2 hours and it seems to be working.
I would agree with the pp who suggested not leaving food - difficult if she is food orientated. Try white noise while you are out and keep on with the leaving - then going back. Hopefully, she will eventually realise she has not been abandoned (again) and you will come back.

Rescue dogs do sometimes have it harder to settle due to their history.

We have a rescue. Very food orientated and tends to follow us from room to room. Not fussing, just slips in and lies down to sleep in whichever room I am in. (love the idea that this is FOMO, that sums him up entirely)

We have found a few things

1. 4 months is early days. He noticable relaxed more and more from about 4 months until a year. So I think that there is plenty of scope yet. Once he had really settled he was much more relaxed about being left
2. He is fine as long as he has been well exercised. He needed a lot when young, so if we are out for eg Sunday lunch, he get 1.5 hours off lead and when younger he ran for all of that. Then he sleeps when we are out.
3. As long as he wasn't distressed, we found that the more we did it the more chilled he became, so I would find 101 reasons to be out for 10 minutes, 20 minutes an hour etc.
4. Ours loves a kong to chew when we are out, but I wonder if in your case the food is stopping him chilling out, and rather hyping him up? I suggest much much less in the kong. Enough to cover the leaving, but not enough for the whole time.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have looked at the Dog Training & Support guides. They don’t seem to cover our particular problem so I may see if I can post there too,
We do leave radio on but I’m going to try combining all your suggestions and try with less food initially ( rather than going no food immediately) and try building up the time I go out just as I did when she first came to us. She is a bit of a Velcro dog although has recently started sometimes remaining downstairs if I pop upstairs.

I think what’s thrown me is that she’s not distressed in any way when I go out and for the first 30 mins or so. I agree that food does make her excited - she’ll do anything for anything remotely edible so maybe as @steppemum suggests that’s just hyping her up and actually making it more difficult for her to settle. She’s such a lovely addition to our family and I really want to make this right for her and us.