Anxious Dog and the destruction of our home!

[justfiveminsofpeace]

Any advice here would be appreciated! I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Our boxer is 2 in October and in the past few weeks his anxiety has got worse. Previously Anything wood in the house would be stripped (not eaten, a pile of gnawed wood would be left).
He has never liked being left alone (suffers separation anxiety). However we've been able to do the school run and do the food shop and he's been ok. Today I popped out for 20 mins and when we came home, he had pulled the kids toys out of the cupboards, ripped the carpet up rubbish out of the bin and clothes from the laundry basket everywhere. None of these items (other than the carpet obv!) are left out. Everything is tidied away. He was shaking and in his bed.
He's been walked, fed and left a favourite toy out for him with the tv on for background noise.
We've had a dog behaviourist out in the summer whose advised us to change his diet which we've done (previously too high in protein), carry on with the regular walks and toys for mental stimulation.
Is this him hitting his teenage years? If my OH is home or the one who leaves he's ok it's as if he listens to him to be good but as soon as I leave it seems to be the thing that triggers him to act out. I'm starting to feel trapped at home. I don't want him to feel alone but I need to go to the post office etc at times and he can't come along. My biggest fear is he's going to end up hurting himself.
There's no difference in our ways of leaving the house. We've tried the getting ready to leave the house and as soon as he reacts stop.
It's like he's grand most of the time but without rhyme or reason he has a bad day and there's no difference in leaving the house routine.

He's such a sweet thing and I hate to think he's so scared.

Sorry it's long!x

So many responses thank you!

We do the desensitising by picking up keys and putting shoes on, pick up bags etc at random times. Some days he's not bothered by it others he is.
We don't give attention when we come in straightaway Nora big fuss before we leave. To do this makes him worse (if possible).
Thank you for the book recommendation I've just ordered it after a previous post recommended it so will have that on Monday. Tomorrow I'll get measuring for baby gates.
Unfortunately treats/food don't work. He will actively ignore it
I will book in with the vets next week to discuss as it seems to be he is quite severe. Which is bittersweet to realise as I'm sure you guys can imagine. But it is helpful to know more so what we're dealing with here.
Oh we've also got a camera which we talk to him through (we're the crazies talking to dog via video cam in the supermarket!). It only works when he's in range though. So today I was gone 20 mins and he destroyed the place out of site. My phone has intermittent signal in our area so i couldn't talk to him. Yet two days ago we went out for an hour and a half and he was fine (spoken to regular via the cam on this instance).
Also thanks for the heads up re the insurance. I will look into this as well.

I really appreciate all the advice it's invaluable to help tick things off and add things to the list.

@Veterinari
Thank you for this. I'm going into their website now and will look into all you've suggested.

We do the desensitising by picking up keys and putting shoes on, pick up bags etc at random times. Some days he's not bothered by it others he is.

Please stop doing this. In many dogs with separation anxiety it increases the anxiety as they are constantly on edge thinking you are going to leave. They then have higher stress levels more adrenalin and costisol rushing round their body and when you do leave they are in a higher state of distress than they need to be.

@PollyRoullson This was advised by the behaviorist we saw, and it made sense in a way (otherwise we wouldn't have tried it) however your explanation rings true to our situation so this stops.
Right now he's calm and until we've got a plan in place (vet, APBC, book, baby gates) the priority is making sure he's calm and keeping his anxiety to a minimum.
Again thank you for the advice!

It's a trait of Boxers I'm afraid .

I've had 4 boxers over the years and they are known to be destructive dogs and suffer from separation anxiety and they really think they are part of the family and get distressed when left alone

I would go right back to the very start as if he is a 12 week puppy and start from scratch. That said you may never solve the issue as I said it can be a trait of the breed.

This is why I won't have a boxer now even though they are my favourite breed

I have staffies now but boxers will always be my favourite but I can't deal with the destructive side of them.

A more modern and successful way to treat SA now is to actually flag up that you are going to leave.

eg you put on a baseball hat and go out - you only ever wear the hat when you are going out. (You can do other things!)

The dog can then relax the rest of the time as they are reassured and they do not have to be on high alert.

There is of course more to it than just wearing a baseball hat! lots of work before you get to that stage but this illustrates how the older method of freaking them out by picking up keys etc is not often used these days

Also how much exercise is he getting as they really high energy dogs, mine over the years could easily come10/15 miles with my when I was on my horse.

They need ALOT of exercise, I would be doing at least 3 miles first thing.

1/2 miles at lunch and another 2/3 in the evening

So 2/3 hours of waking a day .

My Staffie is amazing behaved but the last week he has been on restricted walks - I do similar to what I've wrote about

And my goodness his behaviour has gone off the scale he is a absolute menace just after a few days of cutting his walks right down

I get up normally and take him out before work /school with my kids at 7am till about 8.30am then I got to work to 1pm he normally sleeps as I have a camera to watch him

Well he hasn't been sleeping and pacing about and causing a nuisance of himself

Proper waking makes a huge difference to a dogs behaviour

@PollyRoullson funny you say that as we used to do this with a bag. It was kept in the same place and we'd get it out and show him when we went out and again when we came home. He still acted out but never to this level. I'm feeling a bit frustrated with myself for listening to the behaviorist rather than sticking with what sometimes worked.
@Indoctro he gets at least two hour long walks a day. (If we're out for the day with him it's more) however we've not seen a link to exercise to his anxiety. I'm not saying exercise has no effect on tlwell being of course it does. He was not himself when he was ill a year ago and he couldn't go for a walk for a few days. And we didn't leave him alone as he was ill! He was very grumpy!
He had his walk this morning and still had an anxiety attack yet I was gone a very short period of time. It just feels there's no rhyme or reason.
@Indoctro you're not the first boxer owner to say this to me. Where I think it differs is the level of destruction and it's not all the time. He never does this when we're in the house for instance or every time he is left. But when it does happen it's getting worse and I fear he'll hurt himself.

I feel sorry for you it is a horrible thing to deal with, no one wants their home destroyed it is also something difficult to fix.

Perhaps you need to confine him to one room maybe a utility if you have one , scatter as much toys, chews, bones etc as you can and hope he doesn't damage too much but at least if it's confined to one smaller area and keep doing what you can to slowly reassure the dog, by going back to basics

Good luck

Thanks @Indoctro fingers crossed the plan works!x

Yes he did, and he was a wonderful, loyal dog. He absolutely adored our cats and I think they helped him to settle down. I wouldn’t say getting another dog is always the answer, our dog was a people dog, he didn’t actually want to play with other dogs, so in our case getting another dog would have added to the issue. Your dog will grow out of it I am sure, but I know how it feels when you get home to more destruction. Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Good luck going forward.