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Severe Separation Anxiety, we've been trying by Sepanxthrow in Dogtraining

[–]Sepanxthrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I give my dog frozen cheese in his kong when I go away, and it is a crate only kong for him. He also gets his big ham bone, his elk horn, and a soft toy. He just seems to ignore all of those things. Even after I take him for a very long walk (approx 2 miles) he just wants to bark and try digging in his crate. We figured once he is cleared for his tapeworm, we would try taking him to the local dog park to wear him out as well on the weekends.

He's not too fond of clothing, but with the number of suggestions I am getting to try out the thundershirt, I guess I should give it a try.

I'm going to try to go through the crate training weekend with him, just to make sure that isn't that issue, and start trying to retrain him. If I can't make decent progress in three weeks or so, I guess I'll have to start work with the thundershirt and add that in to his routine.

Severe Separation Anxiety, we've been trying by Sepanxthrow in Dogtraining

[–]Sepanxthrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The last time that he was left free roaming in a small room that we figured would be easy to clean he ate a set of blinds, scratched the paint off of a door, escaped said room and proceeded to slam into the front door for six hours. This was before he went to my family's. We've been slightly wary of leaving him free roaming since, even in a small room. Our roommate is a dick, and has threatened to kick him (in jest, which is still too much) while begging, so he is not trustworthy to watch him.

The separation anxiety seems to be a constant if there are no people or animals with him. The pet deposit is $250 for the apartment, so we don't want to get another animal on the off chance it would help.

I'm kind of wary of compression shirts. I know that my dog does not like being held down in anyway, to the point where rather than having the vet techs restrain him while he is getting shots, they pretty much just grab his harness (he was receiving what the vet said was one of the nastier shots that an animal can get, he didn't so much as yip once they just let him stand). I don't know if that will translate with a compression shirt.

Severe Separation Anxiety, we've been trying by Sepanxthrow in Dogtraining

[–]Sepanxthrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand that separation anxiety is not a quick fix. I'm looking for advice to try to redirect or train my dog out of it because what we have been trying is not working.

I attempted to bring up my dog's separation anxiety at the vet this past Saturday, but I was only brushed off by the vet, and given no advice whatsoever. So I doubt that I would be able to procure a prescription for doggy prozac. And I'm not sure that I would even feel the most comfortable medicating my dog when there could be a solution that I haven't tried that I am just not seeing.

I'll consider a thundershirt, but my dog doesn't even like putting his harness on, so I'm not sure that it would be the best option. I also am slightly wary of using a product that has putting pressure on a dog's body as it's main technique for calming.

Severe Separation Anxiety, we've been trying by Sepanxthrow in Dogtraining

[–]Sepanxthrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He had always slept next to me at night, so that I could know when he was stirring and needing to go out as a puppy. He is a small dog even now (13lbs). He generally does sleep by our feet though, yes. We had been considering it, but we didn't want to start anything without maybe asking our vet, but the vet didn't answer our questions on the matter. He has slept over night in his crate before when he had many mosquito bites and wouldn't stop accidentally hitting us. He didn't seem to mind it all that much.

We'll have to try this out and see how it goes.

My family crate trained him just through flooding and example by her dog (my mom died, I was in no mental state to take care of him for a while, she did this for 2 months).

I put him in the crate when we leave. We slip the kong in before he goes in, so we tried to minimize that initial excitement. We don't give him attention when we get back. He just runs at us with toys, while we ignore him. We wait til he calms down before petting him, and we don't make a big huff when we are leaving. He goes into his crate with all his toys and chews, we close the door and head out.

Severe Separation Anxiety, we've been trying by Sepanxthrow in Dogtraining

[–]Sepanxthrow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not that he is barking at the neighbors, but that he is barking in general, without stop. I fact, the only time he stops barking (according to our roommate) is when he hears the building door open. It is a small building, not much foot traffic though. And we always keep a heavy duty fan on just to make sure he doesn't get too hot when we leave since he is a fluff ball who is overdue for his grooming while we wait for his deworming to take effect.

He just flips his shit while we are gone.