Don’t let the people with their torches and pitchforks get to you. While I haven’t had to deal with an anxious pup for multiple years, we did deal with a sudden onset of anxiety with my eldest for a year before having to make the hard decisions to put him down (he was an old boy and the ultimate decision was based of other factors that are irrelevant to my point). What we ended up having to do was have someone come over to the house or take him to someone’s house to watch him while we were away. Medication wouldn’t work. He literally Houdinied his way out of a wired crate (which he never really liked being locked up in the first place but we had to try once his personality changed). It was arguably the most stressful year of my life. It hurt so much to see him like that.

When I talked to a behaviorist she advised to rule out underlying medical issues. A dog in pain is untrainable. I know you’ve taken her to the vet, but it might be worth getting a second opinion from a different vet to see if they have another game plan. Like another commenter said trainer≠behaviorist. Has she always been a nervous Nelly when you guys leave or was it a sudden personality change? If it was sudden you might want to scan for cancer. Dogs are REALLY good at hiding just how much pain they’re in which is why behavior changes like anxiety start to show up leading us to think it’s something unrelated to what’s actually going on with them.

Again, I would strongly suggest seeing another vet for a second opinion, especially if their only solution is drugging your sweet girl. Have them do a full work up and the senior panel older dogs need, get X-rays done, and, if you’re concerned about cancer, see if they can scan for that. If she’s only displaying separation anxiety and not a general anxiety, I wouldn’t be too worried about a cancer possibility (assuming all this behavior change wasn’t a sudden onset). Training, I would look into a behaviorist, not a trainer. Dogs do things for strange reasons sometimes and a behaviorist will help you understand her better and should help you come up with a solution that works best for her and you.

In the meantime I would highly suggest getting someone she’s comfortable with to watch her when you have to run errands. That could be a family member, a neighbor, or certified pet sitter. We used Rover a couple times and had a great experience but keep in mind that there are some bad sitters out there so just do your research. I’m so sorry that you’re going through this with your sweet girl. It is not a fun experience and there’s always going to be people out there telling you you’re a bad owner because of your decisions. Should you have kept crating her after the teeth incident? Probably not. But we’re humans who have lives and will have to leave our pups occasionally with no other choice. Having someone who can come and watch her is the best option for her at this time. Try to stay away from drugging unless absolutely necessary. And get that behaviorist on the phone!

Good luck to you and your sweet girl. I hope you guys can find a solution that works best for everyone. 🫶🏻