Separation Anxiety when I leave the house. help!

[Carolyn]

Hi, my name is Carolyn and have a 8.5 month old boxer that we adopted from rescue when he was 5 months old. He is great with my kids who are 4 and 7. He is friendly towards everyone and has an awsome temperment. He dosen't follow me around the house, he loves to play and pretty much does his own boxer thing. He is crate trained and dosen't really have an issue with the crate itself, but freaks out when we leave the house without him. The very idea that he is alone starts is excessive salivation. When I come home even after just a 1/2 hour the bottom of his crate has a 1/4 inch of saliva everywhere. He is also covered from his chin to his feet in Saliva. The sides of the crate are not spared either. His crate is metal. So I tried leaving him on our screened in porch. There he deficates and scratches the door so the paint chips and also chews the door as well. I can't put anything in his crate or he tears it to shreds. That's my problem (his problem). I have met with a trainer who has instructed me to slowly
get him used to me leaving in very small increments and by leaving him a PB or cheese filled kong. I am going to try this but it is not easy as I do have to leave him for a couple hours on most days and he can't be walking free in the house. Any suggestions. I really feel for him and love him but there has to be an easier way to coexist together.:( :(

 

[mtndan]

I can relate

Hi, we just brought home our Oscar, 3.5 year old rescue, last weekend and we're struggling with the same type of thing.

He's been in a laundry room while we're gone at work (although we come home for lunch to see him) and whenever we leave he cries and whimpers and it appears he's started to chew some molding on the door to that room.

We've gone back and forth about whether we should crate train him but since he's been ok so far we haven't.

I'd love some feedback or ideas also,
Dan

 

[Carolyn]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Does Oscar salivate?
Is he your first Boxer?

Carolyn

 

[mtndan]

not much slobber....

Hi again, he doesn't salivate too much, but he just looks and acts so pitifully sad when we don't give him attention -- he's a needy dog right now.

It's our first boxer, and my first dog ever actually. When we're home he's wonderful -- so loving and sweet and excited. We're starting basic obedience next week so hopefully that'll help things all around.

Good luck!
Dan

 

[Dodgn_AK]

Hello, my 7 month old also drools to no end when he is crated. I understand what you are going through. Tyson has improved within the past few weeks however. I got him a bigger crate, he had started to outgrow the first one, and this seemed to help a little. I also leave the tv or radio on for him while im gone. The kong toy seems to be working for him as well. There are lots of posts on seperation anxiety, you should do a search. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[morgan2526]

where is mom?

My Morgan had severe seperation anxiety for the first 2 years that I had her(she is now 3). (She went through 2 crates but the final straw when when she broke off 2 of her front teeth by chewing on her metal crate.) I tried everything and this is what works for her...I baby gate her in the kitchen(linolin is easier to clean up than carpet), spray bitter apple on the babygate to keep her from chewing on it, leave a light on if it is dark outside, turn the radio on to keep her company and never, ever, yell at her for chewing, peeing while she is alone. I leave quickly and just gate her in and say "Mom has to go to work now, be a good girl." No kisses, no petting, just leave. Do not make it into a production. I leave her a kong full of peanut butter and treats which keeps her occupied for the first 10 minutes I am gone(this is the time period that your dog will be the most upset) When I get home I ignore her for 5 minutes or so and then tell her what a good girl she has been.(Whether she has been or not) Hope some of this helps. Good luck. I know how difficult it can be.

 

[Carolyn]

Update on my dog Max

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to reply to me . Since I posted the original question Max has escaped twice from his crate. It is the kind of metal crate that can colapse and fold into a suitcase. I contacted the company that I got it from and they are replacing it with a non colapsable crate. I hope this will prevent him from escaping. We have been staying home most of the time if we can't take him with us because he can't be trusted in the house alone yet. I know that if I put a gate in lets say the kitchen, of which I have 3 doorways, he would figure out how to get out. He normally claws at the doors in the house when we leave and he could probably remove them if he thrust himself hard enough into them. Again I am just going by how he is when he is crated. He actually squeezed through the seems of the crate once he figured out how to disengage the clips that kept the sides together. The first time he escaped ( I went out for 1.5 hrs) he tore up a tissue box. We are not sure how long he was out because he still had drool in the crate so he must have not been out long or he probably would have done more damage.The second time he escaped that same day but in the afternoon(I went out for 2.5 hours) I came home to finding the cabinet door that hold the garbage being open and Max pulled the garbage pail out and was eating the contents. He had coffee grinds all over his muzzle and thank goodness I didn't have anything dangerous for him in the garbage. I guess I have to put the child safety lock on again. I just took them off, my youngest is 4. So, I am hoping to get my new crate this week. I also just put 4 large pumpkins on our outside stairs and Max thinks these are new toys just for him. He has pulled 2 of them down and removed the stems that I took so long to pick out. I am going to try spray bitter apple on them and se if this will deter him. Max is definately in his adolescent stage. I notice a realy big changre in the way he plays and his stubborn streak is presenting itself now. I guess I shoule start reinforcing his obedience training. Gotta go my human children are needing breakfast.

 

[Aimee]

Please do a search on seperation anxiety, you will find a ton of previous posts that will help you. We dealt with severe seperation anxiety with Lexi. Please feel free to email me privately with any questions that aren't answered in the previous threads!

 

[reneekathryn]

puddles of drool!

I figured I wasn't alone on this. The weird thing is Gracie has accepted the crate as her "bed" but, only at night when everyone else is asleep. We were putting her in periodically during the day while we were at home and she would just SQUALL and my 2 yr old would let her out every time. I put on a clip to keep him from opening the door but the little booger is more clever than I had anticipated. I put her in the crate when I have to leave the house for short periods of time to locations where I can't bring her along and she obviously freaks, judging by how saturated she, her pillow and, the bottom of the crate are. As soon as she gets out she hits the water dish and I'm not suprised what a MESS! Tomorrow we have to go out for longer than the usuall two to three hours. I have taken up the carpet in the laundry room, put down some papers, put a baby gate across one door and the other will be blocked by her crate, radio playing, lights on. You might think this would work. I tried it the other day and came home to find she had dumped her water and (I didn't have the door blocked as well that day) she was in another room on the couch. Unfortunately she is only 13 weeks old and still has accidents in the house so freedom for 4 hourse is not an option. Do you think she will just over time become accustom to this? Renee and Gracie

 

[angelina]

THIS MAY WORK..

DEAR CAROLYN,
I HAVE A BOXER, A YEAR AND 2 MONTHS. I RUN A PET STORE AND MANY PEOPLE HAVE THIS PROBLEM. HERE'S WHAT I HAVE HEARD REALLY WORKS. 20 MINS. BEFORE YOU LEAVE YOUR HOUSE, DO NOT PAY ANY ATTENTION TO YOUR BOXER, (SO YOUR NOT MAKING A BIG DEAL THAT YOU ARE LEAVING), WHEN YOU COME HOME, DO NOT PAY ANY ATTENTION TO YOUR BOXER FOR 20 MINS (NOT MAKING AN ISSUE OF YOU COMING HOME) AFTER THAT 20 MINS IS OVER JUST GO BACK TO NORMAL, ACTING LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN THERE ALL DAY. THIS APPROACH SEEMED TO HAVE REAALY WORKED WELL FOR ONE OF MY CUSTOMERS W/ A VERY ATTACHED DOG. NOW I HAVE NEVER TRIED IT. THIS IS ONLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD. THE REASON I DIDN'T DO IT IS BECAUSE I LIKE HOW EXCITED MY DOGS GET TO SEE ME, AND I LIKE BEING EXCITED TO SEE THEM. I HAVE A MILD SEPERATION ANXIETY W/ MY BOXER, (SHE GOES TO THE BATHROOM WHEN I'M GONE) BUT I HAVE ANOTHER DOG THAT KEEPS HER OCCUPIED. I WOULD GIVE IT A TRY, IT MIGHT HELP.
GOOD LUCK!

ANGELINA