separation anxiety

[Denise Billings]

We adopted a female, fawn boxer from friends of ours last year. They were moving cross country and didn't think they could take her. Rather than have her sold or worse, abused again, we took her in. She suffers from separation anxiety. We have taken her obediance training, to a behaior therapist for dogs, and have had her on clomicalm. She is now 6.5 years old. I should mention, she had been abused by her first two owners. I walk her 3 times a day, and run her 4 times a week. The vet I take her to, said she has never looked better. She is very muscular and minds well now. However, the anxiety over when we leave is driving me crazy. I work nights and my husband is deployed right now. My three kids go to a sitter at night, the three nights I work. I have to kennel her or she would tear up our blinds, couch, and chair again. If anyone can think of something I have not done; please let me know.

 

[Eric J]

This might sound like a trite answer, but you should go pick up a copy of the book The Dog Listener by Jan Fennell. It sounds like (especially with the hubby away) your boxer sees itself as head of the house and when you leave it worries so much about your safety in that big uknown world, it takes its stress out on furniture or whatever.

The book will show you have to establish yourself as higher in the pack hierarchy, wich will allow the boxer to calm down and enjoy things, since it wont feel it is in charge of protecting everyone 24/7.

This is a highly reccommended book on this site. I wish you luck, and hope to hear this turns out great in the future.

 

[Matt S]

Hi Denise & Welcome to Boxer World

I'd recommend you using the Boxer World search engine, (little blue/grey button top right of screen), & do a search on Separation Anxiety. I'm sure you'll come up with a heap of relevant previous threads.
Here's one such previous thread which gives some alternative holistic remedies that maybe worth you researching further.

http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23390&highlight=separation+anxiety

Here also are a couple of other links on separation anxiety that maybe of interest to you.

http://www.doggiedoor.com/sepanx.shtml

http://www.wagntrain.com/SeparationAnx.htm

 

[Aimee]

I dealt with seperation anxiety with Lexi for many years. We finally got help and began using clomicalm in conjunction with desensitization training. I am happy to say that Lexi no longer as seperation anxiety I know full well what you are going through. Hang in there.

You have been given excellent references. The Dog Listener does have a superb chapter on seperation anxiety that you will want to read. Establishing yourself as alpha is the first thing you need to do. The link provided that speaks about building self confidence is of utmost importance next to reestablishing your pack. The medication will not work alone.

Some great confidence building exercises we do with Lexi are

walking on a board - sounds simple but it takes a few tries before they walk on all 4's on the board

jumping through a hula hoop

teaching new tricks or commands

practice basic obedience

get a tunnel (smaller version of agility tunnels) and have her go down the tunnel and back again on command

Try these using postive reinforcement training and you will see a huge difference in her behavior. Another important piece of advice is to never free feed a dog that has seperation anxiety. You will read about that in the Dog Listener as well! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[SummerBoxer]

I know what your going through.

My dog suffers from separation anxiety. I really do not like the idea of having to put her on medication so what my vet suggested was Kong. It is a Rubber toy with a small hole at the top and a bigger hole at the bottom. You might have heard of it. You can put peanut butter and treats inside the toy and Summer will chew on it for hours trying to get the peanut butter. Its something that is supposed to keep her busy all day. Summer would poop in the kennel and step every where in it! She also started creating sores on her head because of how crazy she would get in the kennel when I would go to work. I wish we had another option besides kenneling her all day but someone has to work! I just got my Kong but I will keep you updated on her progress. My next step will be the medication, but I wanted to try something else before that. If youre intersted in trying it out you can buy them at your local Petco or pet store. There are Black ones and Red ones. The black ones (which is the one I got) are supposed to be stronger. Let me know if you try it. Good luck!

 

[Denise Billings]

Summer Boxer and others

Thank you all for the replies, I have begun desensitization with my boxer, Mitzi. Also, I am going to start obedience training with her again. I have tried the kong toys. She will love it right up until we put her in the kennel and then she won't touch it again.
We'll keep trying. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks, Denise

 

[Aimee]

We used the kong as part of the training. Lexi would only get the kong filled with goodies when we left the house. When we came home, it got put away. You have to be diligent though and give it everytime you leave, even if it's only for 5 minutes. Lexi was however on medication at the time that we started the kong. The medication helped make her less anxious and more able to enjoy the kong