A friend rescued a saluki x lurcher, L, back in August. The rescue said he was fine to be left for a couple of hours and didn't need much exercise, but he wasn't thrriving at the rescue and I suspect he was shut down.
He has had severe SA since he arrived. I think he is overbonded to my friend & her OH - as well as not letting her out of her sight, when her OH was away on business L cried for him quite a lot of the time. And when she left him with a friend for a while, he cried non-stop.
The other day she just went upstairs for 5 minutes with him shut downstairs & he was so upset he did a poo (he's generally completely reliable).
I know the usual protocol for SA, but I'm not sure if there's any special measures to get over the bonding problem. She would then at least be able to leave him with someone else when she had to go out without making him yet more anxious.
I really want to give her the best advice because she already feels very isolated & lonely (she & OH have only been together a couple of years and he lives in a small village miles away from anyone she knew before), and often needs to go to doctor/hospital appointments when OH can't be around. I'm not sure she can cope with this unless she has real hope of cracking this, but she can't face the thought of L returning to the rescue.
Any thoughts/suggestions, please?
Separation anxiety - overbonded dog
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Separation anxiety - overbonded dog
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Re: Separation anxiety - overbonded dog
Eeek..
So this isn't just Separation anxiety - ie, can't cope alone without human company. This is ALSO, hyper attachement disorder - can't cope without specific people/person..
The same as with just S. A. the problem cannot be fixed whilst the dog is being subjected to the conditions that trigger the anxiety.. and when its a specific person/pair of people thats really hard work.
So first of all the dog needs to be allowed to follow her around the house, wherever, whenever - no weeing alone or sleeping alone for the time being.
Ideally, they'd both be at home and not leave him - I am guessing thats not practical but if he CAN find a way to remain at home at least for a couple of weeks, then they can use that time to reduce his stress levels in general and start to work on him being ok without him.. and also start to build trust in 'a n other' person.. so that he then has someone else he can be left with.
So on top of the usual SA work, they'll need to build bonds with the dog and other people - any friends who are committed to helping, and a professional walker/sitter.
In all honesty, if they cannot do the above, theres little point me writing out the rest of the points to address such as drugs, desensitization protocols etc and in that case the best option would be to return him or rehome him to someone who can deal with the issue.
I think the thing to make clear to the owners is the first four to six weeks will be the worst in terms of progress being REALLY slow, tiny steps... and then particularly if he does end up with drugs to help him, progress can come along in much bigger chunks (plus much of it then becomes second nature and thus far less stressful to deal with)..
But if they can't do the things necessary in the first few weeks it just won't happen and the dog will almost certainly get worse
So this isn't just Separation anxiety - ie, can't cope alone without human company. This is ALSO, hyper attachement disorder - can't cope without specific people/person..
The same as with just S. A. the problem cannot be fixed whilst the dog is being subjected to the conditions that trigger the anxiety.. and when its a specific person/pair of people thats really hard work.
So first of all the dog needs to be allowed to follow her around the house, wherever, whenever - no weeing alone or sleeping alone for the time being.
Ideally, they'd both be at home and not leave him - I am guessing thats not practical but if he CAN find a way to remain at home at least for a couple of weeks, then they can use that time to reduce his stress levels in general and start to work on him being ok without him.. and also start to build trust in 'a n other' person.. so that he then has someone else he can be left with.
So on top of the usual SA work, they'll need to build bonds with the dog and other people - any friends who are committed to helping, and a professional walker/sitter.
In all honesty, if they cannot do the above, theres little point me writing out the rest of the points to address such as drugs, desensitization protocols etc and in that case the best option would be to return him or rehome him to someone who can deal with the issue.
I think the thing to make clear to the owners is the first four to six weeks will be the worst in terms of progress being REALLY slow, tiny steps... and then particularly if he does end up with drugs to help him, progress can come along in much bigger chunks (plus much of it then becomes second nature and thus far less stressful to deal with)..
But if they can't do the things necessary in the first few weeks it just won't happen and the dog will almost certainly get worse
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
Re: Separation anxiety - overbonded dog
Thanks so much, EB, I'll pass it on. He's a lovely dog and they are besotted with him so I hope it works out.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009