SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

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vs_carlie
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SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by vs_carlie »

Hi again!i m writting an update about carlie s separation anxiety. i recieved patricia s mac connel book a few days ago and i started the programme with my carlie. i m in the early stage where i must find the trigers of my absence and desensitise him to the triggers one by one. what in the book is not described is what i should do when someone is leaving the house now, where i must take him to the calming room with a stuffed cong and as i m in the first stage he is not calm at all there. he defenately pee in that room and he will get up and go to the door of that room. he will leave the cong and start barking and doing all that staff. also i have noticed that when i m home he is more stucked to me than in the past. he almost all the time beg for attention -like scraching my hand to canddle me, jumping in my legs when i arrive home but not only then etc.
another thing that i want to refer is that when i clicker train him despite the fact that i m really good at the timing he continues to be nervus and he eats foodvoraciusly. the last time i did that, my treats was small pieces of hot dog and he almost gaged. he had cough for hours after.
i dont know but i thing that something is going wrong and he seems to me upset for some reason.
:?:
please please help :roll: :roll: :roll:
Wicket
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by Wicket »

Bump! Hopefully someone can help you soon. :)
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***Melissa***
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by ***Melissa*** »

I have never had to deal with something like this, so I don't really have advice.

But, please do a search on the forum on seperation anxiety - there's a lot of info on it. Read especially Emmabeth's posts :wink:
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~Ben Williams
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vs_carlie
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by vs_carlie »

i have but i can t find any situaion similar to mine. i have read many things from the internet and many from here.i don t know what to do. things are not going well. :( please if anyone can help ...i m waiting for your opinion
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***Melissa***
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by ***Melissa*** »

I'll try to help :?

I *think* in an ideal world it would be best not to leave him untill his sep anx is fixed - but, unfortunatelly that is not realistic for most of us :wink: Is there any way that you can ask/pay/bribe someone to come and stay with him while you leave or leave him at someone else while you are not home? Only for while you are busy with the sep anx training.

I've heard people leave kongs, etc for their dogs. But if he doesn't eat it, it means he is too stressed.

Before you have to leave him - make sure he's mentally and physically tired (like a long walk and clicker training prior to leaving him). Also, give him a few minutes to unwind after the exercise and before you leave, as to not leave him while he is still excited.

When you are home you start by being the most boring person in the world - Emmabeth explains this in various posts.
And when he's fine with being in a different room than you you move on going outside for 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc.
If he whines, then go a step back. Be sure to move at his pace.

Hope it helps :?
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~Ben Williams
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vs_carlie
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by vs_carlie »

thanks for your reply very much!! my problem is that the time someone is leaving even if carlie is not going to stay alone in the house his attention is no mutter what, to the person who is leaving. this person could be me, or some friend and he has the same reaction with a totally strange person. carlie has separation anxiety even with strangers??? :?:
i ll give you an examble:
i m preparing to leave the house and i m wearing my coat, taking my keys, my bag and leave.he starts pacing the house. i go to the door and say to carlie "stay" .i open the door and leave . when i i m out i sometimes hear him to bark once or two and then stop. then -he never stays alone home, he stays with my mom- he sleeps and he is very calm.
a stranger is preparing to leave: the stranger will stand up wear his coat and go to the door. from the time he stands up carlie start barking non stop and he puts his mouth to the stranger s shoes but not biting, he almost cries. carlie won t stop this no matter what i say to him. when the stranger leaves he is calm again.
the more stranger is someone who is in ny house the most carlie will bark and not hear to me.
this is separation anxiety?
he almost never stays home alone and even if he has to, our problem is when we leave. we never left the house and we saw it destoyed when we came back.
i m describing the situation as it was at the past.
now i m at the first step of patricia s book. but he is worst when i leave him to the room alone with the kong- and i do that because i don t want him to be anxious seen people at the time they are leaving. he will leave the kong and do all that staff i m describing to the beggining of my post :?: :?: :?:
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***Melissa***
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by ***Melissa*** »

I'm sorry, I don't know what else. :(
I hope someone else replies to your post with some advice
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~Ben Williams
ladybug1802
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by ladybug1802 »

Hi! MY boy had separation anxiety when I got him and I spent a couple of months building up the time Ileft him from a few seconds to an hour....but yours sounds a bit different. I think in your case, because it seems he gets stressed whenever he sees indicators that you or someone else is going to be leaving the house, it might be worth desensitizing him to these triggers? So for example, you say he starts to stress when you put your coat on, get your keys etc? So put your coat on and pick your keys up, then sit down again and watch tv and DONT go out. Ignore him totally, then when he settles take your coat off, put your keys down and give him a fuss. You will need to do this a LOT so that eventually when you put your coat on, get your keys or whatever, he doesnt automatically see it as "oh my god, someone is leaving, oh no!"

If a stranger is at your house and you are still mid way through this training, then obviously you cant ask them to keep putting their coat on and sitting down for another half hour....so maybe move your dog away into another room before the stranger even gets ready to start leaving - that way it avoids him getting stressed at all. Maybe shut him in another room with a kong or some yumy thing he can eat to distract him.

He may be getting stressed even when a stranger leaves because he has got himself so stressed about being left that it doesnt matter who leaves - the trigger is that anyone who leaves the house may be the start of him feeling stressed and unhappy? Just an idea?
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***Melissa***
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by ***Melissa*** »

That's a great idea Ladybug :D
It made me think of something else too -
Everytime you put your coat on and take your keys - give him a really super yummy treat, then leave. Maybe he will later asoociate getting ready to leave = yummy treat.
My dogs don't have sep anx, but they do associate me getting ready for work with with food, bc they know I get ready, I feed them, I leave. But they don't associate me getting ready with leaving, only with feeding - the last thing I do is take off my slippers and put on my shoes, and that is when they get super excited and run to the kitchen to get their food.
There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. ~Ben Williams
ladybug1802
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by ladybug1802 »

Oh just re- read your post again...another thing that came to mind was that you say when you leave, you tell him to 'stay'.....maybe when you really DO have to go out (as opposed to getting ready to go out then sitting around in your coat doing nothing!!) start ignoring him for half an hour before you go out, and dont speak to him when you do leave....same when you get back home, ignore him for a while when you come back in, until he has calmed down.

What is he like if you, for example, leave him in the kitchen and go into another room with the door shut? Does he stress then? If not, maybe you could just go into the kitchen, no speaking, with him, give him a stuffed frozen kong, then just when he takes it leave the room and shut the door. Actually you could try this even when you stay in another room - depending on if he stresses just when you leave the house, or also if he is in a different room to you? I was just thinking that if he is occupied in another room, and doesnt see you or hear you leave, he may not be as worried? Does that make sense?
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vs_carlie
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by vs_carlie »

thank you very very much for your advice and replies. as i read that i thought that i should take him in another room with a stuffed kong even when i m staying home because we have an issue on this too. if i m home he must be in the same room with us. we never leave him in another room alone. when we do he doesn t do anything, he is staying behind the door and has his nose down to smell where we are, and he sounds like a pressure coocker - he breathes and then pressure coocker starts :D .
as far as the "stay" command when i leave is because when i go into the door he is running towards it to go out first and i don t want him to get stressed as sees me to leave. i think that if he is in the house he will be better. if you have further idea please answer to me. but you are very helpfull and i can hang in there. :lol:
ladybug1802
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by ladybug1802 »

Ah I do think that you should definitely work on getting him used to being in maybe the room next to you, with either the door shut and a tasty kong to keep him busy, or even initally behind a baby gate? That way he can still see and hear you but cant get to you....altho this should only be an interim measure I think as he needs to gradually get used to being away from you, and understand nothing bad will happen to either himself or you when he is not with you.

If you give him a kong stuffed with melted cheese or peanut butter for example, then frozen, it will take him longer to get through....I knwo you said he doesnt bother with it, but I think that is because he is SO stressed....so I think you need to take a few steps back and start with baby baby steps. So maybe start by leaving him in the kitchen for 10 seconds or so, with a treat of some kind, then open the door with minimum of fuss. Gradually build up the time he is left ion there on his own, but I would always leave him with some kind of treat/kong/treat ball...so he starts to associate being left alone with yummy and fun things.

I think at the same time (well not literally at the same time but you know what I mean!) you can also do some stuff where you put your coat on and dont go out, like I said earlier.
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vs_carlie
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Re: SEPARATION ANXIETY UPDATE!!

Post by vs_carlie »

i guess i must bye baby gates then. and build it up because when he is anxious he also pees, except all the other thing he is doing :lol:
thank you very much
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