[Dailydrool] Barking and separation anxiety

[Pam McQuade]

<<Our foster Ollie is quite the barker. For the first 72 hours, you could 
not leave his sight without him barking non-stop. Part of his problem is 
separation anxiety. Even though he was surrounded by other bassets, he felt 
he was being abandoned by the human (even if there was another person in the 
room). I requested a bark collar for him. When it arrived a few days later, 
Ollie was getting more settled in. He still will bark when you first leave a 
room but he's starting to understand that it's a temporary thing>>

Barking I know little or nothing about, but I've learned about separation 
anxiety from our Belvedere, one of our fosters (who developed it after he 
left here), and other Droolers.

I'm not at all surprised that a separation-anxiety hound would feel 
abandoned even though another person was in the room. Such dogs tend to 
connect very strongly with ONE person. When that person leaves, even if 
another is right on hand, it is not good enough. Belvedere adored me from 
the moment he saw me. He's a classic example of  what Nicholas Dodman calls 
"The dog who loved too much." Though we've had him for years, if I leave, 
Bel will still sometimes stay by the front door, waiting for me to 
return--unless he decides the couch is a better waiting place! He's always 
the first to greet me when I come home. Drew can do anything he wants to try 
to make him happy, but until I'm at his side, Bel isn't completely happy.

I don't know if the puppy originally in question has separation anxiety, but 
no negative methods will work for such a dog. Separation-anxiety pups are 
nervous, and harsh methods--even those we humans don't think of as being all 
that harsh---will only make them more nervous, probably causing more barking 
(or whatever anxiety-relieveing method the hound makes use of).

Separation anxiety tends to show up, in my opinion, when a dog has something 
to lose. Oliver, one of our fosters, had no problem being left when he lived 
with us for three months. But once he found his forever home, he became 
anxious. I think he knew these were his people, right from the first moment 
he met them, and he didn't want to lose them. Oliver had been in a couple of 
foster homes, after losing his first home, and I guess he didn't feel secure 
without the loving people he'd just found. Happily, he went to a couple who 
were willing to deal with his issues and adored him.

I do think rescues need to make every effort not to move dogs around 
repeatedly. While a hound is in rescue's care, it may not show separation 
anxiety,  but when that dog finds a home, it may be another matter.

Sorry this comment is so late. I have had a week's worth of Drools to catch 
up on.

Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets