[Dailydrool] Barking and separation anxiety

[saraberry at aol.com]

Separation anxiety actually appears to be caused from situations where the young dog is always with another dog or person, never having been left alone.  They are rehomed, that situation changes with work, or something occurs that changes it, and bang, they begin to stress and bark or howl in an attempt to get another dog to come or you to stay with them or come back.


There are a number of tools to use to work on changing the behavior, but many on their own take a long time to get to effectiveness.  One is the use of baby gates and crates when people and other dogs are around.  So that they can see the person and other dog, but not access them.  Going in and out of the house, picking up keys, purses, even going on to start the car and then coming back.  Playing certain music or TV when you are home, so that the dog gets used to that being the cue that everything is ok, and then you turn it on when you leave.  Kind of tricky in that you must only play it when you are at home at first.  And then certainly the use of daycare, dog walkers and neighbors to help keep the dog from practicing the unwanted behavior and to reward the good behaviors.  Rewarding the behavior you want is key, and you must focus on the quiet times and reward.  Some trainers can even put barking on cue, so that the dog waits to be cued to bark.  Dogs also tend not to bark when they are lying down.  You are best not to say Good bye when you leave, just quietly go, often in a different fashion, because some dogs if they don't know you have gone, will not even start barking.  Then there is the return home and it is important not to greet the dog until they are quietly sitting or down.  All attention and rewarding to the dog must be done when the dog is calm and quiet.

Moving a dog into other areas of the home can also help, especially if the squirrel lives in a tree in front of the back window, or the skateboard kids are going down the sidewalk in front of the living room window - which is not separation anxiety, but alert barking - different thing.

Then there are some dogs who bark continuously, and some dogs who bark when you leave and right before you return. So that also has to be measured.  When are they actually barking?  Is there a quiet time?  Then you can use that quiet time.

Thank neighbors for their patience.  Give gifts of food or wine along with cards that let them know this is something you are upset with and are working to correct.  Listen if they tell you that they sleep during a certain time, or they need quiet during a certain time and make sure you do everything you can to get them that.  Also, you can ask some dog friendly neighbors to come by and reward the quiet dog.  They often must wait outside of a door or gate looking away until the dog is quiet for a certain length of time.  Start with just a second, and then work up to three minutes.

Then there are dogs that do destructive behaviors, such as chew through doors, or possibly injure themselves in someway.

Many good trainers will insist that a dog go on a prescribed MAO inhibitor such as a Prozac, prior to training.  There has been good success with this for veterinary behaviorists in the past few years.  Many times within just a couple of weeks, the problem is addressed, which saves everyone time, money and anxiety.  Then the vet decides whether to keep the dog on the drug, or slowly take them off, but that must be done with the vet.

I recommend Patricia McConnell's book to anyone with this issue - http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB667

Best *

Sara


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