Posted by Jo on June 20, 2008, 1:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Separation Anxiety"
Hi Rita
Poor Abbey! She does sound very stressed indeed and it must be a worry for you to leave her.
You are doing the right thing for now, by making sure she is not left alone until she gets over her anxiety.
Firstly, dogs chew to release endorphins and calm themselves down (it's like self medication therapy), hence the destruction you are finding when you return to the house. (I'm sure you're not, but make sure she doesn't get told off or pick up any bad vibes from you for the mess/destruction she causes, as this can create a negative association of you returning to the house).
What you will need to do is help restore her confidence for being by herself and for this you will need to dedicate some time every day to practice leaving the house without fuss and coming straight back in (literally within seconds). The purpose of this is to show Abbey that you leave the house and come back immediately before she has had time to start worring, thus it's a positive association with you returning whilst she is calm. When you do return, be careful not to fuss over her a lot especially if she is jumping up and very excited, you just want to promote calm behaviour and the sense that is normal for you to come and go and there is no big drama about it.
Because you know you will only be leaving the house for a matter of seconds, you will be less anxious about leaving her and as dogs are incredibly sensitive to our emotions, Abbey will also pick up on this. (Likewise she most likely picks up on your anxiety/worry about leaving her which exacerbates her separateion anxiety once you've gone).
When you start practising this, be sure to wind down any sort of interaction with Abbey a good half hour before you leave, so she doens't become aware a huge contrast - i.e. lots of noise and fuss and attention while you are in the house, and then suddenly you've gone and it's all quiet! Leave the radio/dishwasher/TV on if you like, all for background noise.
Do the coming and going, and assuming she is staying calm, you can build up to going to the end of the drive, and then increase the minutes you are away. This will take time and practice, but Abbey will get better over time.
A good book to read is Sarah Fisher "How to unlock your dogs potential".
Let us know how you get on.
Jo
www.iwantahappyhound.co.uk
--Previous Message--
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: We have got a seven year old female Beagle
: called Abbey who we've had for about two
: years. She came from a kennels who bred
: Beagles for show dogs and she had two
: litters before we got her. She was well
: looked after so no problems there.
:
: She is the most laid back, calm,
: affectionate dog you could wish to meet.
: Until, that is, we had that earthquake in
: April. My husband and I slept through the
: whole thing and it was only when we came
: down in the morning that we realised Abbey
: hadn't. She had scratched and chewed three
: doors and the surrounding frame and there
: was wood all over the place. She must have
: been terrified.
:
: Since then we haven't been able to leave her
: on her own during the day as she cries and
: howls and creates even more damage. We are
: in the middle of trying a lot of things
: including plug-in soothers, calming drops in
: her food and an old jumper of mine to cuddle
: up to. We have brought in a cage and she
: seems quite happy in until we go out.
: Consequently, I have to take her to work
: with me, something I can't keep doing and if
: we are going out for the evening she has to
: go into kennels where she is quite happy.
: She is O.K at night but not through the day.
: Has anyone got any suggestions please?
:
:
:
| 42 |
|
Message Thread:
|
