Seperation Anxiety in dogs?

CherryBlossoms · 06-21-2008, 11:52 AM

Has anyone ever had to deal with this?
My family is getting a Weimaraner and I've been reading that Weimaraners can suffer from separation anxiety.
Is there a way to train the dog from a young age to be used to be alone sometimes?
Can this be prevented with some type of effective training?

Darkmoon · 06-21-2008, 07:42 PM

Oh yeah I have had my fair share of SA. Sadly I was never able to over come SA in Carter and he ended up being put down (not just because of SA but many other reasons).

They best thing I can tell someone is get the dog as a pup so it gets use to a routine, ignore the dog for at least 5 mins before you leave (30 min is better) and for at least 5 mins when you first come home. Also make your comings in and out of the house as calm as you can. Also a nice work out before you leave helps and so does frozen stuffed Kongs or Marrow bones.

Thats all I can really tell you. Good luck!!!!

alphadoginthehouse · 06-21-2008, 08:49 PM

Oh, yeh, but luckily mine is doing much better in a short period of time. She still yelps when I leave, but I know she doesn't do it for as long a period (just a few yelps) because I tested her.

At first, I could hear her, from my car, in the street, while she was confined to the bathroom. It was awful. But now she yelps a couple of times and then stops. I keep telling her I will always come back, eventually.

I know others will be able to give you better advice. But you might want to post this in the training threads. You will get much better responses from the Senior Moderators.

Good luck!

Orange County Ca · 06-21-2008, 08:51 PM

Routine and/or age did it for my bishon/beagle mix. He was a used dog so I assume his stint in the stockade had a toll on him.

There is usually no secret to these things. Ya just keep at it and one day it starts working. Training, training, training.

crazydays · 06-22-2008, 07:21 PM

Separation Anxiety is such a real problem and some breeds are more prone to it. My ESS is 15 months old. She has never been alone because when I work my partner is at home and vice versa. I took her to the breeders house for a grooming. The breeder put her outside with another pup in the kennel. I was inside the house and I looked at her in the kennel. She was sitting staring at the house (where I was) and was drooling excessively from both sides of her mouth. Never saw her drool like that before. It was very obvious that she was stressed being in a new environment and not being with me.
We decided we had to work on developing some skills. I have scheduled her to go to the breeders and be boarded for 2.5 days. I trust this breeder beyond words-has bred springers for 34 years. I look at it as another step in her development. Springers get very attached to their owners and don't like to be separated. We are going to give her some "without us" outings so she can be stressed and work through it.
Cherryblossoms- I have heard that the key is to to set the dog up for success. Plan short away times and then work up to longer. Routine is very important. Don't feed into the negative behaviour. It is important to de-escalate the excitement at arrival and departure times. We can't allow our dogs to become needy... Good Luck ok!!!

Kathyy · 06-23-2008, 01:10 AM

Both my dogs came to me with severe separation anxiety. I did a lot of training to get them to be comfortable alone. One important thing to do is to leave often. Leave the dog alone many times a day. 10, 20 times. Even though you are leaving them to go pick up the mail or take the trash out it counts as leaving. Establish the leaving routine, leave to take out the trash and come back in and do what ever your greeting routine will be. And start doing this as a matter of fact as soon as you get the dog. Humans leave and they come back.

Good for you reading up on how to take care of a dog before it arrives!

This is a real problem that puts a lot of dogs in the shelter. My older dog would jump the fence in her old home as she was left alone and worried.

reynosa_k9's · 06-23-2008, 01:57 PM

Years ago one of me best GSD's had severe SA. Nothing cured it until I got him a 'friend' - another GSD. He was as perfect as any dog can be after that. Not another trace of SA.

Jihad
and the pound puppy crew

Dylan_Casber · 06-23-2008, 02:17 PM

wow talk about anxiety.
i own 2 weims at home, ones 10 weeks and the other is several months.
weims can be extremely difficult to live with, if not raised / trained the right way.

often weim will bond to one family member the most,
my weim Asia whines and whines, runs around the house looking for me, and scrapes at doors to find me when i leave, even if my parents are home.
if you aren't going to be home alot during the day you might want to re-think bringing a weim into your household.
001. make sure your weim as lots [when i say lots i mean LOTS] of toys.
try a kong, they are good attention keepers.
002. make sure your yard is big, and put even more toys out there. But your fence needs to be TALL, or i recently learned about a rolling gadget on the top of fences, so the dogs cant climb out, [trust me they will].
003. when you are home, make sure you give your dog some time alone, in the backyard, or around the house. it gets him / her used to the idea that they can live without you in their site ALL the time. Like Kathy said it is a good idea to get your pooch used to you 'leaving', so go outside the house a few times daily.

Remember if you come to a rip in your couch, or a broken lamp,
dont punish your weim, just pick it up, by the time you get home,
the lamp knocking and couch tearing is ancient history to your pup.
and who can blame him anyway? he was lonely, depressed, and bored.

p.s. what type of weim are you getting? send me some photos when you get him / her

Dylan_Casber · 07-01-2008, 08:45 PM

What is separation anxiety in dogs anyway?
here is an excellant article, read through it, i learned A LOT from it!
http://www.the-puppy-dog-place.com/fun-puppy-stuff.html

TooneyDogs · 07-02-2008, 12:18 AM

True separation anxiety (SA) is quite rare as its a neurological disorder. The treatment is drug therapy along with a behavior modification program. While there is no specific test for SA, blood tests can confirm a neurological imbalance and in conjunction with the symptoms, a medical remedy is possible.
The SA label is often been applied to puppies incorrectly. Puppies are hardwired from birth to stay close to the pack as separation from the pack in the wild is often a death sentence. This is not SA....this is survival instinct. This is why puppies cry when left in a room all alone and follow you wherever you go.