Hi everyone! I am a new puppy owner to a 4 month old black lab mix from a rescue in North Carolina. She is very sweet, potty training is coming along well and sleeps through the night in her crate with no problems. The issue we are experiencing is separation anxiety whenever we leave her crated during the day to go to work. our schedule is as follows:
8:30: brisk walk and potty break
9:00: boyfriend crates her and leaves for work
11-12:30: one of us comes home for lunch to let her out and take her on a 20 minute walk
if we come home at 11 one of us will come home around 2 to let her out a second time
4:30: I come home from work and am home the rest of the night.
the first week she did okay, cried and barked, but no accidents in the crate. then she got sick from a smart bone, never recommend those, and was fed chicken and rice for a day to help her belly. next day she had an accident in her crate i believe due to being sick and then constipated from the chicken and rice, though i fed her a couple tsps of canned pure pumpkin to help her go.
ever since she has been awful in the crate. she figured out how to escape and did some work on our front door and a second time on our carpet. we purchased 2 double ended snaps which has been great at keeping her from escaping. our puppy trainer told us to remove all bedding during the day because if she is anxious and has something soft she may think its okay to pee/poop on it and then try to dig to cover it. she also recommended feeding her in her crate and leaving the empty bowl as dogs will not want to bathroom in the same place they eat.
we have done both of these suggestions as well as purchased a DAP hormone diffuser which we plug in an hour before we eave every day.
2 days of success! she has not soiled her crate and has not escaped! my only concern now is my boyfriend came home at 12:00 today to walk her and her chest legs and paws were covered in a wetness. he saw no pee in her crate and it had no smell. when i came home at 4:30 she was still wet but it seems it was more dry then when he came home.
has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions? i believe its excessive salivating or constant licking her paws due to being anxious that were gone. this weekend we plan on working on desensitizing her to our leaving cues, and working on getting her to be crated while were gone. starting at 5 minutes at a time working up to an hour. I would love any suggestions and recommendations nohow to help my girl be more relaxed and calm with us leaving !
P.S. i should add. she was in a foster family, spent nights at a puppy sitter while in foster, was adopted for 3 days and returned because their dog didn't like her, back into the foster, and then we adopted her. all leading to her operation anxiety.
8:30: brisk walk and potty break
9:00: boyfriend crates her and leaves for work
11-12:30: one of us comes home for lunch to let her out and take her on a 20 minute walk
if we come home at 11 one of us will come home around 2 to let her out a second time
4:30: I come home from work and am home the rest of the night.
the first week she did okay, cried and barked, but no accidents in the crate. then she got sick from a smart bone, never recommend those, and was fed chicken and rice for a day to help her belly. next day she had an accident in her crate i believe due to being sick and then constipated from the chicken and rice, though i fed her a couple tsps of canned pure pumpkin to help her go.
ever since she has been awful in the crate. she figured out how to escape and did some work on our front door and a second time on our carpet. we purchased 2 double ended snaps which has been great at keeping her from escaping. our puppy trainer told us to remove all bedding during the day because if she is anxious and has something soft she may think its okay to pee/poop on it and then try to dig to cover it. she also recommended feeding her in her crate and leaving the empty bowl as dogs will not want to bathroom in the same place they eat.
we have done both of these suggestions as well as purchased a DAP hormone diffuser which we plug in an hour before we eave every day.
2 days of success! she has not soiled her crate and has not escaped! my only concern now is my boyfriend came home at 12:00 today to walk her and her chest legs and paws were covered in a wetness. he saw no pee in her crate and it had no smell. when i came home at 4:30 she was still wet but it seems it was more dry then when he came home.
has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions? i believe its excessive salivating or constant licking her paws due to being anxious that were gone. this weekend we plan on working on desensitizing her to our leaving cues, and working on getting her to be crated while were gone. starting at 5 minutes at a time working up to an hour. I would love any suggestions and recommendations nohow to help my girl be more relaxed and calm with us leaving !
P.S. i should add. she was in a foster family, spent nights at a puppy sitter while in foster, was adopted for 3 days and returned because their dog didn't like her, back into the foster, and then we adopted her. all leading to her operation anxiety.