Guest SuperiorItaly Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Hi all - I took a new job about a month ago and I've been working from home until my office is ready. Over the last couple of weeks, Italy has started to freak out again when I leave. Normally, I'd put her food down and a full kong on the couch and take off and she'd be fine. I'd come home from work and she'd be passed out on the couch. Now even when I get up and go get coffee in the am, I'm gone for about 15 mins max and she's yelping and howling at the back door. It's to the point where she will ignore her food or kong if she sees me open the door. This morning I set her food down and came back and she was howling and hadn't really touched her food until I got back. We were dogsitting this weekend and she did it on Friday morning when I left to get coffee, so having another dog here to keep her company didn't have any effect. Normally she would be chowing down or getting at her kong and couldn't care less where I was. I've started leaving my bedroom door open so that she can go get up on my bed if it makes her feel better. Maybe I need to shut that if it's too much space for her? I have a feeling that I already know the answer and that since greyhounds are creatures of routine, once I get her used to the normal schedule of me being gone all day, she'll go back to being fine. I do know that I am not using the squirt gun method. I have those calming tablets and spray, but they never did much even when I first got her. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SuperiorItaly Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 pretty please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest krystolla Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Maybe you need to redo the alone training? If she's mostly okay for fifteen minutes, leave for ten and come back over and over until it's the most boring thing in the world. Then do twelve minutes, then fifteen . . . in theory she'll get used to you leaving and returning until that's not an event anymore. The other thing I've heard is breaking down exactly what causes the reaction. Sometimes it's not the actual leaving, it's the putting on shoes or rattling keys or putting on the coat that triggers the anxiety. If you can desensitize her to all the little steps in leaving the house (rattle your keys every hour and don't go anywhere) then the whole event is less scary. Try opening and closing the door without leaving over and over until that's not scary for her anymore. I'm not sure about the open or closed bedroom door -- I guess whatever you did back when she was okay alone is probably the best bet. I'm assuming she really was okay before, that she didn't bark from fifteen minutes to one hour after you left and then snoozed on the couch. For full disclosure: I am not a behaviorist, nor do I play one on TV. I just read too many dog training books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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