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Sa: Question About Assessing Progress In Away Training


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hello. i have been working with my newly-adopted 4-year-old racer (see my intro thread) in order to rid him of his SA. he is an only dog, and his symptoms, from what i gather, are reasonably low on the spectrum: he is non-destructive and does not soil the apartment. what he does do when left alone is whine and bark, and it is INCREDIBLY loud, and can go on all day. i would be glad to work on this over a very long period of time, but the fact is that i live in an apartment, with upstairs neighbors, and they will only be so tolerant. anyhow, for now i've got him in daycare three days per week, and i borrow a friends greyhound the other two (he is perfectly happy to be at home alone with just her).

 

my question is with respect to away training. we are doing the standard slow build up, where i come and go for varying amounts of time. right now, he can sometimes be alone for up to 20 and even, on rare occasions, 30 minutes without throwing a fit (of course, some days for no apparent reason 3 or 4 minutes is all he will tolerate). i watch him on skype when i do this, and i know you're only supposed to leave him for as long as you can WITHOUT sending him into his anxiety behaviors. but i am wondering exactly how to recognize what constitutes the start of those behaviors. for instance, i just went out to the store. i was gone for about 20 minutes or so. he was quiet the whole time except for a few short whines, but spent much of the time just standing at the door (though he was back by the couch with his stuffed kong when i walked in the door). do i count this as a successful session, or, if i really want progress, should i be going back to the beginning, and getting it to where he wont even run up to the door?

 

sorry to make this message so long. this process is an incredible amount of work, and, though we are definitely making progress, i want to make sure i am doing it as efficiently as possible so that he can get comfortable in his new life as fast he can.

Edited by jaym1
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this is my fear. and if that is the case, i should probably go all the way back to step one (leaving and coming back IMMEDIATELY) before proceeding, which is a real drag, because it's taken a long time to get where we are now. my thought was that since he is willing to go back to being calm (sitting on the couch, eating from his kong, etc.) after staring at the door, maybe that behavior isnt a significant sign.

 

when i started this, he couldnt even be distracted by treats or food, and would immediately flip out. now he at least plays with those things, and can sometimes be distracted for a long time. but once they're gone he tends to dart right to the door and start whining or barking if i have been gone for too long.

 

my only escape is that i spend a lot of time in my basement workshop, and he is perfectly happy to relax upstairs for an endless amount of time while i'm there. thus, if i need to get out, i just go down to my workshop, turn on music so he can hear it, and leave through the back door. i wish there were some way i could merge this with his conception of me going out the front door, which is to say: i will always come back, regardless of which door i leave through.

Edited by jaym1
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Guest jbbuzby

I so feel your pain. Ferguson has started having problems again, even with company :eek. We'll be doing some remedial training today, and re-arranging the furniture downstairs, since he decided the bedroom is not to his taste (we've had 2 potty accidents so far, which is a very new development...). URG. SA SUCKS.

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In my case, I didn't really have many options. I live alone, I work all day. I cannot afford doggy day care, and even if I could, I don't see how that addresses the issue--my dog was MISERABLE alone!

 

Make sure he's getting as much exercise as you can POSSIBLY manage, for one. You might give a DAP diffuser a try. Not sure if that helped George, but they're not expensive, and heck, I was willing to try anything!

 

Are you giving him a Kong with something in it? I find peanut butter, just plain, works well for George. Also, you can try hiding pieces of kibble around. The idea is to give him something to do instead of think about you not being there.

 

I was pretty lucky, I guess, because it turned out as soon as I ditched the crate, the HOURS AND HOURS of howling stopped!


Hamish-siggy1.jpg

Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

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i am definitely doing all those things, though the DAP made zero difference. same with rescue remedy, melatonin, exercise, etc. like i said, we are making progress -- or so i thought. i took his silence to mean progress, but if staring at the door is an anxiety sign, then maybe i was being too optimistic.

 

he does definitely do better when alone outside the crate. but he's really never alone for too long in my house at this point.

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Guest jbbuzby

I'm sorry, Jaym :(. I mean, it can definitely be considered progress...didn't mean to discourage you! It just isn't "perfect" yet, but I have no doubt that you can get there!

 

I had a decent alone training session with Ferguson this evening, and found that the second pup actually DOES make a ton of difference. I removed her (as subtly as I could over several minutes), and when I tried to leave again, he went BANANAS into immediate panic mode, completely skipping over the whining and pacing and going straight to attempting to escape and borderline screaming. It was horrible. The second pup shall be a permanent thing, I think.

 

However, after I returned the second pup, gave a few drops of Rescue Remedy (along with his dose of fluoxetine), and tried again several minutes later, he did much better, and even left his head down after the second attempt of 30 second to 1 minute practice. Also, with him, I am the main source of the problem; he is overly attached to me in particular, and while it has gotten better, he cares far less when DH leaves him when I'm already at work. Urg. Go figure. Dogs can be so complicated beyond what we even know!

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I personally don't care if my dog is a little "anxious" if he's quiet!

 

I think it's fantastic if he's being quiet even if he's looking at the door! Keep up the good work!


Hamish-siggy1.jpg

Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

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Guest gomiesmom

Is the pup kennelled/crated ? Our 1st hound Gomer- then 2 , now 7 in a month, had bad SA at first. He would cried and waled ALL DAY LONG -

He was CURED once I spoke to my group director and she evaluated our situation.

We moved his kennell into the great room from the bedroom. The director said he felt isolated and even though we were gone, he may have thought we just put him in the bedroom and were elsewhere in the house - you know partying without him.

Any way, that's all I got, but we were cured by doing this. We still left for work, but putting him out there, just cured it. Also a kong w/ Peanut butter in it - frozen helped ( probably me more than him). After a few weeks, all I had to do was put my hand on the freezer door in the AM, and Gomer would go jump in the kennell. .... now he's "Grown" and is no longer kennelled.

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