Alone Training -- Are We Doing This Right?

[Guest dougbb]

 

At this point, with a Kong, he doesn't care that we're picking up keys and pulling on jackets and backing out the door -- again, he only starts worrying once the Kong's empty. Quite the foodie over here.

I would do the training without the kong then. When you actually need to leave the house you can still give it (and try layering PB with kibble from his meal and freezing it the night before so it lasts longer), but when you're working on SA training, don't use it. Just leave, come back before he's anxious, reward, repeat. You may have ot start from scratch, but while it's often teeny tiny baby steps at the beginning, once you work up to a half an hour or an hour you can usually start making bigger jumps. The main thing is not to rush it at all. I would consider anything that isn't being totally calm - panting, pacing, getting up and staring at the door - as anxiety and return before it happens.

 

You could leave a radio on quietly to block out some of the outside noises. I used to do this since I'm in a condo building. You just need to be careful that he doesn't associate it with you leaving so you'll want it on some of the time that you're home as well initially.

 

If fluoxitine isn't helping, it may not be the ride med for him. You could try switching to either Chlomicalm or Amitriptiline. The latter is a human med and is dirt cheap at human pharmacies. I can't remember if you have to get Chlomicalm from the vet or not. Also, one thing to consider - the veterinary behaviorist I've worked with on some tough foster cases said she's seen some dogs not respond to or as well to generic fluoxitine as they do the doggie version, Reconcile, which is made by the Prozac folks. So she suggests starting the dog on Reconcile and once you see improvement, switchign to generic and seeing if it still helps. The generic also doesn't come in the best dosage amts for dogs.

 

Good luck.

 

Great idea. We worked on this a bit yesterday and got up to two minutes alone, until a work call interrupted the session. We'll keep with this method (sans-Kong training) for a while. One other side-effect of Kong training: we weren't able to do many sessions in one go, since even small amounts of PB mixed with kibble would upset his stomach. His tummy is grateful for the new approach!