Need Help And Advice

[Guest nicobellartoo]

It does help them a lot. I managed a huge doggie daycare in new York for about seven years. Fun job. And got to bring my dogs any time I wanted to.

[JJNg]

I can leave him in the crate for five minutes-drive around the block-and come back to him hurt and or him covered in poop.

If this was an 'alone training' session, you were going way too fast. For desensitization to work, it needs to be done at a gradual enough pace that the dog never gets upset. Your initial steps might look like this. Each step should be repeated multiple times with no reaction before proceeding to the next step. It also helps to randomly throw in a shorter absences even if you've progressed to longer times.

 

1) Open the door, step out, and immediately come right back.

2) Step out the door, close the door behind you, then immediately go back in.

3) Step out, close the door, wait 2 seconds, then go back in.

4) Step outside, wait 5 seconds, then go back in.

5) Step outside, wait 10 seconds, then go back in.

.... You get the idea.

 

The initial steps will seem very tedious, but once you get up to 5-10 minutes, it goes much faster. How slow you need to go depends on the dog and the severity of the separation anxiety. If the dog can handle faster steps and bigger jumps in time interval, you can proceed more quickly. But if the dog ever gets upset and reacts, you've gone too fast.

 

One thing I haven't seen mentioned much here is the use of a 'safety cue'. In an ideal situation, this desensitization process should be done without ever leaving for longer than what the dog is comfortable with. Obviously this is not realistic as we need to do things like go to work, buy groceries, run errands, etc. So to distinguish between training sessions where you will be back before the dog gets upset, and real life absences which will be longer, you can give the dog a safety cue before all training sessions.

 

The safety cue can be anything that the dog will notice, such as a specific phrase that you say, a particular toy or treat that you give before leaving, a visual cue like putting up a little flag, or even a specific scent like an air freshener you can spray before leaving. When you need to leave for longer than what you've worked up to, don't give the safety cue. Then when you've progressed to long enough times that you can use training sessions to do real life things like run errands, you continue to use the safety cue for the times you'll be gone within the dog's comfort level. So eventually the safety cue will be given whenever you leave.

[Guest nicobellartoo]

Alone training meaning I got him used to the crate. That was just an example of how anxious he gets when we leave. I increased his time alone over a few weeks. Left him in the crate when we were home etc.

 

I like the safety cue thing. Have u seen sucess with this?

[Brandiandwe]

Take the advice above. Crate training isn't the same thing as alone training. And some dogs (including mine) aren't crated and never have been. The cues also work. I walk out the door saying: see you later. Be good girls.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Left him in the crate when we were home etc.

 

 

I would not crate him when you're home.

 

Do you crate the others when you're home?

 

You could try leaving the crate door open and allow him to make a choice, but I think he's is now so stressed over being forced into it and hurting himself, that he will not have anything to do with it.

 

Would you want to go in there again, if you were him????

 

Artoo needs to bond with you, become a true member of your pack, and feel safe within your home.

[JJNg]

I would not crate him when you're home.

 

I agree that in the OP's case, the crate is not a good idea at this point since he's hurt himself it it. However, generally speaking, if a dog is going to be crated when no one is home, it's an essential part of the training process to crate the dog at other times when you are home. This way, the dog learns that the crate is part of their daily routine, and doesn't create a negative association with it because the only time they are ever put in the crate is when the owner leaves.

 

So the OP was doing the right thing to crate the dog when they were home, and it sounds like he was fine with it initially. So the crate isn't the problem, it's being left alone. To me, this information indicates that the dog is not anxious about the crate - he truly has classic separation anxiety. I suspect that simply leaving him uncrated isn't going to fix this problem, but he'll need some desensitization and alone training.

[Batmom]

Wanted to stress that in JJNg's scheme below, you would do #1 only until dog is totally bored and has no reaction to your doing #1. So you might spend 15 minutes a couple times a day, for a couple days, doing just #1.

 

With a new dog who has NOT shown signs of separation anxiety, I start with leaving the premises for 2-3 minutes (e.g., genuinely GONE, such as around the block) and back up to #1-#2 if need be.

 

1) Open the door, step out, and immediately come right back.
2) Step out the door, close the door behind you, then immediately go back in.
3) Step out, close the door, wait 2 seconds, then go back in.
4) Step outside, wait 5 seconds, then go back in.
5) Step outside, wait 10 seconds, then go back in.
.... You get the idea.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Just wondering how things have been this week???