Is This Separation Anxiety?

[Rijnbeek]

Hi all. Thanks for reading this post.

 

My husband and I have adopted a four and a half year-old female grey on 21st Oct this year. We thought she was settling in well but I started wondering if she has SA.

 

Since I am currently looking for a casual work besides my own business, I spend lots of time at home at the moment. Here is my typical routine and how my grey goes;

 

6:10 Walk for 20 - 30 min. She does #1 and #2

7:00 Husband leaves - she used to follow him to the front door and whine a bit but not anymore. She quietly lays on her bed.

7:30 Breakfast! Then she sleeps till 1pm or even later while I do my work in a separate room.

13:00 Potty break for about 10 min - #1 and #2 (sometimes she holds #2 till evening walk)

14:00 I leave the house. She gets a frozen kong and one more treat.

14:30 She finishes all treats and goes to the front door. Whines for few seconds, then goes to either on the couch or bed.

For the next half hour or so, she goes to the front door, whines for few seconds, and back to couch/bed about 3 times.

(Maybe she reacts to sounds outside the front door/ communal corridor since we are in an apartment??)

15:00ish Starts sleeping till I come home in 2 - 4 hours

19:00 Evening walk for 20 - 30 min. #1 & #2

20:00 Dinner

22:00 Potty break

22:15 Sleep (she sleeps in living room. She does not whine at night time and sleeps well).

 

She does not get too excited when we come home.

I leave calm talk radio on for her whole day, blinds up, sufficient water and we both do not pay any attention to her 15 min before leave and after coming back.

 

She sometimes does not whine at all and just starts sleeping after finishing treats. Is this SA?

She used to whine a lot more during her alone time and it is getting less frequent but she does still whine. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you!

 

[HeyRunDog]

Congratulations on letting a greyhound into your lives.

 

No she doesn't have SA. She is still settling in and getting used to the noises of your apartment and will continue to do so over the next few months.

[BatterseaBrindl]

 

Sounds pretty normal to me, too, especially since you're in an apartment with noises coming from outside the door.

 

What's your girls name?

[racindog]

Congratulations on letting a greyhound into your lives.

 

No she doesn't have SA. She is still settling in and getting used to the noises of your apartment and will continue to do so over the next few months.

This. Count your lucky stars because you have a GOOD girl for sure!

[Rijnbeek]

Thanks guys for your replies! Glad to hear it is normal and she is just settling in.

 

I forgot to mention in the first post, but when we left her for about 30 min with no kong or other treats (we completely forgot to give them to her....) last week, she whined A LOT pretty much the whole time.

I have read somewhere that you always have to give something when you leave but is this true?

 

Another concern I have is that she normally doesn't whine when I take rubbish out. I think she has learnt that me dragging a huge bag out means just a short alone time.

However, two days ago when I came back from taking rubbish out, she was whining.....She was sleeping when I took the rubbish out, so maybe she did't see me leaving and got panicked??

 

Should I be worried? My husband says I am worried too much but she is my first greyhound and I want to make sure that she is happy and relaxed.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Rijnbeek

[Rijnbeek]

Hi guys. This post is a bit long but any opinion from you are more than appreciated.

 

So, here is some update.

 

She didnt whine at all last Thursday and Friday! We took her to my in-laws and spent whole day with her on Saturday. She also met my in-laws jack russel for the first time and they both enjoyed it. Came back the same day and slept well in a separate room.

 

Then she had a sudden full blown SA (or at least thats what it looked like to us) on Sunday...my husband and I left at the same time after giving her a pig ear and a frozen Kong. We left when she started eating the pig ear.

 

As soon as she finished the pig ear, she started whining and rooing like never before laying at the front door. She didnt even touch the frozen Kong.

 

This was our first time seeing her in this high level of distress and got very worried that there might be something wrong. So, we decided to go back after 20 minutes of continuous whining and rooing. She got extremely excited when we came back, which does not happen often.

 

Today when my husband left for work in the morning, she didnt react at all and just stayed on the bed. I decided to leave her at around 2pm after a wee walk. She looked a bit unsettled when I left but soon she started eating the treat and Kong. After finishing both in about half an hour, she went to the front door, whined for few sec, paced around, went to bed, back to the front door, then went to the couch. It looked like she kept looking at the front door from the couch for few minutes, and then put her chin on the couch looking at a wall. In about 5 minutes, she got up and went to the front door ( no whine this time), and went to bed to sleep. She calmly greeted me when I came back. I only left her for about 90 minutes today. In total, she only whined less than 5 minutes.

 

Now I am wondering what went wrong on Sunday. Is it normal to have this type of setback after spending a whole day together?

Should I re-work on alone training from the scratch?

 

Btw, I am in Australia and writing this at 4:30pm on Monday if you were wondering if the timeline is correct

Edited December 10, 2018 by Rijnbeek

[HeyRunDog]

I think having spent all day with her on Saturday she thought you would be with her all day from now on and just had a day of uncertainty on Sunday. She is still building up confidence that no matter how long she is left alone you will be coming back and the odd set back is to be expected. I would leave her on her own even for a short time each day, varying the time of the day, go to the shops, pub etc.

[Rijnbeek]

I think having spent all day with her on Saturday she thought you would be with her all day from now on and just had a day of uncertainty on Sunday. She is still building up confidence that no matter how long she is left alone you will be coming back and the odd set back is to be expected. I would leave her on her own even for a short time each day, varying the time of the day, go to the shops, pub etc.

 

Thanks for your reply. That totally makes sense. I think I will leave her alone in the morning tomorrow and see how she goes.

 

Btw, my girl is jet black just like yours I find it very hard to read her but your girls photo makes me smile every single time! I wonder if that is my girl’s happy face, too.