Iso Advice For My Anxious Grey

[Gemma]

Hi, Im a somewhat new greyhound owner (my husband and I adopted six months ago). She was smaller than the others, even for a female and was the most calm. She had some dry skin issues but at he time I just thought she was dirty. We knew she would need time to adjust but its already been six months and Im concerned theres something going on. She is on anxiety medicine because of her separation anxiety but she still gets upset when we leave and tears up her crate and anything she can get to while in it. This week was the worst. She bent her crate, slid the bottom part out, and was wet everywhere with what we can only guess was urine. She had only been left a few hours. I tried leaving her out of her crate while I was gone briefly and it went well but when my husband and I tried it again we could hear her yelping and pawing at the window and were worried so he just stayed home with her. Would it be better for us to leave her out or crate her? She is still pretty timid and does not wag her tail much or show a lot of affection. Should we look into upping her medication?

[BatterseaBrindl]

I would try leaving her out of her crate. She clearly does not like it and she is going to seriously hurt herself.

 

Have you done any 'alone training'?

Do a search on here for that .....

[greysmom]

What else have you tried? Have you done *any* Alone Training?

 

Search for threads here on separation anxiety and read through them. Get the book "I'll Be Home Soon" by Patricia McConnell, it have tons of good advice and stretegies to follow.

 

Try baby gating her in a room that has been dogproofed and is easily cleanable. The crate is not going to work anymore now that she's learned she can break out of it. It's dangerous and she could seriously hurt herself.

[HeyRunDog]

Your greyhound sounds very much like my Grace insofar as she is a small calm female, had dry skin and doesn't show a lot of affection and isn't a tail wagger but I've not had any separation issues with her apart from the first few days until she got used to my coming and goings.

 

It might be controversial but I wonder if the separation anxiety meds can cause or increase the problem. Start again from scratch, stop her meds, start again with the alone training and give her a filled Kong and put on the radio playing easy listening music when she's going to be left alone and then start her meds if necessary.

[turbotaina]

What else have you tried? Have you done *any* Alone Training?

 

Search for threads here on separation anxiety and read through them. Get the book "I'll Be Home Soon" by Patricia McConnell, it have tons of good advice and stretegies to follow.

 

Try baby gating her in a room that has been dogproofed and is easily cleanable. The crate is not going to work anymore now that she's learned she can break out of it. It's dangerous and she could seriously hurt herself.

 

All this.

 

My dog is on fluoxetine and clonazepam for noise phobia (terrified of booming noises such as thunder and fireworks and gun shots). His personality flattened a lot - he was no longer playful or snuggly. When we reduced his clonazepam over the winter, his personality came back (though he's still not as snuggly as he once was; at least he'll play now). So yes, the drugs may be playing a part, but my guess is that it's likely the general anxiety. There are several pharmaceutical options for separation anxiety (including the two drugs my dog takes for noise phobia) and I don't know what your dog is on, but you should discuss with the vet. And yes, you absolutely need to do alone training in conjunction with the meds - the meds basically take the edge off to make the dog receptive to learning. If you search here for separation anxiety, see if you can find threads by a woman named Glynnis or Glenda, I think? She had a greyhound named Lady irrc and she had to do SA training in BABY steps. And she was ultimately successful.

 

Best of luck to you!

[greysmom]

PS - If her skin is still very dry after several months of being in your home, discuss with your vet about complete thyroid testing. Not just the normal test they run locally, but sending it out to Michigan State to have a very detailed ananlysis of her thyroid. Greyhounds have *extremely* low values and need a full test done to evaluate if they are hypothyroid or not. She's probably fine, but it doesn't hurt to check (except in the pocketbook!).

 

You can find more info on greyhounds and thyroid in the Health&Medical section here.