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Separation Anxiety - HELP!


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Hi All,

We have a gorgeous girl, Sable, who has been with us for three months now. My partner and I work full time and have a dog walker come in to walk her for an hour at lunch time, then he pops by in the afternoon to let her out. 

We had a few issues early on, we initially had her roaming downstairs with an open crate, but we found she just paced and howled the whole day, as well as chewed things and pooped on the floor. So we then decided to crate her and she was much better in a confined space, but would still bark. A month ago she was a lot better and we got it down to literally barking for a minute once we left then would be quiet all day.

However, she seems to have gone backwards a bit. She barks and howls for about an hour to an hour and a half after we leave her, and our neighbours sleep a room adjacent to where she is and the walls are very thin. We did have a complaint from her a few days ago. She will be quiet for the rest of the day though.

We have tried so many things. We always feed her in her crate so it's a positive space, we've tried adaptil plug ins (which made a bit of difference to be fair), pet remedy plug ins, calming drops for her food, adaptil collar, adaptil spray for her bed, thunder shirt, we leave a kong filled with frozen peanut butter and she now wears a jumper in case she's cold but so far nothing seems to really help her.

Getting a dog sitter every day just isn't an option for us, as she doesn't like other dogs when inside and there is no one around us who looks after single dogs. And we can't work from home.

I know we can crack this, I just need some advice. 

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I'm a big fan of baby gating or ex penning the kitchen (if you can do so) and leaving the crate in there with an open door as a woobie spot. 
What other dogs you have tried inside that she didn't like?  Two girls often have problems and they don't forgive.  I'd look for a muttly  medium size pound boy to keep her company.

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1 minute ago, Hubcitypam said:

I'm a big fan of baby gating or ex penning the kitchen (if you can do so) and leaving the crate in there with an open door as a wobbie spot. 
You probably don't want to hear this but she may need another dog.  Doesn't have to be another grey...look at pound puppies. :)

We did try this but she just jumps over baby gates! Even the tall ones! And we found that she just paced. Ideally we would like to lose the crate one day but I'm not sure if she's ready just yet... Another dog did cross my mind but she doesn't seem to like dogs when inside, she will growl and raise her heckles. So may make things worse! 

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"You can use a 4 ft. ex pen across the door...but that may not help.  I think she needs a companion.  Some dogs are just not meant to be only dogs...."says she about 150 dogs later". :blush

You have to meet the newcomer on neutral territory  like the neighbors sidewalk and go from there,. Some dogs take offense at another barging into their home..

 

 

 

Edited by Hubcitypam
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