how to tell if your greyhound prefers to be an only dog

[Apro]

we have had our girl olive for almost 1 year now (her gotcha day is next week) and she has still been showing signs of separation anxiety. after taking her to a Grey meetup she started being a bit more needy than usual so we took her to the rescue to potentially meet another sibling. she seemed to tolerate one who we ended up bringing home to foster 4 days ago.

at this point she still just seems to tolerate her and seems a little upset that she is no longer getting 100% of the attention and still gets a little upset when my wife leaves (not much change from before)

I'm aware that her world has changed but is this all just normal? 

[Time4ANap]

Did the separation anxiety start after a change to the daily routine - such as one of you have been working from home due to COVID and then went back to the office or something similar?   Sometimes it's the routine being disturbed and not being lonely.  Just a thought. 

[Apro]

she has had separation anxiety since we got her, though it seemed to improve a little during covid and is now mostly just a thing when my wife leaves. when we leave she would pace and cry at the door unless we crated her and when we checked in on the camera she would mostly just lay staring out of her crate whimpering on occasion.

we don't love the idea of having to crate her when we are gone because she clearly prefers to sleep in the living room (out of sight of me in the office)

our routine hasn't changed much since early march when all of my work disappeared and has since become remote.

[MandysMom]

My girl, Mandy, had serious SA. When I first adopted her, she would scream so loudly when I was gone that I could hear her from my car (I live in a brick condo building). She bent the bars of her crate, so I tried leaving her out of the crate and she trashed the house. I considered getting her a friend and dog-sat lots of dogs and fostered a few. At best, she ignored most of them, at worst, she seemed annoyed. I realized that it was me she wanted around, not another dog. It took a long time to work through the SA, but eventually she was just okay when I'd leave. I knew that was probably the best we would get, and it was. We did a multi-pronged approach to SA, including meds, a pheromone plug-in, lots of walks to tire her out, and a peanut butter muzzle. Also, alone training that continued through her lifetime.

In desperation, I consulted an animal communicator. I purposely didn't mention the SA or about the prospect of getting another, but the communicator asked her if she had anything for me. She told the communicator that she didn't like when the other dogs were in her house because they slept on her beds and played with her toys. At that point, I stopped almost all dog-sitting, except for a little Shih-Tzu that was very respectful of her space and a Greyhound who I adored who was also very respectful of her.

 

[HeyRunDog]

13 hours ago, Apro said:

we don't love the idea of having to crate her when we are gone because she clearly prefers to sleep in the living room (out of sight of me in the office)

Unless she is destructive I wouldn't shut her in the crate just leave the door open so she can use it if she wants.

If you want a companion for her perhaps a male greyhound might settle in better. Female greyhounds are more likely not to tolerate each other and the adoption groups tend to put a males and a females together in their kennels.

[Hubcitypam]

Second the above.  

After 100+ greys passing thru I'll say get/foster a boy (and we all know my mantra is the bigger the mellower). Big boys   

and boys in general have  nuthin to prove.

Boys sort It out, shake paws and go on.  Girls hold grudges. Two boys will sort it out but two girls often live up to the *B* word name,

Edited November 18, 2020 by Hubcitypam