Alone training a tripod - is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

[ccwparty]

Hi everyone. I've spent a lot of time reading various existing threads on alone training/separation anxiety here, so I'm sorry if I'm raising an issue someone's already asked about (feel free to point me in that direction in that case!). 

 

We adopted Louie, a five-year-old sweetheart ex-racer almost exactly two years ago. According to the rescue, he didn't cope well when his kennel-mate was adopted before him, and he had to be given to a foster family in the week or so before we adopted him. So we had a feeling he might not be brilliant at being alone. We were pretty disciplined about leaving him for short periods every day for a while, but it was lockdown and this eventually tailed off as we never really *had* many places to go. What we found, though, was that he was fine when we left and while he finished his Kong, and between minutes 20 and 40 of our absence he would sit upright with his ears in "concerned" position, staring at the door, then he would start whining and crying. The longest we ever left him was 90 minutes, and he was pretty worked up by the time we got home. Never any accidents or destruction, just open-mouth wailing (which our neighbours obviously don't love). However, I run my own business and started taking Louie into work with me, and where we live in London is pretty dog-friendly, so we sort of just got used to bringing him more or less everywhere with us. 

 

Now, the complicating factor is that about a year ago, Louie had a freak accident while chasing after a squirrel: he twisted one of his back paws and shattered three of his toes, and he ended up having that leg amputated. It took a good few months to recuperate fully from the surgery and to finish the several courses of meds he was put on, but he was so stoical and really didn't act up (he is so chill he barely even seemed to take notice of his stitches for instance). A year later, he is a bouncy, happy tripod who loves to go for his walks, and while the loss of his leg doesn't day-to-day impact on his quality of life, it does mean he gets tired more easily and we can't really bring him everywhere in the same way anymore. 

 

So: we're now in a situation where our lifestyle is less compatible with Louie's abilities, and we realised we had to go back to square one with his alone training so we could begin leaving him at home while we occasionally go out for dinner or whatever. Thanks to many of your suggestions we turned to Patricia McConnell's "I'll Be Home Soon" and have done the whole suggested program entirely by the book. Louie definitely began to seem less responsive to things like key-jingling, and often now when he sees his Kong he'll literally run to his bed in expectation. However, we're now well beyond the week five stage and I'm not sure I see much of a change in his ability to relax at home. Today I left him for 30 minutes (properly left the house and walked to the shop and back) and watched him on Barkio. He had abandoned his frozen Kong about halfway through and jumped up onto the sofa where he sat with his ears in "concerned" position and open-mouth panted for a bit, which I know signifies anxiety. Right before I got home I saw that he had lay his head down and was looking more relaxed, but I wanted to come home while he was in a calmer state rather than wait to see if that continued.

 

Other things I've tried to help mitigate his stress at being alone:

-Leaving classical music/radio on low

-Adaptil plug-in/spray

-Leaving a plush toy (he's not really bothered about toys)

-Leaving a t-shirt I've recently worn on his bed

-Shutting him into one room (the room where his bed/the sofa are)

-Not shutting him into one room

 

For context, Louie is SO lazy, extremely calm, and is otherwise happy to sleep on the couch or his bed for 20+ hours a day. Loud noises don't bother him (he is oblivious to fireworks, for example), and in all other ways he is the most low-maintenance dog I've ever encountered. We have a small flat but he's quite independent and doesn't engage in attention-seeking behaviours; he sleeps in a separate room to us, and he'll happily choose to hang out in the bedroom while we're in the living room or vice versa. He's also totally fine with it if, say, I've gone out for a run but my partner is out in the garden, even though Louie is at the opposite end of the flat and can't see my partner. He does *love* walks and tends to get jumpy and waggy when he thinks it's time to go out, so I have sometimes wondered whether he's more frustrated that he's not with us on whatever exciting walk he thinks we're on, rather than that he is actually distressed about being alone. We would consider getting a second greyhound but we live in a small flat and I know that isn't a guaranteed fix anyway!

 

Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon, but the bit I feel "I'll Be Home Soon" misses is a plan of action for how to proceed beyond week five. Is it just a case of leaving him incrementally longer every time until we've reached 60 minutes+? How can I tell if all the counter-conditioning hasn't worked? Are there any signs that indicate the program has failed? If he does get visibly anxious (like today when he was panting) when I leave him one day, the next day do I need to go back and re-do some of the counter-conditioning before trying to leave him alone again? Or just push on? It's so hard to know if I'm making any progress when the problem with Louie was never the actual leaving, it was the bit at 20+ minutes of absence where he'd begin to whine. If anyone has any ideas, or any experience with similar dogs, I would be so grateful for your wisdom! And thank you for reading this essay-length post.

 

 

[greysmom]

You're partly right and partly not.

Part of the counter conditioning is to get him used to calming *himself* down from being upset, so by not allowing him that time to figure it out, you may be shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak.  It sounds like you're still making progress, so I would be inclined to tell you to continue at your present level for a bit until you see clear regression or advancement.

You're in the UK so there are different feelings about using anti anxiety medications, but he may really benefit from their added help at this point.  They are not a miracle cure though.  They only put his brain in a better chemical state to accept the counter conditioning you're already doing.  Talk with your vet about using a short course of either Clomicalm (the canine version of Clomipramine).  This is a canine specific drug.  All other anti anxiety meds are "off label" uses of human medications.  Prozac (fluoxetine) is another drug that is commonly tried for SA.  Recently, many people have had better results with Trazadone. 

Stay away from drugs that have a sedative effect like Acepromazine and Gabapentin.  They only physically sedate them, they don't actually relieve any of the chemical issues associated with anxiety, and are unhelpful in assisting with counter conditioning.  Many times, particularly with Ace, the dog can still *feel* very anxious and afraid, but they are so sedated they can't respond physically.  This is very unhelpful and can be counterproductive.

[1Moregrey]

2 hours ago, ccwparty said:

Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon, but the bit I feel "I'll Be Home Soon" misses is a plan of action for how to proceed beyond week five. Is it just a case of leaving him incrementally longer every time until we've reached 60 minutes+?

Not familiar with the book so can not offer help with that.  Can offer suggestion on how to move forward take all the tools that you have learned and now work on adding time S L O W L Y.  Think of it as building blocks and the book taught you how to lay the foundation and do the first three floors additional floors would be done the same way with no limit.  Same for training you just build with the tools you have that work and increase time.  
 

With more practice 20+ will be just as good as 10 just need to use the building blocks from the book and expand on time.

[HeyRunDog]

I've had Grace for 4 years and she is a nervous dog and similar to Louie in that after she's finished her Kong she'll lie on the sofa with her ears pricked and panting. This will go on sometimes for a couple of hours but she will eventually lie down and go to sleep. When I was working she would be on her own for up to 6 hours which didn't seem to bother her after the initial panting session so came to accept that that is the way she is.