My Puppy Shows Signs of Separation Anxiety, Any Advice?

[diznee25]

Hello everyone!

Some of you might remember me. I adopted a chihuahua over the weekend. He's 9 weeks old and is so cute! (I'll post pictures in a few days.)

Have you had a dog with separation anxiety? I think I do. Tobey obbsessivly follows me around the house. My husband noticed that the second I leave the room, Tobey whines, or he'll follow me. I'll go to the kitchen for 5 seconds and he whines, length of time doesn't seem to matter. If I'm not in Tobey's sight, he whines. Funny how he doesn't do this with my husband. My husband leaves a room and Tobey doesn't mind one bit.

My husband gets up before I do and takes Tobey out to the living room. When it's just the two of them, Tobey seems very normal. My husband gets Tobey to play by himself, and even gets Tobey to eat alone. (Meaning my husband can feed him, go sit on the couch, and Tobey is still at his food bowl eating.) When I feed Tobey I do the same thing. Pour food and go sit on the couch. But Tobey whines, and follows me to couch without touching his food!

We love our new addition to our family, but need some advice on this. I'm taking Tobey in for his physical this weekend, and I'll talk to our vet about this. Just wanted to see if anyone on the Dis could help out until then!


Thanks,
Michelle

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

You're the mommy and the baby is wanting you. I think following you around is normal puppy behavior. Dogs are social and love to be near their owners. Our dog has a spot in the living room that is just for her. It's a little area where she lays down on a dog pillow. We taught her to go to her spot when she's in the same room with us. It allows her to be close to us without actually pestering. It's all about training them to behave the way you want them to.

My retreiver has terrible anxiety. If I leave her unattended she will chew and destroy anything in her path. The best solution for me was to crate train her. She is much happier when she is in her crate when I'm gone. I also put the TV on so she can hear human voices. She especially enjoys HGTV!

There is a little toy called a Kong. It's hollow and you can put a little biscuit or dog treat inside it to keep them busy. We put peanut butter in ours. I'm not sure if they make them small enough for chihuahuas.

 

[NC Belle]

We do some of the same stuff as poohkinandpiglet with our 2 year old lab. We put on the radio and not over do it on the good-byes when we go out. She does not have a crate, but I think that is a good idea. The crate creates a sense of security. Our dog likes to laid down on our loveseat (no big deal to us--a hand-me downer). She is leashed, but can walked around the room and look out our windows. Puppy training may help. Be consistant in whatever you do because dogs need structure.

 

[tw1nsmom]

It must be something with labs. Our five year old black lab also has seperation anxiety. We also crate him when we're gone (he'll jump through screens and destroy doors trying to find us), and we play tv for him.

Besides crate training, the only other thing that comes to mind is make sure you're not rewarding negative behavior. Try not to show your puppy much attention when he is whining for you, and praise him when he's being independent. I've also read that in cases where a dog has become extremely attached to one person, they advise that person to give very little/no attention to the dog for about two weeks.

Good luck! We're still trying to overcome this problem with our dog.

 

[shelbyjosh]

Our golden retriever went thru this before his 1st birthday. He is completely potty trained. We no longer needed to keep him crated or keep the gate up in the kitchen. Whenever I would leave the house, he would lay by the front door on the landing. He would then proceed to chew the carpet on that rounded edge going up into the living room. We tried the Kong thing. Didn't work. I finally had to put the gate up by the front door so he couldn't lay there and chew. To this day, he will stand watch by the big picture window for me. If DH is home, he will lay by the front door and look out waiting for me. He is definately worse than a kid!!! He is my baby and I love him dearly. I do believe he is done with the chewing phase finally.

 

[damo]

You could always get him a playmate!

 

[EsmeraldaX]

My 14 month old Jack Russell follows us around and whines if we don't pay attention to him every second.

The following we can take but obviously, there are times when he has to learn we can't be focused on him 24 hrs a day. The way we dealt with it, hard as it was, was to ignore him unless we felt like there was something really wrong.

If you always pay attention when he whines, he will learn that if he whines, cries, barks etc. that he will get what he wants from you. We let Monty dog bark so much one night that in the morning he was hoarse! He couldn't bark for a week.

A good way to counter this as well, is to start him VERY early on click training. Click training is the best method of teaching dogs to behave , IMO, because it uses positive reinforcement.

You can get a clicker for about $2 at your local pet supply shop or online. You'll also want to stock up a VERY SMALL but very tasty treat that your dog loves (mine loves turkey meatball bits and string cheese). And a pouch that you can keep in on yourself, such as on a beltloop so you always have it ready.

First click the clicker and immediatly give the dog a small treat. Do this enough so that he associates the CLICK sound with getting something yummy.

Then carry the clicker with you. When the dog is doing something good, such as playing quietly by himself, or not jumping or going to the bathroom in the right place, CLICK while he is doing the behavior and give a treat.

Eventually he will associate the behavior with getting a CLICK which also means getting a snack.

You can also use this to teach basic commands and tricks.

You may want to ask your vet about it.