Separation Anxiety???

C&LTaylor · June 2012

Me and my husband have a wonderful dog but she has a terrible time when we put her in her kennel. She has been able to break the kennel we bought for her 3 times and manages to move it around the bedroom from one side to the other. She gets so freaked out that she has ripped up 2 dog beds and anything else she can get a hold of. We adopted her from the local shelter and I think that has something to do with it but I am unsure how to calm her down and I hate leaving her when she gets so upset. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to help her relax while she is in her kennel?

VeggieLove1022 · June 2012

You can medicate her, but I honestly hate that route because the dog always seems like a zombie. In those cases where heavy medication is needed daily I just think the dog would have a better life with someone who has a field or farm of some sort.

I've heard good things about the Thunder Shirt (I think it's called) which is just a tight jacket that makes your dog feel secure.

Other than that I would suggest she gets a ton of exercise, put on a movie for there to be some background noise, and give her some digestible bones for her to gnaw on.

I'm sorry I don't have more advice, but I hope you find something that works for you!

mmizrach · June 2012

Sounds like you have a pretty severe case, so know it is not an easy or quick fix, but I do have some suggestions. Basically you have to desensitize her to the kennel and you leaving. Try to train her to go in the kennel and give her a treat when she goes in (leaving the door open). Then lots of praise and let her come out. Do lots of in and out so she doesn't think she will get locked up every time. Then when she is comfortable going in and out, have her stay in there for a few minutes (have the door open but don't let her come out). Wait in front of the kennel until she relaxes, then give her a treat. This is the best thing, for her to be relaxed in the kennel, which will take a lot of work. Only after she's relaxed, close the door, then let her out. Remember to only let her out when she is calm so you don't reinforce negative behavior, and to keep it short so she is more likely to be successful. After she is more relaxed with the kennel, give her a bone to eat in there so she has some positive experiences.

One part is working on the kennel, the other part is to work with her about you leaving the house. Basically walk around, grab you purse and keys (whatever normally triggers her to think you are leaving), then put them down so she relaxes. Do this often so she doesn't react to those triggers. Then have her stay at a distance while you open and close the door. Basically desensitize, and prevent her from escalating into nervous behavior. I also second the Thunder Shirt idea to help with her anxiety.

kellbell1919 · June 2012

There should be some info in the FAQs at the top of the page. What does she do if you leave her uncrated? One of ours has horrible crate anxiety so we just don't crate, we babygate. But he also wont destroy the rest of the house.

I would start by making the crate a good happy place where she is fed, gets treats, PB kongs, etc. You may also need to try an anti anxiety med like chlomicalm.

Cdreams980 · June 2012

We have 3 dogs and one of them has horrible separation anxiety. She was a rescue and is my husband's dog. When he moved in with me and my 2 dogs, she was fine in the beginning, but she was also peeing on the floor. Both of my dogs were crated since puppyhood so we began crating Molly. She is fine crated at night, but when we had to crate her during the day she freaked out and broke out of her kennel breaking off one of her teeth. We started leaving all of the dogs out, but she would routinely pee on the carpet. We set up a web cam and saw how distressed she was - she would howl, cry, and pace the entire time we were gone. At that point we decided medication was the best option.

After talking with my vet, he opted to try Clomicalm first (because it is FDA approved for use in animals). This turned her into a zombie - she stopped playing, slept all of the time, and would groan every time she laid down. I was a vet tech and prior to starting the Clomicalm, I had asked my vet to prescribe Prozac for her. He said to try the Clomicalm first, if it didn't work, we'd switch. Well we switched. She's been on Prozac daily for about 2 years now and within a month, the zombie dog disappeared and the happy Molly came back. We continued to set up our web cam and instead of crying and pacing, she laid down with our other dogs and slept. No anxiety at all. Plus, the peeing ended.

Honestly, it was a huge relief because her behavior (especially the peeing in my house) was causing a wedge between my then boyfriend and I. Once we got her behavior under control, I was able to stop disliking her so much and she and I now have an awesome bond. I have several friends who have dogs with SA and they all ended up switching from Clomicalm to Prozac because of the lethargy. Molly truly is herself, only without the anxiety. She is active, loving, and plays with our other 2 dogs.

Best of luck!

DanniLynn88 · June 2012

Our dog has really bad seperation anxiety. He broke out of kennels with locks and all sorts of contraptions on them. Finally after him scraping his head up and almost cutting his eye we said enough is enough. When he broke out he would have diarrea and eat food left out on counters. We cleaned counters and started gating him in the living room. He still had anxiety. Finally we let him have run of our apartment. No more diarrea, no chewing, nothing. It was like he just didn't want to be confined. He does well having run of the house, but I had to be okay cleaning if that happened. He knows how to open doors, toilets, cabinets, refridgerator. We are the only couple without kids with a childproof house. We talked to the vet about meds but that's no way for the dog to live. Our trained made a point to tell us to exersize him for at least an hour plus a day. Trainers help a lot in finding out where the issue comes from and a solution.

straymo · June 2012

My dog Lily has severe separation anxiety. It is just how she is wired. We've worked with two behaviorist and our vet and our solution....shudder.....meds. Yes, my dog is on Prozac and Trazadone. Judge all you want. The truth is, she is FAR from being a zombie dog and if you met her, you'd have no idea she was on meds. She is not traquilized.

What is "no way to live"? I think allowing my dog to be in a panicked state 24/7 is abuse and I would not allow it to happen. We are constantly working on behavior modifications and for her, she's a happy, very energetic silly dog who just isn't tortured in her mind anymore. We're lucky in that the meds work for her.

She's been on them for 3 years and we've tried a few times to wean her dosage down with very bad results. If it were me or my husband who was having anxiety issues, you're damned right, I'd find a solution and if that solution were meds, I'd be okay with that too.

dusk42 · June 2012

VeggieLove1022:
You can medicate her, but I honestly hate that route because the dog always seems like a zombie. In those cases where heavy medication is needed daily I just think the dog would have a better life with someone who has a field or farm of some sort.

DanniLynn88:

We talked to the vet about meds but that's no way for the dog to live.

This is like saying every human on antidepressants or anti-anxiety meds is a zombie or "that's no way to live." Obviously not true considering how many people with depression and anxiety are so successfully treated with meds. I feel like a zombie without meds, and I have a much better life/am a much better person for being on them. My neurochemistry is messed up, and I'm fixing it.

Our dog is on high doses of prozac and trazadone because she has severe OCD and anxiety - other things we tried that didn't work: lots of exercise, thundershirts, citronella spray, pheromone collar rescue remedy, clomipramine, and lower doses of prozac and prozac alone. I assure you that she is way happier now on her meds than she was off the meds. When she wasn't medicated properly, all she could do inside the house was pace; all she could do outside the house was run around a tree for hours. We cut down the tree, and then she would pull its roots out of the ground for hours. Then she found a new tree. She lost 10 pounds doing this (from 45 to 35 lbs - 20% of her body weight). She was so driven by her compulsion that she couldn't eat, couldn't pee/poop outside (she would come inside and then realize she had to go), couldn't play, couldn't just be a dog.

Now that she is medicated properly (we had to go to a veterinary behaviorist - like a human psychiatrist), she is lying on the dog bed next to me chewing on a nylabone. She loves to sit and be petted, especially by my kid. She can now do puzzle toys with food in them, pee/poop outside, and just chill in the house with us and be a dog. We can do behavioral modification that actually works (most expert behaviorists will not even work with a dog until they are properly treated for anxiety - you just can't break through the wall). She still tries to bark at the tree sometimes, but we can call her away from it instead of taking 15 minutes to try to catch her and bring her in the house every time. She is a happy dog. She is not a zombie, and this is the ONLY way she can live peacefully.

OP, like kellbell said, you could try baby gates, or a different kind of kennel (some dogs like the plastic airline ones better than wire and vice versa). "I'll be home soon" by Patricia McConnell is a good starter book on SA and has a lot of behavior modification tips. If you don't see improvement, talk to your vet about medication - prozac takes about 4 weeks to get to max effectiveness (but you will probably see improvement sooner), so it takes a while to titrate a good dose.

Good luck!

GrayGhost13 · June 2012

Thanks dusk and straymo for saying what I wanted to say, only saying it much more nicely than I probably would have. Big Smile

My dog has been on anti-anxiety medications for about eight months. She's still one of the smartest and most athletic dogs I've ever met. She can run eight miles on leash and still be eager to play, and she can figure out a new puzzle or learn a new trick in no time. The only thing that's missing are the hellish panic attacks. She has a wonderful life. It makes me sad that so many dogs won't be given the same chance because of all the misinformation being spread around about medications.

To the OP, I think reading "I'll Be Home Soon" is a great place to start. If you feel that she meets the definition of SA after reading that book and she isn't responding much to the basic counter-conditioning and desensitization in the book, then I'd probably start working with behaviorist. Good luck!