Pet separation anxiety

jinniknue · February 2011

Cooper has severe separation anxiety and although we have talked to the vet, his training class trainer and read all the latest on Boxer separation anxiety, we are at our wits end. Has anyone had a dog with separation anxiety issues? What worked for you? What made the anxiety worse? Does anyone have a good recommendation on local house trainers who could assess the problem for us?

TIA for any ideas you may have!

LnA5909 · February 2011

We have used Scot Nordgren for both of our dogs. We had major separation issues with the first and agression with the 2nd. We did board and train initially, then continued lessons with him after that. Our dogs are now well adjusted and easy to manage- even in unfamiliar situations. Our shepherd is from a German working line and very high drive. Therefore, she needs much, much more structure and work than the average dog. Scot helped us acheive this.

He does a lot of training of police K9s and protection dogs (using an offensive vs defensive method), but also works with individuals on a wide variety of issues. His email is k9scott@yahoo.com. He also works in conjunction with the Pet Athletic Club: www.fullcontrolk9.com

Edit; to make link clicky

daves_sweetpea · February 2011

My male dog has anxiety, thunderstorm phobias, & some fear aggression. The vet put him on generic Prozac & he calmed down enough that I could do more training & behavior modification. He's been off of it for a few years but now he's developing some OCD so he might go back on. There's a new form marketed to dogs with separation anxiety & other anxiety issues. It's about $80 a month for a large dog while I paid $30 for a 90 day supply of the generic at a people pharmacy. People laugh at giving Prozac to dogs but it helped us so much. I'm not sure I could have kept my dog if we didn't do the drugs. My vet & I both knew that shelters would consider him an unadoptable dog so this really was a matter of life & death for him. See what your vet thinks. It's not a cure-all but it can really help in conjunction with good training. If your vet doesn't listen I would look for a second opinion. Some of the bigger vet clinics should have someone on staff who at least has an interest in pet behavior, if not a specalist.

anotapotamus · February 2011

How much exercise is your dog getting?

JayBzo · February 2011

Our dog had issues when she was very small. She would dig in to the carpet until she put holes in it trying to get out the door etc... We have worked very hard at routines and she is now fine. We do the same thing every time we leave, she knows to get in her cage, everything in her cage is always the same and we cover her cage at night. The routine seemed to help her because she knows when we are leaving (we always put a gate up, get our stuff together, leave at the same time in the morning) and knows we will always come back. We have a very exciting hi we are home want to go outside moment when we get home so us leaving and arriving again are GOOD things, not scary... Most of this was time with us and just working with her. GL!

jinniknue · February 2011

He gets a ton of exercise not to mention he goes to Doggie Day Care 3 days a week. Our vet wants us to manage his anxiety through changing routines, adding stimuli during the day, etc... and doesn't want to do the medication. I think we might give the K-9 guy a call. We need the help!!

Pet separation anxiety

Re: Pet separation anxiety

Choose Another Board

Search Boards