# separation anxiety help



## sazc (Aug 17, 2014)

I am hoping that somebody out there can help us. When we collected our beautiful girlie, Oreo, she had been separated from the rest of her brothers and sisters for a couple of days due to her having an upset tum, apparently she howled and scratched at the door all the time until they put another one of her litter in with her. I never for a moment thought that this would be a problem, we brought her home and the first night she was in a cage as this had worked on our last dog, after about a week it became clear that the cage wasn't going to be big enough for longer time periods. We removed the cage and let her have run of the kitchen and dining room, but from that day to a couple of months ago she scratched the doors and barked, cried and yelped most of the night, even after having Adaptil plugs and sprays. I finally gave in just after Christmas and let her sleep in our room at night. She's a lot calmer but still gets anxious when we go out and leave her. We have just got back from a weekend away, we've been many times taking our old dog but this was the first time that Oreo has been, it's normally a relaxing time for me, a chance to destress, but we went out for a meal the first night and I spent all evening - only 3 hours - clock watching worrying that she was going to be ok, she was! But the next day, again we left her for 3 hours and she was obviously upset, she had done a tiny bit of damage which she doesn't do at home, it has upset me too. I'm so worried about taking her away with us again, I need to find a way for her to be happy so I can be happy too. We got home this afternoon and the change in her whole demeanour is amazing, she is currently curled up in her favourite spot. She is 15 months old now, I don't want to medicate her, and I believe Thunder Shirts should only used under supervision. Any advice?


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Sorry the only thing I can think of is get another dog or pet to keep her company. Rufus stays happily at home with all our cats, but no way could we leave him alone elsewhere, in a hotel for example, he would be very stressed out for sure. They are extremely pack oriented dogs. Most of us here have other pets or would use a dog sitter I think in a situation like you describe.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

I think there are two different issues there - seperation anxiety is what you will be dealing with at home and you need to gradually build her confidence that you will always come back when you leave by leaving initially for very short spells and then gradually building up as she gets used to it.

Leaving a dog somewhere unfamliar to them is not something I have ever done with any of mine and I can't honestly see any of them being happy about it. If you can crate train her you may be able to leave her in her crate as at least that will be familiar but other than that I think she is always going to be stressed especially if she is sometimes worried about being alone at home.


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