We have two boxers (5 & 11) and a Pointer/Staff mix (13mo) in our pack. The Boxers gladly sleep all day in the kennel without a problem. Unfortunately our other dog has separation anxiety and shreds everything in the kennel including the other dogs beds.
This is a problem since our oldest dog had Degenerative Myopathy and requires a bed due to his condition.
We use the suggested techniques prior to taking them to the kennel before leaving for the day, and have included other healthy distractions for the dogs while we are away.
We are strong pack leaders and followed your techniques to great success in all other areas.
I am afraid we will have to give up our youngest member of the pack for adoption if we cant kennel them together during the day.
Help?
David

We just got a new 5 month old Beagle puppy who has separation Anxiety. I usually always take him for a long walk before putting him in the crate. He is fine in the crate as long as someone is in the room with him, he will chew on his bone, eat a little snack or fall asleep. However if you leave the room to go to the bathroom even, he howls, and will continue this until you are back in the room. I try to only let him out or walk into the room when he is quiet. I have heard that the previous owners left him in the crate while they went to work and got rid of him because of this behavior. I have tried leaving him out of the crate and just going to another room and he howls. I am doing short sessions with him to get him used to the idea but it does not seem to be working at all. What am I missing??

I have a 1 year old English Mastiff. I have had him since he was 6 weeks old and had him completely potty trained by 16 weeks. I don't have room in my apartment for a crate big enough for him, so I shut the doors and leave him in the living room when I'm gone, which worked fine for several months. Over the last couple of months, however, he has started peeing or pooing in the floor EVERY time I leave the house. He has also torn up mini-blinds and pulled carpet up and destroyed padding underneath. I went to a local herb shop and bought some anxiety drops the lady said that handlers give their dogs before shows to calm them down, but they have not done any good. I take him for walks before I leave him and I don't make a big deal of leaving by telling him goodbye or anything. I am nearly at wits end! I love him to pieces and don't want to give him up. Any suggestions?

dear Cesaro,

hello my name is Darrian minor. i have a 10 year old Japanese Akita named Mulan. we've had her since she was a puppy. she is an absolute angel. the only problem we have ever had with her was that she would take stuffed animal remotes etc. and bury them. but we have just gotten a 9 month old golden retriever puppy from my aunt and we thought that if we got the puppy Isabella then mulan would have a friend to play with. that all is working out fine. but you see. Isabella is very attached to me and when i leave even if other people are in the house she starts to chew thing up and cry. in the beginning we put her in a metal kennel that my aunt had given us, but when i had left for school she would bend the bars to try and find some way to get out. when i would come home i would find her out of her kennel chewing on something/anything. the kennel was trashed so we had to through it out. so we left her out with my other dog mulan thinking that mulan would keep her in check knowing that mulan is the dominate type. yet when i come home from school something has been torn up. clothes, bamboo stick, stuffed animals, etc. it got so bad to where she pulled the carpet up and tour chunks out of the carpet padding underneath and she had gotten into a box of heart guard and had to get her stomach pumped. my parents and i had thought it might be she was ripping up my clothes because it had my sent on them so i had taken one of the sox's she tore a hole through and put in another one then tide a knot around it and gave it to her to play with thinking it would help. it hasn't one bit. when i left one time my grand mother had said that Isabella had cried nonstop while i was gone. i don't know what to do. i don't want to get rid of her. shes been to 4 different homes and she is such a sweet dog. i don't want to give up on her but i don't know what else to do
please help.
thanks,
darrian minor

Hi

I have a 17 month old Beagle that suffers from really bad separation anxiety. I've had her since she was 8 weeks old and she's always had problems when we leave the house. I've tried so many different ways to deal with this but can't seem to make her at ease. I am a stay at home Mom so I am with her for most of the day...but not all day. She used to stay in a plastic crate when we left the house. One day we got home (after a one hour trip to the store) to find a blood covered crate and 2 pairs of chewed up shoes. So we got her a metal crate thinking that she couldn't chew through it and also maybe being able to see things better would put her more at ease. She destroyed the thick plastic bottom of that then ripped up the carpet where she could reach it. This is all happening in a couple hour increments. Now we leave her out, but close all the doors, and give her a couple toys to chew on while we're out. I am now coming home to problems of peeing and pooping on the floor, a hole in the side of my couch and a hole in my purse.
About 2 months ago she started growling at the kids and has bit them a few times as well. I'm at my wits end with her. I feel like I've tried all I can think of. It's starting to hurt our family life. Please HELP us!
Thank you.