My Dad fosters Dogs for the local shelter He has had archie 4 mon.Archie is a great dog loving with everyone he is even good with other animals cats dogs everything but he has a sepration problem I think when Dad leaves he destroys everything.He has torn up Moms curtains 3 times chewed up his leash coffee table and most recently his crate he even chewed through the wire.We have tried everything even prozac from the vet nothing has worked.My dad had his last draw today and took him back to the shelter.I know if cesar or someone does not help they will put him to sleep and I love him a lot and think with the right person he would be the best dog ever.So I dont know if cesar reads this or not but it is worth a shot if you do please help save archie.He is 1 year old up to date shots and fixed if you can help e-mail me and I will give you a number to contact me .Thanks

Hello, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced their dog on the counters after they leave? I have a Weimaraner /Chocolate lab mix that is 4 years old. My dog is walked twice a day, and taken to the nearby off leash dog park often. In sub zero weather, or rainy weeks, I will take her to doggie daycare to get her fill of playtime and exercise.

She acquired this new counter surfing behavior in her later years. In her lifetime, sometimes (but rarely) she would counter surf, get up on the table, get into the bathroom garbage (Kleenex) or recycle bin. It would be one of these behaviors on rare occasion. When this happened, I simply thought she was trying to get my attention because I worked late, did not walk her, or did not spend quality time with her before I left for the day.

Recently, since the end of April, this behavior has occurred more often. I have had her since she was 6 months old, crated until she turned two. ALL her life, she was never a chewer, or a beggar. I am frustrated because it has never been this bad.
I have been using a baby gate to block off the kitchen when I leave because if I don't, I will come home to wrappers of anything that was left on the counters. Last night for example, she ate a package of tortillas. Last week, a bag of hot dog buns that were defrosting in the sink. What really surprises me, is to come home to dishes on the living room floor my dog got out of the sink!

The kitchen behavior is the worst and most frequent. I am trying to think if I am doing anything differently, but I am not. And the part I really don't get is that I am a teacher, and I am off for the summer. If I leave the house, I am only gone for a few hours. I have been home with her more than ever and this behavior is the worst! I do not think the baby gate is solving any of the behavior, but it prevents her from getting into anything. PLEASE off me your suggestions. I am losing my mind because my dog has always been very well behaved since she was 2 years old (hence, taking her of the crate training). Why does she have this behavior in her later years and what am I doing wrong? I want my well behaved dog back!

My 1 year old pit/lab mix has severe anxiety issues to the point that she cannot be left at my family's kennel for a bath of just overnight. I had surgery in December and had to leave her at the kennel for two weeks. She had plenty of people and dog's that she knows to play with and an indoor pool to swim in, but when I picked her up her hair was falling out and according to the vet she has Demodex. The Demodex has shown up twice in the past six months and I know I shouldn't but I blame myself. My vet just says that she needs a whole psychological team. I'm going to try these tips and I really hope they help. Her anxiety is worsening my anxiety. I can't even leave my yard for a couple of minutes without her finding a way to break out and find me.

Hello all,

I have a 7 year old jack Russell, she is amazing in every way.
I got her from a friend of mine who flew away and passed her on to me at the age of 3.

This friend practically never left home, anytime she did the dog started shivering and going under the couch.

Her separation anxiety was actually realized once she was passed on to me.
I am not going to ever leave her and I want to get rid of this anxiety.

She is very very submissive, she will do whatever I say, she will follow me around with no leash. When we get to the park she will usually not play with anyone but me, she will just sit by me where ever I am.

When I leave home she starts shivering and gives me a very sad look.
I try avoiding eye contact, I run with her every other day, I try leaving her with my parents sometimes so she knows I will always come back. But to no avail, I cannot get rid of any of the symptoms.

Please help me,I want her to be free of all the anxiety, have fun with other people and dogs, and not be so anxious when I leave home.

P.S

She knows she's not allowed to go on beds or furniture, but once I step out of the house I see trails of her all over the couch and bed, usually leaving one of my slippers on them.

Please help....

My dog is always excited to see me and whines and cries when I leave. I chalked it all up to her being a hyper breed (jack russell) but I hated seeing her so distressed.

I have tried all of the above and I am happy to say it is working.

I give her a calm walk in the morning and put out her food and water after. I put her out in the back and ignore her for about 10mins. Then when I'm ready to leave she's relaxed and into exploring the yard, eating, or sunning in the backyard.

When I get home, as much as I would like to play and chase her around, I make sure I am calm and relaxed.

Thank you Ceasar!

Next issue to tackle... the walk... shudder.

Mollie has gotten better than she used to be. It started when a neighbor made us aware that she was barking non stop when we were out one day. Soon after that we were evicted, she couldn't be left alone. She spent the first 6-8 months with another dog, her friend Demetri a 3 yr old Bichon. When she was separated from Demetri is when we started to notice the anxiety. Mollie ended up at my wife's parents house. Oh yea, we hardly evey leave her alone. This is where it's been tough, we have 4 yr old little boy who loves this dog. This is probably the main reason that she gets to come to our house. Mollie is not aggressive at all but she is very attached to my son, she cant stand to be away from him. If my wife is gone and my son is here with me she is kinda OK but if they are both gone and she is alone with me she paces, barks & whines. If I wasn't with her she would probably hurt herself while I'm sure tearing up whatever environment in the process. We have tried dog anxiety meds, it didn't help. While my wife and her mother have done their best to treat this dog better than most humans get treated. They may have broken the barrier between us and them. I feel like if I had a super plush padded wall dog house, inescapable, and of course comfortable she would be OK to be left alone. During a recent trip to the vet we were called to come pick her up because she was freaking out. They tried keeping her in a cage, so we came and got her she needed to have stitches on one of her paws. I just want to be able to go out with my family and not have to consider taking her with us and leaving her in the car (climate controlled of course) within eye shot. I have read that weimaraners are know for this kind of behavior. Oh yea she goes on walks all the time, long walks around the neighborhood. Also there are 2 new 3.5 month old yorkies, hope it dosent get worse.

Hows it going all, well my problem is that my dog has started a nasty habit of pulling and chewing on the kennel that we have her in when we go to work during the day.

Today was an all time for it though, she actually chewed through the fence and made a hole big enough to slip her body though.

Im afraid that im running out of options to try and fix this problem that has become progressivly worse.

If anyone here or ceasar himself has a solution that would be the biggest help.

Thanks all.

Many times puppies are mis-diagnosed with separation anxiety when they actually just need to be better exercised and better CHEW trained (See chew training instructions at http://www.dogdaysusa.com/chewinganddestruction.html.

In other cases, the dog may need more exercise, proper chew training as well as a true separation anxiety protocol which desensitizes your dog to the cues to your departure and then different length of your departures themselves. Often this is all you need to solve the problem, without the help of pharmaceuticals. Each case is different and it's worth reading as much as you can to make the right decision on how to treat your dog's particular case. See separation anxiety case study at http://www.dogdaysusa.com/separationanxietycase.html
Good luck!
Suzydog

My husband and I got out dog Bouncer from a shelter about 6 months ago, he is a border Collie, Alaskan Malamute, golden retriever cross and about 18 months-2yrs old. We had the usual house training issues when we first got him which lasted a couple of weeks and then he was really good. I would go to work (be gone about 6-7 hours) we would leave him in his crate and he would be fine. Then about 4-6 weeks ago he escaped out of his crate. He bent up the door and got out. The from then on when we put him in his crate (apart from at night) he would escape and be waiting at the front door when we got home. As when he was escaping he wasn't chewing up anything or destroying anything we thought that we could just leave him out of his crate. And this worked fine for about 4 weeks and then all of a sudden the other week I come home and he had ransacked the house. He didn't destroy anything of real value but he made a huge mess. So we have been shutting him in the basement where his crate is but everyday I have been coming home and having to clear up something. I can't and should not have to clear that room of everything but what can I do he just won't stop chewing things up and when he chews on something he chews on it until it has been destroyed. Please help I don't know what else to do.

Hi I have a 2yr old male black lab and a 3yr female black lab. they are both rescue dogs that have come to us with bad habits. both together chew our couch cushions, take socks from the hamper, chew door frames, and have chewed the arm off our couch and tore the stuffing all over the room.
we've removed all the items from one room that we keep them in when we are going out, this is the one they've chewed the furniture in. We've put them in the basement laundry room where they chewed the door frames to remove he babygates to get out...
we have tried putting chew toys with treats and peanut butter to keep them focused on them, however once all the chewtoys are empty, their focus goes to the furniture or anything else in their view.

what can we do??? we want to get new furniture and it's not even a consideration at this point due to their chewing.

thanks,

Kristine
orangeville Ontario, Canada

Hi I have a 2 yr old and 3 year old rescue labs. When my husband and I leave for work everyday my two year old, Trinity, starts looking for things to tear up. She is only left for about 3 hrs but she tears something up every day! Ive given her all sorts of toys, rawhides,ect. She carried an 18lb bag of dog food through the doggie door last week and ate all the dials and buttons off my iron! How can I correct her behavior or keep it from happening when Im not home? Thanks for all suggestions!

Hello,

I have tried all of the above mention tips already with our dog. Normally when I am not home, my husband and son are still home with her; however, it still does not calm her. She will sit by the door and cry if I am not home. Even if I am home, if I am in another room, she will cry or become destructive. She has ripped wholes in our rugs. Normally she becomes somewhat content if she is permitted to lay on my robe or something that smells like me while I am gone. The problem is I have no idea what to do to make her less attached to me.
I know she is more attached to me than the rest of the family because I am the one that tends to her (I take her for her daily walk, I run around in the yard with her, I feed her most of the time, etc.). I have tried to get my son to take a more active part in this, but most of the time he is the typical kid and I have to do it. I would get my husband to do more of this, but his work hours do not permit him to walk her for a good portion of the year as it is dark when he gets home.
Any suggestions?

Sometimes you've got a young pup who's showing the beginning signs of problems, other times you've got a full-blown case of separation anxiety. What follows is one of several behavior modification techniques you can use for a dog who is already showing separation anxiety:

During your time off from work (and your husband and son should also be recruited to do this), desensitize your dog to the cues to your departures by pretending you are about to leave and then not leaving. Get your coat, keys, purse, shoes, and go to the door, open it and then close it and take all those things off and sit down as if nothing weird just happened. Do this several times per day. You can break it up into just keys, just coat, just door, etc. to solidify the desensitization.

After you've done this and she has started to ignore your bizarre antics, do the same but also leave for 1 minute and then return as you normally would after a day at work. 20 minutes later leave for 4 minutes and return. 15 minutes later leave for 2 minutes. 30 minutes later leave for 7 minutes. An hour later leave for 2 minutes. Basically you are desensitizing her to your departures and absences at a variable schedule. Your departure times are not predictable nor is the duration of each departure. Gradually you will increase the duration but you must mix it up so that each departure isn't longer than the last. Get a tape recorder or video recorder to see if/when she starts to show stress. Keep your departure times low enough and increase them gradually enough that she does not start to show stress. If she starts to bark or paw at door, you are gone too long and/or ramped up too fast. Each dog is different, see samples below:

Dog 1: 1 minute, 5, 10, 3, 20, 8, 2, 30, 15, 5, 60
Dog 2: 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 12 seconds, 40 seconds (dog barked), 5 seconds, 15 seconds, 50 seconds, 30 seconds, 80 seconds
Dog 3: 5 minutes, 15, 4, 20 (dog whined & pawed), 8, 10, 6, 15, 7, 18, 13, 4, 25, 12, 30, 40.

If you make it to 30 minutes one day, start lower the next day; in other words, don't expect the dog to start at the exact level you left off at; start a little easier and see if you can ramp up further.

The preferable behavior modification scenario would allow you to be off work for 2 weeks and over that time gradually acclimate her to 6 hour separations. If you can take a day or two or more off, do so. However if you can't take time off just do what you can in the time that you can, do everything else (exercise, Kong dispenser, puppy-proof) and pray.

Never make a fuss when you leave or when you return! The best way to approach your arrivals and departures is to remind yourself not to even look at the dog for 5 minutes before you leave or 5 minutes after you get back, other than to potty her very matter-of-factly when you get home.

More separation anxiety strategies at http://www.dogdaysusa.com/separationanxietycase.html.)
Suzanne Harris, CPDT
http://www.dogdaysUSA.com

Hi,

My dog, Emmett, freaks out when I leave the house. The minute he sees me grab my purse, brush my hair or look like I am about to leave he will jump on me, bite me (not too hard but feels like it is getting worse), jump on the door, and try to block me. I have tried ignoring him before I leave and ignoring him when I get home, but it doesn't work. I have tried making him tired by walking/running him, does not work. I have even tried giving him a special treat when I leave. All he does is sit there with the treat and watch me to see if I start to go for the door. When I open the door I have to hold him back by his collar so that he doesn't run out of the house (if that happens it takes me about 20-30 min to get him back and he runs in the street!) Once I actually get out of the house, he is fine. I have the house puppy proofed, so he can't really get anything. He will watch me leave through the window and then either sleep, play with his toys or chew on his chewies. He does not bark or whine. He is a Yellow Lab that I got from a rescue when he was 9 weeks old. He is now 8 months old. I can't handle this behavior any longer. Please help!!!

Cant even handle me walking away from him. Much less leaving him in the house for even 3-5 minutes to walk to the next door neighbors house with out barking, going crazy and destroying all the blinds in the house. Im at a loss as for what to do. I've tried several tips you have given and they work pretty well.(As far as chewing on things etc) Even if i put him on the front porch on a long leash while i walk next door he acts like he will die without me. He barks and wines. I've tried putting him in the back yard even... He has broken the metal fence from pawing at it for so long and eventually gets out every time. PLEASE HELP ME. I love my dog so very much but I just dont know what to do with him.