we adopted a 5 month old pup last weekend.. we have had her 4 days so far. she is the best behaved dog.. as long as someone is home. but if we leave.... she cries.. barks whines....
the other night she broke a screen to get outside so she could follow us (we walked to the ice cream store and were only gone 40 minutes. ) she had tried to get out a window on the second floor. but was unsuccessful.
we are locking her in the laundry room -which is small and there is not much she can damage in there... neighbors report her barking. anyone have any ideas of things that worked for their dog. we will take her to the vet this weekend.
You could try a Thundershirt. I know several dog owners who love them.
CRATE training is the only way to go.
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html
Responsible dog owners crate train.
Have you considered crate training her? It actually becomes a safe place for her and if you do it right, she will love it.
Trust me, the laundry room won't work long term if she continues to be anxious about time you are away. She will eventually shred your laundry room door or tear up the floor or baseboards or who knows what. It happens.
Crates are made for dogs to be inside them. :) And, as I said, if you read up on it and do it correctly, it is not cruel or a punishment for your dog. It is a safe place for them and a place they feel comfort and secure. And they are!
If you look up the Dog Whisperer (Cesar Milan) I know he had a few episodes specifically on dogs with separation anxiety when their people left them alone. Barking, etc. There are techniques to help with this. Personally, I think you need to start with the crate and then work on the barking when you are gone.
Crate training works well for dogs with separation anxiety.
She needs her own crate. I second and third all the others who mentioned this. My dog feels safe in his crate. He even sleeps in there when we are home and we're too busy to sit down with him.
Short term solution: benadryl. You can look up the dosage on line. It'll make her sleepy & not quite so anxious. Like I said, though, it's more a bandaid than a real, long term solution.
I've heard many people enthusiastically support crate training. For our very anxious pupster, it wasn't the answer. Although a very well regarded local trainer helped & we've had many other successes with this dog the crate created more fear than it resolved. She's much more a bed dog than a box dog.
The radio or TV helped, as did not making a big deal about leaving. REally. No good-by, no "be a good dog", no eye contact. Just be calm and leave. Another help is a Kong toy filled with food it'll take a while to get out (peanut butter, small treats, etc). It kept her mind on something other than her alone-ness.
Glad you're taking her to the vet. That's a great place to start.
I would definitley crate vs laundry room. She will scratch your door to shreds. There is a sweater you can try that I have heard is very helpful and we actually have ours on Prozac. I definitely think the crate would help as well.
