Dog with separation anxiety

[tyler24]

I have a two and a half year old Jack Russell and miniature pinscher mix that recently started breaking through his kennel after we moved. He has torn through two wire kennels in the past couple weeks as well as one of those thunder jackets. Prior to the move, he was always pretty good in his kennel. Outside of spending a ton of money on a heavy duty kennel, does anyone have any recommendations? Has anyone tried the anxiety med's you can get at the vet for them, if so, how well do they work? TIA.

 

[carvers4math]

Haven't tried meds. I think all dogs have some separation anxiety. I have read suggestions about maybe having some special treats or toys that you only give them when you are gone. I don't think our dog is very happy when we are gone, he is always exhausted when we get back and suspect he doesn't nap well then, but he isn't destructive. We don't leave him in a kennel though, he just has his run of the house, which sounds like isn't an option for you.

 

[HogueNation]

Your house must be haunted.

 

[tyler24]

Haven't tried meds. I think all dogs have some separation anxiety. I have read suggestions about maybe having some special treats or toys that you only give them when you are gone. I don't think our dog is very happy when we are gone, he is always exhausted when we get back and suspect he doesn't nap well then, but he isn't destructive. We don't leave him in a kennel though, he just has his run of the house, which sounds like isn't an option for you.

Unfortunately it isn't an option. It's definitely worse than a regular anxiety. I have some treats and a kong for him when he's in there. The problem is, once the door closes behind him. He won't eat.

 

[NWICY]

Maybe you could bake him some doggy treats with a little extra ingredient and give him one before you leave for the day.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

It started when you moved into a new place? Somehow you need to get the dog more comfortable in their new surroundings.

 

[Cyclone44]

We have had dogs that get stressed when leaving them. So, we have left a radio or TV running while we are gone. Seems to help having voices going on and TV shows that drown out other noises and just seems like we are there.

 

[Macloney]

Blow some pot smoke in your dog's ear and put on some Pink Floyd, he'll love you for it.

 

[Clonehomer]

Did you immediately start leaving him at this new place? It seems that you'd want to spend some time at this new home with the dog. Then it'll be more comfortable with its new surroundings.

 

[Scott34]

This may sound weird but try leaving a shirt that has your scent on it in his kennel. Thing with dogs and separation anxiety, very few things actually work.

 

[carvers4math]

Some good suggestions here. Our neighbors think their dog is crazy so they come home for lunch every day and let him out and play with him a bit so he isn't alone as long. Not sure if work is close enough to make that an option. You probably don't know a neighbor well enough yet that might be able to help with that.

We do leave a TV on for our dog, not sure if it helps.

 

[chuckd4735]

Are you leaving the dog alone for long periods of time? We take our dog to doggie daycare, and it does wonders. We're confident knowing we dont have to worry about him while at work, and its also nice having him worn the **** out for the night when he gets home.

 

[ripvdub]

Our dog just has anxiety, hates fireworks, thunder, rain, frying bacon and anything that sounds like that. He was fine with his older brother, Jack trice, but Clyde Williams has gone downhill since he passed. He digs through sheets, beds, whatever so he can "hide", destroys them. We kennel him but he does TRBL in it. Would love to get him another brother, but don't want him to teach him bad things, as Clyde is over 9 yrs old. Daycare is prob too expensive, we already pay almost $200 a week for our daughter.

 

[enisthemenace]

Haven't tried meds. I think all dogs have some separation anxiety. I have read suggestions about maybe having some special treats or toys that you only give them when you are gone. I don't think our dog is very happy when we are gone, he is always exhausted when we get back and suspect he doesn't nap well then, but he isn't destructive. We don't leave him in a kennel though, he just has his run of the house, which sounds like isn't an option for you.

We moved 3 years ago, and dealt with the same thing. Old boy destroyed a pretty heavy duty wire kennel and was injuring himself in the process...his nose was ripped up and he was doing damage to his teeth and gums.

The only thing we felt made sense was to let him have the house to himself while we were gone at work. It was a last resort and we were prepared to give him up to a farm family who was around more often if he started destroying other things such as doors, walls and furniture.

Fortunately, he did pretty well and he's still part of the family. He has accidents every once in a while during the day, but he does OK. We know we have some pretty expensive, professional cleansing to do when he does move on, but again...we knew that was a possibility and were willing to live with it.

 

[carvers4math]

That's one thing, our dog can really hold it. We were going to a family wedding in Ames and paid the teenage neighbor kid $25 to come over and let him out three or four times, as we were going to be gone from about 9:00 a.m. until about 3:30 am. The dog was fine when we got home but zoomed out to pee. The next afternoon, the kid came back to return the money on his mom's orders, because she found out he went over to a friend's and forgot about our dog all day.

 

[SerenityNow]

Perhaps try Guardzilla, or some sort of two way camera that allows you to monitor and speak to him.

We have dogs and thankfully do not have this issue. Good luck to you.

 

[enisthemenace]

That's one thing, our dog can really hold it. We were going to a family wedding in Ames and paid the teenage neighbor kid $25 to come over and let him out three or four times, as we were going to be gone from about 9:00 a.m. until about 3:30 am. The dog was fine when we got home but zoomed out to pee. The next afternoon, the kid came back to return the money on his mom's orders, because she found out he went over to a friend's and forgot about our dog all day.

Kids. A whole different issue, amirite?

 

[WhatchaGonnaDo]

We have a 5 month old puppy and just bought a house. Getting him acclimated to the house worries me. He's pretty sensitive about new places. We've already seen it when we've brought him overnight to visit friends/family. He'll still eat, but he barks at bedtime because it's different from normal routine, takes forever to go to the bathroom outside, etc.

Actually super worried about him figuring out he can poop and pee outside free range without us standing next to him. We've always just had to take him out on a leash.

 

[tyler24]

Thanks for the recommendations. I've tried putting stuff with my scent on it but he doesn't care, tears it to shreds. He has always torn up things when they are put in the kennel, but never went after the kennel itself. Got him scheduled with the vet tomorrow to see if medication is the next step. It's funny cus he's about the calmest jack Russell I've ever seen until it comes to me leaving.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Two of our dogs hate thunder, and the vet gave us some stuff to syringe into their mouths before storms. It's only marginally effective. It takes the edge off for distant thunder, but once they hear a big boom, it's on regardless. The good news is that they're aren't destructive (they're left out during the day). One hides and one paces.

When we had only two dogs, our younger dog would have separation anxiety when the older dog was at the groomer. We solved that by getting the third dog, so that she has a companion when he's gone. None of them seem terribly bothered by us leaving as they're used to it happening daily.