Seperation Anxiety

[Colliewood]

Hi,

Any help /suggestions would be appreciated.

Customer of mine has a BC x, recently took in her husbands family dog of he last 10 years or so. A Lab x Kelpie. This is the fourth home in the last year or 2 for this dog. She is a bit highly strung, a sweet girl.

Anyway to the problem, when home owners leave she constantly barks, they have tried the kongs/bones things to keep her busy but not much luck.

I have suggested more exercise, anything else you can suggest would be great.

ta

[Tali]

Don't know that it is relevant to this situation but... my old Keeshond Tali apparently cried a lot while we were out after her 'brother' died a few years back. We ended up letting her into the hall way of the house (ie a 'safe' area) while we were out, and that seemed to make her feel like she was still safe and 'with' her pack (even though we weren't home).

Of course, she knew the 'house' as her pack's territory already, so it may not help in this case.

We had (after a council complaint) tried a citronella collar some years prior to that on our boy Kees, and that did work wonders, and seemed to break the 'habit' to some extent. You can sometimes hire one from a vet or council, which might be enough to stop the problem until the dog settles in.

I know some people don't like the barking collars, but I also have neighbors that HATE dogs, so sometimes it's a compromise to keep your pet. GRRR - why are all people not dog lovers, who are understanding that a dog in a new home will be a bit stressed and confused???!

Good luck though - hope it works for them.