Seperation Anxiety Question

[sas]

Hi Guys,

I have been contacted by a lady reluctanly wanting to surrender her Great Dane due to Seperation Anxiety she can not manage.

The dog is not yet 2 and was fine up until recently where it's companion (dog) moved out.

The dog has always been an outside dog and doesn't actually like coming inside, if she brings the dog inside it will just want to go outside.

She says when she brings the dog in, it will search through the rooms presumely looking for the other dog and then gets stressed and wants to go back out.

I haven't experienced Seperation Aniexty before that can't be corrected by the Human making some changes i.e. the Human really being the one who caused the behaviour to start with.

Have you heard of this sort of Aniexty before that seems to be caused by another dog leaving?

The owner has been working with a Trainer, Behaviourist and Vet, all of whom haven't any luck. The Lady cannot take on another dog as company to this dog.

The dog cries, howls, barks, throws itself at the windows/doors even when she is home so I can't really put the dog into suburban foster care due to this issue, I would most likely have to send it to a friend who is a behaviourist and has kennels and ask him to work with the dog which will be pretty costly.

The dog is also now playing up on walks where as it didn't before. 3 walks a night is not helping either.

A bark collar has been put on the dog and it will carry on through that as well, which I would expect of a dog with anxiety.

She has taken the Dane for play visits with its previous house mate and other dogs but when returning home the behaviour is worse.

I am yet to see the situation myself to see if everything is as the owner says it is.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Edited May 6, 2011 by MEH

[poodlefan]

Yes, talk to the behaviourist before taking it on. It sounds pretty severe and rehoming wont' help initially.

[persephone]

definitely speak with the behaviourist and consulting vet first..and ,if possible see the dog . Poor thing- it does sound severe- and I'm guessing a bark collar will not be taking away any of that anxiety

I don't know ..,but 'perhaps' the behaviour may be different in another environment ,without the same triggers?

*sigh* Poor lady, and poor dog.

[Cosmolo]

Sounds like a very difficult situation. Do you know how the dog responds if another dog goes and stays in the home with him for a few days? Severe separation anxiety is very difficult to resolve, especially if you can't block some of the symptoms likely to be a problem. eg- while bark collars alone don't help anxiety, sometimes you need to stop the bleeding so to speak AND try to stop the neighbours going insane and calling the council while the anxiety is being resolved.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Cosmolo

[Jigsaw]

It sounds pretty extreme. Is the dog on medication for the SA? I think I would be talking to the vet, behaviourist etc as others have said and finding out what behaviour mod has been undertaken so far. If he's a stressy dog kennels may stress him even more.

[sas]

Hi Guys,

An update, I sent soem techniques over to the owner to try for at least a week and the dog has now ceased howling and carrying on, so looks like dog will be staying put and owner continuing to work on appropriate behaviours WOOT!

[persephone]

Hi Guys,

An update, I sent soem techniques over to the owner to try for at least a week and the dog has now ceased howling and carrying on, so looks like dog will be staying put and owner continuing to work on appropriate behaviours WOOT!

[Jigsaw]

Excellent news!

[mita]

Have you heard of this sort of Aniexty before that seems to be caused by another dog leaving?

I see the problems been fixed now. But I'll answer this question anyway.

Yes, in our senior tibbie girl who was so close to our other younger tibbie (who was the leader). The younger one suddenly & tragically died (side effects from a medication for non-life threatening condition). The senior girl then behaved very much like this Dane. She lay watching the side gate, which had been the last place she'd seen her 'sister's' body go out. When taken to the vet, she would lie looking under the door into the waiting room, expecting her 'sister' to come in, too. After a while, she started howling....more like 'keening'....whenever she was home alone.