Barney's Canine Separation Anxiety

Barney suffered from separation anxiety. It wasn't debilitating but it was real and long-lasting. And I didn't realize it until he had passed away.

A number of things could have caused it. Barney was dumped late one night in the dark in the country.  When we first brought him to our house, we were young and not well educated on puppy house breaking or care. He came on a Saturday and Monday we went to work, all day. Poor Barney was left in a basement alone.

Once I learned about crate training, I didn't handle that too well either. Got it, put him in it, and left for the day. Not the best way to adjust him to it. (It did house break him in two days though.)

I wasn't cruel or inhumane, just ignorant.

Did these actions - or the combination of them - create his separation anxiety. Undoubtedly. How much guilt should I feel, I don't know.  Barney was well loved even during this poor training period, our ignorance certainly contributed.

How did I figure it out?

As I was researching rescues and adopting a dog, one site discussed some of the problems rescued dogs can face and how to modify their behavior to improve or eliminate the problem. One was separation anxiety. The symptoms include extreme distress when left alone, home destruction when left alone, elimination accidents, never being left in a room and following humans around the house.

It was the last one that turned on the light bulb in my head. Barney always followed us around. Even when he was old and riddled with arthritis, he would never stay in a room by himself. He would follow us from room to room, upstairs, downstairs, every where. I just thought he loved us. He did, but he also didn't want to be alone.

Until we was about two, he stayed in a crate when we were gone. But he proved to be Houdini.  He escaped his cage not once but twice!  He apparently used his jaws to open up a gap at the top of his cage and then somehow crawled out. I came home one day after work, only to find Barney grinning like a happy idiot at the front door. Then I saw the mess. Plants knocked over, garbaged strewn from kitchen to living room.  So I took wire and reinforced the top of the cage. He escaped the next day.  Then I went to plywood and bricks. That stopped the escape. Wow, he didn't like that crate. (Between the anxiety and my poor crate assimilation, he truly didn't like it.)

I didn't realize the motivation was the separation anxiety until so much later. I just thought he was really smart.

Similarly, gates didn't stop him. He jumped them or plowed through them. Doors didn't stop him. Once we moved to a larger home, he got into a bad habit of hiding "accidents" during the day while we were at work. So we put him in the bedroom and locked the door.  He got out. Lever door handles were a snap. But he even figured out how to open knobs.  So we had to get a hook and eye clasp on the outside of our bedroom door. I can't tell you the strange looks we received from overnight guests about that!

And all along, I just thought Barney was really smart. (He was but apparently, he was also really motivated.  Bella and Chief don't even consider jumping the baby gates all around our nice open floor plan. They also generally care less if we leave the room.)

If your dog suffers from separation anxiety, don't expect him/her to outgrow it. Barney still followed us around 16 years later and while in crippling pain.  But using behavior modification techniques to gradually reduce the anxiety as you SLOWLY create separation, can cure or greatly reduce this problem.  Here's an excellent article on how to help a dog with this problem.

Comments

[Sherry C.]

Thanks for addressing this and providing the link. My late Dinky, the toy poodle, had this problem. Even when my husband would stay home with him while I went somewhere our poodle would whine and pace the house looking for me. He would also tremble so bad that my husband would end up having to hold him to calm him down a bit. And he followed me around so close and constantly that I nicknamed him "Shoe" because he was always underfoot. Some have suggested getting another pet to help in this, but it didn't work for us. The poor thing wanted to be with me 24/7! Thankfully, our schnauzer doesn't suffer from this - he just misses us when we are gone and acts like our short trip without him lasted months. What a reception we get from him when we come home! But, at least we don't have neighbors complaining that he barked and howled the whole time we were gone, like they did with Dinky.

[Mariya]

I read the post, Barney's Canine Separation Anxiety... It is very interesting... Thank you for the information...