The whiney monster

Comments

• Sangmort

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Awwww! Poor babe. Maybe it's time to work on some separation anxiety exercises? ~
• Sangmort

  January 2009 edited November -1

  btw, how'd rehearsal go? ~
• Kaddy

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Yeah... I'm thinking it's time for some separation exercises... just need a reminder or link as to what the best ones are )
  
  Side note: rehearsal was AMAZING. If you don't know, I play the flute and Portland has an amazing flute community (sounds weird I know... but when I tell people about my amazing dog friends I get the same reaction lol). So today was my first rehearsal as one of the five bass flute players in the choir... the director is SO great. I also loved everyone I sat near... there are over 40 people in the choir, so it's going to take quite a while before I know their names.
• Leonberger

  January 2009 edited November -1

  You have to leave the house more often.That's the best separation anxiety exercise.
  Start by leaving for a minute and go back in before she starts to whine. When you feel she's starting to get the hang of "he comes back, it's not so bad" stay out for 2 minutes. Keep upping the time, always going back before she starts to whine.
  Don't make "an event" of your going out and coming in, let her calm down after you come in and then say hello and great her and pet her.
  You can also try closing doors behind you (make sure that she can't destroy anything where she stays), so she won't have access to you while inside.
  
  With Kuma it took a few days, and it had to be a crash course in separation anxiety (4 or 5 if I remember it correctly), and to the day we always throw him a treat to make him run away from the door, while we leave, heheh.
• tsukitsune

  January 2009 edited November -1

  I'm actually surprised that Belle and/or James aren't enough to quell her separation anxiety!
  
  Rui's advice is excellent, its exactly what we did for a foster basset (breed known for sep. anx.). It worked very well over time. Our vet wanted to put him on Clomicalm, which we did at first, but I soon learned that anti-anxiety meds are not the solution, positive training and conditioning alone lasts much longer than a drug will.
  
  Some really useful info here, too:
  http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html
• Kaddy

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Thanks guys!!
  
  I started with leaving her inside with the blinds open so she could see me go get the mail and come back in - she was ok with that :oD
• sunyata

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Sorry that Keiko is being a whiny monster. But I am sure she will be okay once you work on some exercises.
  
  On another side note: Bass Flute? Awesome. I played alto flute in my college flute choir. I never really had the lungs for bass though. You will definitely have to record your concert for LJ and me. (Since I think we are the only other flute geeks.)
• ljowen123

  January 2009 edited November -1

  I never did a bass flute either - I played an electric piccolo in high school, but that was about all the experimenting I did. I went back to alto after a year.
• dlroberts

  January 2009 edited November -1

  I'm sorry to hear that Keiko is having trouble. I wrote this email to a new Shiba owner who is having some problems with separation anxiety. It wont be 100% applicable to your situation since Keiko's issue isn't in the crate (and you're already a forum member), but hopefully you'll find it useful too:
  
  
  As for the separation anxiety, Joey does have mild separation anxiety. He cries for about a minute after I leave and will destroy anything in his crate (so it remains empty). I do have some advice for you though:
  
  1) JOIN THE NIHONKEN FORUM!!!!!!! (www.nihonken.org) The people in the meetup group are very nice and a few of us are knowledgeable, but the collective knowledge of the forum is invaluable. This is the perfect type of thing to ask on the forum.
  
  2) Patricia McConnell is a renowned behaviorist and author. Her pamphlet "I'll be home soon" is a must read for owners of dogs with separation anxiety (http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Home-Soon-Patricia-McConnell/dp/1891767054/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229099653&sr=8-8) I also recommend reading her book "The other end of the leash". Its probably the best general dog book I have ever read (http://www.amazon.com/Other-End-Leash-What-Around/dp/034544678X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1229099653&sr=8-4)
  
  3) Never give in to it. If Kira is in her crate and going crazy, ignore her. Only approach her in the crate when she is calm. If she so much as starts to whine, turn around and walk away until she settles down a bit. Does she behave that way when crated while you are around or just when you leave?
  
  4) Never greet her when she is excited. When you come home, if she is excited, ignore her. If she paws at you or jumps up on you, turn your back. By greeting her when she is excited you are reinforcing the fact that you being gone is a bad thing. Give her a few minutes to calm down before you greet her upon returning home.
  
  5) Practice leaving. Go through your normal routine as if you were going to leave the house, but don't actually leave. Start small, like putting her in her crate and then jiggle your keys and let her out. Do that a few times. Then progress to putting on your jacket. Then to opening the door. Etc. Do this a lot. Like 2-3 sessions of 5-10 minutes a day. The point of this is to desensitize her to the cues that indicate you are preparing to leave.
  
  6) Distract her before you leave. Do you have a Kong toy? If not, get one. Give her a peanut butter (or other yummy treat) filled Kong 20 minutes before you leave. Then go about getting ready to leave while she is distracted. Do not leave the Kong with her when you leave (its a choking hazard).
  
  7) I assume you already have a strict potty schedule if she's doing so well with potty training, but just in case....make sure she always goes out immediately before entering her crate and immediately after coming out. Also, if you know she will be crated for a while, pickup her water an hour or two before you leave and make sure she pees before you put her in her crate. It might help if she has an empty bladder.
  
  That's just a few things off the top of my head. Separation anxiety is probably the most difficult thing to deal with in dogs because it occurs when you aren't around to do any training. A lot of people have good success with these types of training techniques alone. You may find down the road that things aren't progressing as nicely as you'd like, at which point I would suggest talking to a behaviorist (I know a really good one if you want a reference). Also, keep Dr. Fann informed of her progress. There is drug support for this type of thing (doggy prozac) but that should be a last resort.
  
  I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions and, more importantly, let me know how the training goes!
  
• baanton

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Lots of good advice from Dave and Rui and others. These are the exactly the things we did with Josephine and she seems to be relaxed most of the time now... still have to use the technique #4 in Dave's list above some of the time when we return, but for the most part on leaving she now waits and watches us when she knows we're leaving, and then we give the command "Guard the house". At that, she then will usually retreat to her bed or the living room floor and proceed to "chill". My daughter did mention she heard her howl a couple times in December when I left for work and my husband was not home and my daughter was still in bed. Seems like that is rather rare these days, too, though...
• lindsayt

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Aww, Keiko's used to having a house daddy and now you have to start working...poor girl;) I hope the seperation training works out. It helped with Ike to ignore him for the first few minutes whenever I came home or walked within his view and I crated him when I was gone. At first I would crate him in another room while I was at home for very breif periods but watching thru closed circuit (yes, I'm micro-managing my dogs) to see how he was (panting, pacing, whining). He eventually settled down, with the help of rescue remedy and long walks, then I would go let him out after he stopped fussing.