We've tried everything to help our dog with separation anxiety, but nothing helps. Do you have any suggestions?

Question

I have a 1 year old Springer spaniel with severe separation anxiety.

    Every time he is put in his kennel he will defecate, urinate, hyper-salivate (puddles of saliva), howl and bark (non-stop) and he digs at the cage like he is trying to escape (he has destroyed a metal cage).

    We always come home to a poopy wet mess. He has never liked being in the kennel, even as a new pup; but has always stayed in it when we are gone.

    We have tried the kennel in every room in the house, stuck stuff with our scent in the cage (which he just pee's on), put on the radio or tv for noise, put him in at least a half hour before we leave and take him out a half hour after we come home, give him toys or bones to chew on, coax him in with treats and not force him in the cage, every medication you can think of and yes the shock collar. We have put him in the cage when we are home trying to get him used to it. We have also tried a whole slew of behavior modification techniques. It gets better for a few days and then it's back to the same old mess. When we are all home together he is very well behaved, it's the separation that is driving us nuts!!! We have consulted with our vet and tried all his suggestions and tried numerous things on the internet. Do you have any suggestions?

    Thanks,
Emily

Accepted Answer

I would suggest starting from square one, it’s probably your best option but will be very time consuming and you need to be absolutely committed to being consistent. Everything with dogs boils down to leadership and your dog needs very strict rules and boundaries.

Please read our article about becoming an effective pack leader.

The first sentence in this article says it all: “You can feed water and love your dog and he will like you but he very well may not respect you." 99% of all behavioral problems are a result of dogs not respecting their owners. This happens as a result of poor handling and/or poor training.

In place of using the crate with this dog, I may suggest you find a place in your house where you can tether him. Sometimes dogs that can’t be confined in a crate will accept being tethered, I used this technique with a dog I raised and had a lead attached to a foot rail near our breakfast bar. I put a special mat there for her to lie on, and eventually we started using the crate for a few moments at a time. At almost 4 years old this dog can now be crated but I do put a bark collar on her, in case she reverts to her old behavior. I don’t know what kind of collar you used on your dog but the only one I have found that works worth a darn is the Tri-tronics bark limiter. This article was written for people like yourself, people who have great intentions but not enough knowledge of pack structure. There are links within the article that will take you to other articles on my web site.

We also have a dvd called Pack Structure for the Family Dog there is helpful information on marker training and playing games with the crate to make it a positive instead of negative.

I hope this helps.