My dog has separation anxiety and only shows this behavior when I am the person leaving her. Please tell me what I have done wrong, and what I have to do to fix it.

Question

Hello!

    First off, I know you are a very busy person so I will try my best to make my question short! Sorry in advance if I ramble on?

    My husband and I own an east german shepherd (20 months old) with very high drive. She comes from working DDR lines and we are working toward the CD title, then hopefully onto schutzhund. We use a trainer who was a former K9 trainer & handler and is familiar with the breed. We are making good progress with the training and have been told by numerous trainers that Mesa has high potential and should excel at anything we try. Here's the problem: Mesa has separation anxiety and only shows this behavior when I am the person leaving her. During class (or in a pet store, park, etc) I can literally walk 10 ft away from her and she acts as though someone is pouring acid on her. She becomes wild and throws herself again the wall or person holding the leash, moans, yelps, whines, spins in circles, and jumps upward. Until we fix this issue we obviously can't move forward with getting the obedience titles. When my husband leaves her, she whines for a few seconds but nothing compared to how she reacts when I leave her.

    I won't pretend to be clueless as to why she behaves this way. She definitely views my husband as the pack leader and although she does obey me, I know that I am not on the same level as my husband in her eyes. I tend to be more affectionate with her (another fault) and when she was a puppy the trainer told me that my corrections were not firm enough which I have tried to improve. I understand that her anxiety is a result of my mistakes (i.e. too much affection) but I am having a hard time figuring out a plan to fix this issue. What can I do to teach her the world does not end when I walk away from her? By the way, she never has anxiety issues in the house if I leave her in the yard, another room, etc. Only when we are in another environment. Her tantrums become even more extreme if she sees that I have walked away from her and that I am with another dog (i.e, her sister).

    I have read and printed so many of your articles and recommend your site to any dog owner, plus I love your blunt style and honestly. Please tell me what I have done wrong, and what I have to do to fix it. Thank you for your time- I do appreciate it. I hope you and your family (and animals of course) have a great holiday!

    Barbara

Accepted Answer

I think if this was my dog I would treat her as a classic case of separation anxiety. I would start making her be away from you in situations that you know she will be able to maintain control (i.e. at home) maybe start with having a friend come over and hold her on a leash across the room from you while you have a conversation. I had a severe case of SA with one of my Malinois, and I started tethering her away from me while I did work around the house. I’d tether her to Ed’s desk in his office while I went to the store, things like that. I also found that using a bark collar (or remote, if your timing is excellent) really helped stopping the vocalizing. Many times dogs start whining and carrying on, and that just feeds their anxiety. It’s a vicious circle.

I have also found that dogs like this do better with less physical praise and petting, and more firm leadership.

I’d start with our Groundwork program. Pack Structure for the Family Pet is the video that picks up where the article leaves off.

I would direct you to the search function in the upper left corner of the website for any additional questions you may have. If you type in your key words it will guide you to articles, Q & A’s and posts on our forum.

I hope this helps.

Cindy