Maybe separation anxiety is a bad description. I honestly am at my wits end and need help. Our dog is a pound puppy we rescued about 4 years ago. We've used Ed's puppy video and a couple of others to reliably train all of the basic commands. He is housebroken, has excellent recall and can be walked on or off leash with great confidence. When we are around, he is the perfect dog.

When we leave the home, he hurts himself trying to get out of his crate. One time he broke a tooth chewing the metal to get our. He has successfully escaped 3 different crates on numerous occasions. We muzzle him everytime we leave, and have had to strap the crate door shut to keep him in the crate. When he is out of the crate while we are gone, he does not chew or destroy anything in the home. He collects all of our personal items that we use frequently into a pile at the front window. I have videotaped this. He howls and cries the entire time we are gone. Be it 10 minutes or 3 hours.

We have tried everything to fix this behaviour. We have tried all the crate training techniques recommended and taught by Ed to no success. The main issue is that we never observe the behaviour, so we never have a chance to correct it as it happens. At this point I am at a loss. Having to muzzle and strap the crate shut is terrifying. I am afraid he will start breaking his nails off clawing at the crate next.

The main problem in my mind is that my wife is a stay at home mom and we have a 2 and 4 year old. He is rarely left alone.

How much exercise does this dog get daily?

What breed of dog? Age?

How much time daily do you work with him on his OBD?


Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to get a better picture.

On a mostly daily basis he goes on walks with my wife and the kids. Might miss a day or two a week. These are half leashed/half off leash excercise sessions. On the walk to the park he is leashed and walks slowly (kids hold the leash) and at the park he is off leash and will chase down thrown balls/frisbees until he is ready to be done and lays down under a tree.

He is now 5. Pound puppy that is a german shepherd mixed with something. No vet has been able to tell what. He is fully grown at 38 pounds and comes up to about mid thigh when he is standing.

OBD does not receive a ton of work anymore. Couple of times a week we have the kids give him treats and work on commands, but these are short sessions.

And please ask as many questions as you deem necessary. We've tried everything we could find/think of. I am completely open to any advise.

Edit: Something my wife just reminded me of that I had forgotten about. When we first got him, we had 2 roommates who were less than excited about a dog in the house and my wife was at school 5 days a week for 8 hours a day. (cosmotology)

We believe that they may have shouted/screamed at him while we were gone. At first he was extremely loud while in the crate. Would cry and bark all night when it was time for bed. One time my wife was coming home and heard loud yelling as she was opening the door. So that might play into it as well I guess?

I would say that the screaming could definitely be part of it. But the other thing I am thinking is that the dog is bored and has too much time on it's "paws"...

Have you tried pureeing some veggie, cutting up chunks of chicken hearts/gizzards/livers, mixing it up, freezing it in a kong and letting the dog have at it for the day?

My biggest inclination is to give this dog a "job" so that when he gets into his crate he is mentally and physically tired. So "find it" games incorporated into the walks. 10 minutes of marker training, get creative! (I taught my dogs to go up and over park benches, under the benches, climb up rocks...Change it up and realise that your dog's learning ability is endless!) And maybe a short tug session right before you go, just to get the last of the energy out.

Maybe you could describe what you have done as far as trying to tire the dog out?

Once you get a good exercise routine, I would start from square one with crate training-maybe even get a new crate if the old one has some bad "memories".

Michael, here's a link to a similar thread. Maybe this will give you some ideas.

Hopefully Connie or Cindy will see this thread and respond also...
http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=231699

Now that it's nice out I can have him pull me again. I used to put on skates or get on my bike and he would just tow me around for 20/30 minutes. Unfortunately, he won't play tug at all. He is a great dog, but does not ever play tug at all. He was neutered at 8 weeks old due to Humane Society rules. He has rarely shown any agression about anything in his whole life.

Thanks for the link to the old thread, looks like some good info in there as well.

I think the physical exercise needs may be being met, I think you should focus more on the mental needs of the dog.

I think the pulling thing sounds great, don't get me wrong, it just sounds to me like the dog is bored and becoming destructive.

"Maybe separation anxiety is a bad description. I honestly am at my wits end and need help. Our dog is a pound puppy we rescued about 4 years ago. We've used Ed's puppy video and a couple of others to reliably train all of the basic commands. He is housebroken, has excellent recall and can be walked on or off leash with great confidence. When we are around, he is the perfect dog.

When we leave the home, he hurts himself trying to get out of his crate. One time he broke a tooth chewing the metal to get our. He has successfully escaped 3 different crates on numerous occasions. We muzzle him everytime we leave, and have had to strap the crate door shut to keep him in the crate. When he is out of the crate while we are gone, he does not chew or destroy anything in the home. He collects all of our personal items that we use frequently into a pile at the front window. I have videotaped this. He howls and cries the entire time we are gone. Be it 10 minutes or 3 hours. "

Can you tell us what kind of training you do, if any? You mentioned not much OB; are you doing any structured training/games/work? Even teaching to fetch?

Do you know marker training?

Before getting into the fits when left in the house ---

To clarify: None of this is recent? This has all been going on for four years?

We do not do much training. This is my first dog, and my wife's first dog as an adult. We taught him come, sit, stay, a few basic tricks and drop it. Since he reliably learned those commands, we just did reinforcement work when giving him treats and having the kids give him treats. We have not taught him a new command in a long time. We do play fetch in the park, yet never quite worked out bringing the toy to us directly. He drops it in a 10 foot radius of us though.

I have not learned marker training. After getting basic discipline down, I stopped learning new things as a trainer (I know this is a bad thing) Unfortunately for Vinnie (our dog), having 2 kids in the course of the last 4 years has given him the short end of the stick as far as attention goes.

And yes, the issue of being alone is longterm. It has progressively gotten worse though. It is in the last few months that we went to the muzzle after he broke his tooth. He's really only alone in the house maybe 3-6 hours a week though. My wife takes him most places with the kids, and it's just grocery trips and when we go out to eat or a movie that he isn't with us.

If you could, I would read up on marker training, start learning new things (You and him )and also start practicing isolation with him.

I don't mean put him in a basement somewhere. Just crating him while you are home so he learns that being in there is not a bad thing and you are home to mark him being quiet while in his crate.

Start with crating while you are home, in small increments and work your way up. Start a routeen, like maybe he gets his walk and training, then is crated for 15 minutes when you get home, then he eats in his crate (Ifound feeding in the crate to be the BEST thing at getting dogs to like their crate), then he comes back out according to your schedule, then goes back in while you eat lunch or run an errand etc...