Maybe that's why the breeder paired the pup, so it would be more quiet?

Less SA with a bubby, maybe?

Yes the breeder said the rest of the puppies got picked up between the 7-8 week mark. Bella had a deposit on her, but the couple changed their mind. We have the records of shots from the breeder and the vet showing Bella was with them until we got her. But we got her at 10 weeks old.

No we never take her out when she is screaming and there has been a few times when we tell her too calm down.

As of last night, we took her on a run and started putting her in her crate earlier than usual. While we are still watching TV. We gave her a treat (which is a special dog food for german shepherds, that is a large piece so we figured this would be the healthiest way to go)every couple of mins that she was quite for 25 mins. Then we went to bed. This is of course after she had been on a run, fed, played and let out multiple times. She only cried once last night and that was the same time we were getting up too let her out too go potty. There was also no mess in her crate.

This morning she went for another run, ate, and got too play in the house. Usually once my fiance leaves, she stays with me and I watch her until its time for me too leave. This time he put her up while I was still upstairs. She cried for about a minute then stopped. As I was downstairs making my lunch I gave her treats 3 times until I left. Then instead of speaking to her when I left I just left.

I know its only been 1 night, but hopefully this shows there is light at the end of the tunnel. The breeder did say that none of the other puppies did this, but I am thinking that she did indeed have it. The breeder said our pup did scream the one time she left the house and took the pup she was paired up with. She said she could hear her in her drive way. This is before we got her. The breeder was home all day and the pup was only crated at night with another older pup. So I was thinking maybe thats why they only noticed that one time, is because someone was always with her too??

We have located a behaviorist in our area that does postivie reward training. She seems just after one night like she can be trained, when we know what we are doing, so we are going too have too test that theory next too a pro.

I am going to start the mat training advice I got tonight too see if that can further help.

Wow, Rachel, you have gotten more than you bargained for! I'm not an expert, my husband and I adopted two shelter dogs last year and we have had our hands full with the pup. We adopted an 11 year old fox terrier with the pup and he turned out to have SA. But what we found is that as long as the pup is home with the ft, the ft sleeps and is fine. Your pup was accustomed to having a furry companion and has never been trained to be calm when alone.

John Bradshaw, who recently wrote Dog Sense, has a great approach to SA. He says to make departures about anticipating rewards and returns rather than lonely uncertainty about being left. He suggests doing this by teaching the puppy that when you go away it means you are going to be coming back with treats, affection, games, etc. Then, gradually, you can build up the length of time you are gone.

Also, I would look at Clicking for Calm, by Karen Pryor, and also Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed. Both of these professionals use treats and clickers to help build positive associations and calm states of mind. In particular, you could try clicking and treating your pup for laying down and being calm on a mat outside of the crate, then use the matt to transfer that feeling state into the crate by clicking and treating laying down and settling on the mat wherever it is, including inside the crate.

Unfortunately, for all your hard work when you are home, the length of time the pup is being left in distress is undoing it. Can you take her to a doggy day care near where you work? At least then she isn't going to be self-reinforcing these behaviours that are really serving as self-calming in the face of overwhelming distress during the day.

Yup, good stuff.

I agree, too, that "Unfortunately, for all your hard work when you are home, the length of time the pup is being left in distress is undoing it."

There are bonded dogwalkers and dogsitters (ask me; I know! LOL) all over these days.

Without their help, I'd have had a very bad time with the most recent SA screamer, and I work from home. Even the teenager down the street was hugely helpful just as a warm body during those early days.

I needed that concentrated effort and wouldn't have risked undoing my work in the early stages with a long period of left-aloneness.

Yes we do have our hands full but now with a better understanding of whats going on, we can work towards trying to make her feel more calm and better.

I am in constant contact with the breeder now and a specialist in my area. She also has given me the tips about the mats and i am picking up an anxiety collar today for her also and a treat that helps too give her at night.

As I said so far as of last night and this morning we already seen improvement so at this point all we can do is keep trying and see what happens over time. Understanding of what was going on with my pup was what I needed and now that I do understand and have learned where to go and what advice too take we are working on the steps toward making her a more relaxed puppy. We arent giving up hope on our little one and we know that we can do this as a team. I have gotten alot of advice that has lead me too someone locally now that can help.

I appreciate you giving me the names of the books and the info about the clickers. The anxiety collar our behavoirist suggested does something similar with something it releases, but not a cloud of smoke. I will keep that in mind though.

I just wanted too give an update on Bella and tell my story too those who maybe going through the same thing we went through.

It’s been over a week since my initial freak out on what was I doing wrong with our new puppy. I heard from a lot of people that she was being crated too long, that it was genetics and Bella would always be a screamer too give her back too the breeder, and of course then I was introduced to separation anxiety.

It’s now been 6 days straight and I am proud to say that my sweet 15 week old German shepherd puppy has not had an accident in her crate, in the house, over night or during the day. She has also not cried, unless she was saying she needed to go too the bathroom. She is healthy happy and growing right on schedule.

If you are like me and my fiancé, I work a standard 5 day a week, 8 hour shift. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can not have a puppy because of this. My fiancé works 10 hour days 4 days a week and has an extended weekend. We decided too use this too our advantage.

The main thing that helped was finally understanding that our pup was suffering from separation anxiety. If you know nothing about this, do your research reading and talk too EVERYONE. Just be prepared for people to scare you into believing this isn’t something you can do on your own. My fiancé and I were convinced we could.

We started off with more exercise. My fiancé would wake up at 5am every morning and take our pup on a jog, extending the length they would go little by little everyday. She is still a puppy and we didn’t want too over work her bones. When they were done she would get too eat, play and get let out until it was time for me to leave for work. When I got home, she was let out, played with, ate, and then we went on a WALK not run extending it a little further everyday. From then on out the puppy had free run of the house or yard.

During this time I worked on exercises. Playing the crate game. After 5 minutes, she wouldn’t stay out of her crate. She also learned too sit, lay down, and speak when was appropriate while in her crate. Outside of her crate she always sat on command, she learned too lay down, stand, stay, and give a high five. We have now started working on other tricks too keep her mind occupied.

With learning how to speak and no speak, when one of us leaves the room we are able to command her to sit and wait and no speak. Running these drills are easy with a dog suffering from separation anxiety cause she will follow you anywhere you go. We would simply go behind a closed door, the other would say sit and wait and she would be rewarded for sitting patiently and quietly. It also has helped that we place clothing from the both of us, around her crate for when we aren’t there, and she can still get the scent we maybe in the room.

We are in the process of working on her going outside too go potty by herself. We have made progress and usually in the morning and when we get home during the day she will go right out potty and run right back in because she has been holding it and she is excited. We are still working on ways too get her use too being alone outside too potty. Which has been the longest challenge so far. She is now picking up on her own good habits, like moving the blinds at the door and sitting and waiting for us too come let her out. She did it once on her own and that was all it took. She now does this every time. I think one of the main things we learned was not too close her off in a room with us; too trust and listen so she wasn’t afraid too go into another room or into her crate by herself. She would get rewarded every time she did branch off on her own. She never chewed on anything but her own toys and never had an accident. We had a lot of bones and toys spread throughout the house, in any room she may hang out in so she hasn’t something of her own.

We were new too our area and all our neighbors are older. We have no kids on our street and no family/friends close by too come too our house during the day and let the puppy out. Too hire a dog walker for 4 days a week, too come twice a day for 20 mins for a month would have cost us 570 dollars. So we worked with her and in 2 days we noticed a difference. While so many had told us the crate was the issue, when we knew it wasn’t… was the most difficult and frustrating part. But you have too keep asking, no matter how many times you get the same response until you get an answer that makes sense.

I had people on this forum lead me too understand separation anxiety. And with the help of that understanding, I was able too work with the breeder and a specialist to come up with some solutions that wouldn’t put us out money wise and still ensure the health of our puppy. I am unsure if we got lucky, or its just because the German shepherds are so highly intelligent. But I am so thankful for the understanding and help.

It’s a very big commitment to have a puppy and an even bigger commitment to have a puppy that suffers from SA. When you are home at night its easy too see and hear whats going on. The main thing too remember is it is highly important to know what goes on during the day. We got a camcorder and set it in front of the puppies crate while we were at work, everyday too monitor how she is doing. She is doing just fine. No accidents and she may bark for about a minute once or twice, which is I am sure her saying she has to go to the bathroom. But she holds it.

Patience and understanding has taking us so far so fast. I am so blessed to been able to stop the puppy from suffering. With a strict schedule, plenty of exercise, love, attention, and of course treats, I believe anything is possible. Thankfully we have the technology today that is so easy accessible for us too learn and keep on learning about these amazingly loving animals that become so quickly apart of our family.

Thanks too all those for the tips and tricks that have helped us come so far. We continue too work with her everyday and everyday things keep getting better.

Good work!




For other readers: At 14 weeks, whether she manages to do so or not, 8-10 hours is very long to hold it. I'm not detracting from this success, but reiterating for other readers that this is not something to rely on. A quick potty break with a neighbor or dog walker is a good thing to build into your plans, because no break for 8-10 hours is not only very likely to result in a bad habit starting out of necessity but is also not the best thing for the U.T. of a pup.


And back to Rachel: Good work. SA is a tough challenge. The camcorder was a great idea, too.

"I worked on exercises. Playing the crate game. After 5 minutes, she wouldn’t stay out of her crate. She also learned too sit, lay down, and speak when was appropriate while in her crate. Outside of her crate she always sat on command, she learned too lay down, stand, stay, and give a high five. We have now started working on other tricks too keep her mind occupied. "


Excellent!

Thank you. It is and by no means are we completely past it or over it, I know it will take work on our part every single day, but we are working at it, and I see changes in her everyday that make us so proud we reached out for help.

I also have more articles and a book I ordered suggested from our local behaviorist. She is also starting a class on Monday that our behaviorist felt would help also and there will be another german shepherd puppy her age also. I am excited to see what the future holds.