What do you think about if you walked around the corner in your house and immediately came back with a high value toy?? Not staying gone - just around the corner and then immediately back with a toy she loves to play with. Play, play, play. Do it again (you'll have to stash a few toys). Do you think she might quickly begin thinking "when mom goes away for a minute she brings back great stuff?"

I too am just thinking out loud here. What turns your dogs on and how can we incorporate that into training to stop the unwanted behavior?

Jason, you got great advice here. I hope you'll keep in mind that as Barbara and Lauren pointed out, you are always going to get the best results by breaking it down small .... and yes, 30 seconds is very long. I wouldn't even walk out of sight at first; I'd walk 15 feet away and stand with my back turned for 5 seconds and then come back. "Out of sight" can be after you are successful with the "in sight but back turned and not close" part, worked up to a minute or so. Then out of sight can start with 2 seconds.

It sounds silly, I know, but it's so much easier on the dog and on you, and there's no frustration or irritation (or dog anxiety!) when you do this.

Even break it down so small that no whining can start ... increase the time so slowly that you remain inside the time period where the dog is comfortable, allowing that to dictate the increases (so no negative marker like "nope" needed). A little slower, true -- but another step toward "foolproof" !

Also, it sounds like there might be two things happening here. One is the anxiety about wanting you two and not a stranger to have the leash, but I'm not 100% clear on the other.

What happens if your wife is ahead of you and your dog, and your wife has another dog? Same thing? Or is it only when you are with another dog?

This part has so many wild cards -- is it the other dog, maybe? Does this part really matter? Whatever it is might be resolved with the out-of-sight exercises, anyway. Want to try that and see before trying to address that kind of odd thing separately?


ETA
Also when we leave her and go anywhere she barks and whines for about 5-10 minutes. I wouldn't describe it as separation anxiety for say as she dosen't destroy anything, or carry on for a long time.

Is this new, or has it been for the whole two years?

Edited by Connie Sutherland (03/01/2011 08:58 PM)
Edit reason: eta

PS

I would do the leash handoff exercise with just you and your wife first and get it bulletproof before starting to practice handing the leash to a third person.

Thinking about the whole "keep my pack together" thing -- you might resolve more than one issue when you resolve the leash handoff between you.

But let us know!

It’s hard to add to Connie’s excellent advice but this kind of stuck out to me:

 Quote: barbara schuler

immediately back with a toy she loves to play with. Play, play, play. Do it again (you'll have to stash a few toys). Do you think she might quickly begin thinking "when mom goes away for a minute she brings back great stuff?"

I think we're looking for neutrality here. It’s often the over stimulation; excitement, comfort when they’re with us that starts this.

"You" are the reward with this type of anxiety.

IMHO, the calm return is as important as the calm departure.

I thought that post was directed to Lauren, who was doing a similar exercise without a handoff person, and not to the O.P.

But I am getting confused.

Lol, me too. Sorry. Disregard that. I thought it was directed at the SA the OP was experiencing.