separation anxiety? (kinda long but could use help!)

[sunket77]

I thought I would try here for some advice on what to do. I have a German Shepherd mix that we have had for about 3 months now she just turned a year. She has been a great dog. She is very smart and one of the reasons I got her was to protect my flock. She has been doing well with the chickens and is still in training for that. She was crate trained when we got her so that was great. We have been keeping her inside because of the horrible heat here. She sleeps in her crate in the house at night. Since the temp has gotten cooler I have been leaving her outside longer and longer during the day and some at night.

The night before last I moved her "house" (her crate) outside on the porch and put her out for the night but left the crate open. After wining at the door and scratching she finally gave up and went about her business. Last night she tore up the hammock along with a few other things. And when I let her in for her breakfast she was so hyper I had to hold her down until she settled down. She weighs a lot and was going to destroy the house she was so wound like I had never seen!

Could this be separation anxiety? If so does anyone have any suggestions on how in the world I can help it? I know how to help it in the house but outside??? HELP!!!!!

 

[NancyDz]

Not sure about outside... but maybe you should close her in the crate on the porch for a few days before allowing it to be open. That way she gets used to the outside noises at night. She was used to being closed in so she may have just been a "kid" who was allowed to stay up late unsupervised. Maybe slowly put her to bed later and later until she is up all night?


Good luck!


Nancy

 

[Duck Keeper]

Yeah, it sounds like separation anxiety to me. Take her on a LONG walk, like an hour, to get ALL of her energy drained, and start from there. I know they make these things (like a Glade air freshener for people) that you plug into an outlet and it gives of special pheromones that a dog's mother would have been emitting while nursing her babies. They're supposed to calm them down.

All I can say is start from square one. Leave for a minute, come back in if she's okay with it, praise her for being good and not destructive. Try it again, this time doing two minutes of 'away time.' Eventually you'll be able to build up how much time she needs, then you can just repeat the process once in a while for maybe thirty minutes to reaffirm that you WILL be back, and leaving her is nothing to get worked up about. Eventually she should be able to be 'weaned' off of your attention.

 

[Skyesrocket]

When a dog is crated it knows that it can only protect the area inside of the crate. So, they are more relaxed.
By putting her outside and leaving the crate door open ...in a dogs mind...you left the whole outdoors for the dog to protect. That was a huge job for her and could be why she flipped out.
When I would leave my barn dog on a chain inside of the barn at night he used to bark at every little noise and dig. Now what I do is put him in an 8' x 10' pen inside of the barn at night. He is more relaxed inside of the pen. Again, because he knows he can only protect the area inside of the pen. The only time he barks at night now is when a predator is in the barn harassing the critters.
I'm not really sure how you would transistion her from being a house dog to being an outdoor property protector. I'm sure it can be done, but in smaller steps maybe?

 

[txredneckmedic]

I agree with needing to get rid of excess energy. I have a red heeler pup that I take out to the horse pens with me 2X a day for about 2 hours at a time. She runs pretty much non stop the whole time. I took her to my moms this weekend and she was a terror. She didnt have the ability to run off that energy.

 

[CaGoatLady]

One of my older dogs had seperation anxiety and almost dug through the wall in the laundry room, all the way through to the dining room on the other side. We had lots of scratches and torn up wood around and on the doors everywhere. That dog grew up on drugs to handle it, but we finally took her off of them and she eventually got over it.
But... as of today, we have had our new 10 month old Great Pyr puppy for about 2 weeks and the tally for our losses is:

The carpet in the bedroom, along with the padding
The back of the bedroom door
One of my good black boots
The cat's food bowl
One tennis shoe
4 rolls of paper towels
2 rolls of toilet paper
Bunches of my crochet thread and projects
One baseball cap

If she weren't such a good dog otherwise, I'd send her back, but I'm hoping she'll grow out of it.

 

[Duck Keeper]

Quote:
You may want to try to walk her for like two hours straight! Wow, poor house seems to be losing the war.

 

[sunket77]

my dog doesn't chew up her own toys but a few items on your list have been a loss for me as well. Like my fav. pair of flip-flops and Houston Oilers hat. It's like she knew what we liked the most!

 

[Brindlebtch]

She is probably chewing something that smells a lot like you to comfort herself.

 

[Duck Keeper]

Quote:
That's why some dogs 'eat' the couch or 'eat' into the middle of their owner's beds. They're trying to be close to you while you're away.

I'm happy all my dog ever did was chew a remote, a boot and batteries {that was scary! But nothing bad ever came of it, and he never did it again. PHEW!}. Thankfully only the outer jacket was damaged a bit, he didn't get INTO the battery.