Many dogs with separation anxiety don't do well with crates. Try a secure, dog safe area of the house instead.
As ironic as this is, don't believe what you read on the internet or even what people around you tell you. There is so much false information about seperation anxiety out there. I have made that mistake myself and a lot of the advice actually makes things work.
Don't trust the majority of "experts." A lot of trainers say they can help with seperation anxiety but they often don't know much at all. You want a separation anxiety specialist (usually a vet behaviourist).
A scientifically founded and evidence based approach to separation anxiety is sub threshold training. Look into Julie Naismith (she has a book, website, podcasts, facebook page and support group). She also works with other specialists to train them in supporting clients with seperation anxiety and has a list of approved trainers on her page. We have found a trainer/vet behaviourist from her website who has been so helpful and is an expert in separation anxiety.
Subthreshold training is all about keeping the dog below their anxiety threshold. As you said you can't leave her for 10 seconds, I would imagine her anxiety threshold is below 10 seconds. This means it takes her less than 10 seconds before she starts to get anxious and panic (essentially what we call a panic attack). This training is about gradually increasing the time we leave, whilst focussing on keeping the dog below threshold. There are so many success stories with this training. Dogs that couldn't be left for more than 10 seconds, who are now happy to left for 1/2/3 hours. It takes a while to get there but it is possible.
A big key is reducing absences as much as possible. The more you leave your dog above threshold, the more negative associations they have about being left. The sub threshold training is about creating a bank of positive associations as keeping them below threshold teaches them that being left isn't a big scary horrible thing. Leaving them above what they're comfortable with, letting them cry it out etc are all a recipe for disaster. It's great that you work from home as that will really help the training.
Some other general no no's are leaving your dogs with a treat/big chew. It's just a distraction and can hinder the training as they will just panic after finishing their treat/chew. Another contentious point is getting a second dog. This sometimes works for dogs that are just lonely/bored however, for many dogs with "true" separation anxiety, this does not help. Their anxiety is about you leaving, they don't necessarily care if there is another dog with them. There is also the risk of the second dog copying the anxious behaviour from the first dog. A second dog may serve as a distraction but it's not necessarily fixing the problem.
Separation anxiety is essentially an anxiety/panic disorder. Many people find combining anxiety medication (vet prescribed) with the subthreshold training can really help. The medication should only be prescribed if combined with training or else its pointless. We're currently considering medication however, our dog is really progressing in his training without it (still early days) so I'm not sure yet. Not all vets are on board with prescribing meds so it's worth doing some research. It is not a quick fix nor should it necessarily be the first option.
Julie's book (Be right Back) and the facebook group (Dog Separation Anxiety Training Support with Julie Naismith) have been a game changer for us and many people. It can be a very isolating experience so it has been enormously helpful to connect with others in a similar position
I am using this method with some adjustments. If I do a bunch of shorter absences before the long absence my dog doesn’t respond as well but if I actually start with the longer absence and then do shorter ones after he does great. Do you think it’s okay to tweak the training this way? Also he responds much better after a walk versus when he has energy. Do you think it’s okay that I only train him after walking him?
It’s perfectly normal and expected for your dog to do better/worst at certain times of the day, or at different energy levels.
Your dog may respond better to the longer period at the start because they’re not anticipating it. Perhaps they’re already slightly anxious/fed up of all shorter absences by the time you reach the final longer absence. What’s your dogs current threshold? How long are your shorter absences and your longer absences?
I’d also say that it’s okay if you train when your dog has burnt off some energy from a walk. For many dogs with SA, having a walk doesn’t make an ounce of difference so it’s probably beneficial if it does actually help your dog with training. I think if you have quite a high energy breed, it’s inevitable that are going to need to burn off some energy before you leave regardless of whether your dog has separation anxiety or not.
His current threshold is probably around forty five minutes. It’s hard to know exactly because I don’t want him to go over threshold. Shorter absences are between ten seconds to ten minutes. I switch it up.
I think if you’ve seen progress with your way of doing it (long absence first) then there’s no reason to not carry on! If his threshold has improved doing things a little differently, I don’t think that’s bad at all 😊 might be worth working with a separation anxiety specialist at some point!
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u/DinoDaxie Aug 03 '21