Separation Anxiety
I have a 3 year old corgi girl that's my world! She's very affectionate and loving, but she's also very, very quiet. She usually never, *ever* makes noise- she prefers to speak with her eyes and her posture.
Well, anyway, knowing this, in the past year or so I have been noticing a trend happening with my baby girl, Sofi. I will leave for class in the morning and come home a couple hours later, and the whole bottom of her mouth will be sopping wet, as though she had been continuously drooling while laying down on the tile floor. I have caught her in the corner of my eye before leaving through the door sometimes... She begins to shake violently, as though terrified or very very cold. You can see her body shaking from three yards away.
I am thinking that when I leave, she curls up behind my couch, shivers like she's having seizures, and drools nonstop until I come home. I'm guessing it's separation anxiety. When she first came home with me at 7 weeks old, she had terrible separation anxiety, whenever I left the room and she was not by my side, she would cry and howl the most heart-wrenching blues tunes that I ever have heard a dog produce. I broke her of it within a week with gentle training, so this kind of behavior is new to me.
Has anyone else had this kind of problem before? I am really not sure how to combat this issue, because it only happens about once a week or so. I can never tell what day it is that I will be coming home to her this way.
Well, anyway, knowing this, in the past year or so I have been noticing a trend happening with my baby girl, Sofi. I will leave for class in the morning and come home a couple hours later, and the whole bottom of her mouth will be sopping wet, as though she had been continuously drooling while laying down on the tile floor. I have caught her in the corner of my eye before leaving through the door sometimes... She begins to shake violently, as though terrified or very very cold. You can see her body shaking from three yards away.
I am thinking that when I leave, she curls up behind my couch, shivers like she's having seizures, and drools nonstop until I come home. I'm guessing it's separation anxiety. When she first came home with me at 7 weeks old, she had terrible separation anxiety, whenever I left the room and she was not by my side, she would cry and howl the most heart-wrenching blues tunes that I ever have heard a dog produce. I broke her of it within a week with gentle training, so this kind of behavior is new to me.
Has anyone else had this kind of problem before? I am really not sure how to combat this issue, because it only happens about once a week or so. I can never tell what day it is that I will be coming home to her this way.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Corgi Mom on
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Hi Sarah, my name is Patti and I am a veterinary assistant and my partner "moonmystic" is a pet trainer. From what you posted it really sounds like Sofi still has separation anxiety. Talk with your vet about a medication called "Clomicalm". It is for separation anxiety/generalized anxiety - it could help. Has anything changed that has brought her anxiety back? Did you start school just before all this start? Perhaps what worked when she was a puppy might work again. Let me know what your vet says and good luck with your baby girl.
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Permalink Reply by Cindi on
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Hi Sarah, I'm Cindi (moonmystic). Yes, it sounds like your girl is having serious issues. I have had a number of dogs in class who are excessive droolers and every one was dealing with fear of something: riding in the car, being around other dogs, etc. Your girl is becoming fearful and anxious when you're away. Chances are something, and we may never know what, occurred after you left one day. You need to take her to your vet. And even better than telling the vet, take along some pics or video of how she reacts when you leave her. Patti mentioned clomicalm. It's prescribed pretty regularly for dogs with anxiety. And it can help. A question, though...
Do you crate your girl? And if you do, what is her reaction to the crate? Some dogs have separation anxiety and cannot deal with the crate. But some feel much more safe in a crate/den environment and it can ease the anxiety. It's just something to try. Be sure you are there when you try. Just put her in the crate with a special blanket/towel and toy. Step away for just a few minutes. See if she relaxes or if she has an anxiety attack.
If she likes the crate, it may help her. If not, you're back to square one. But do talk to your vet in detail about her anxiety. She needs some relief and prescribed medication may be the way to go.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah Wiedemann on
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Hi Cindi,
I wasn't sure exactly how serious the problem was. Seeing as it occurs about once a week, I'm not sure how to reverse what's going on. Most of the time, when I leave her, she is just fine... But I just know that when I open the door to my apartment and she comes out to greet me from behind that couch, that I'm going to find her face sopping wet. Those few times that I've turned around to watch her before I head out the door, I really -need- to be somewhere (almost always class), so I can't just drop what I'm doing and have a psychological training session with her. I had thought about videotaping this, but only very recently, when I caught her starting to shake not too long ago. I will see what I can do to get it on tape, but chances are, my digital camera probably won't take a sharp enough picture to capture her shivers..
On the bright side, she is OK with the crate, but she is not "crate trained". Most of the time she sleeps with me behind my legs when I sleep in my bed, but whenever she feels sleepy and I am not in bed, she will willingly retreat to her crate and sleep in it. Are you saying that I should try putting her in the crate before I leave, instead of giving her free roam of the apartment?
Also, as a side note, I have tried a calming agent before, because she has anxiety in the car, too. She does this same exact thing, excessive drooling and shaking violently (she's getting MUCH much better about it the more she rides in the car). I tried using this stuff: http://www.petco.com/product/7743/Richard-s-Organics-Pet-Calm.aspx -- little to no results. What does "Clomicalm" have that this stuff does not? More powerful drugs? Just curious.
My room-mate is actually a veterinary student, so I'm going to discuss my findings with her and talk to her about the things you guys wrote for me. Veterinary practice on campus are extremely expensive for some reason, so when I get a free weekend to drive up and visit my parents in my hometown, I'll take her to my preferred vet. I'll write back and tell you how things go. :> Thanks a lot for the responses!
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Please do keep us up to date on how things go. She's a very anxious dog for some reason. And we may never know the reason. Clomicalm is an anxiety drug. It's very common, as are some others. My thought is that if it helps my dogs, I'm all in. And I'm not surprised you had no luck with the organic calmants. I've never had luck either and am honest with my customers when they ask. I've found using lavender or chamomille incense is somewhat helpful. Hang in there.
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Permalink Reply by Nicole on
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Our rescue collie has seperation anxiety issues, but in a different way. When we are home, she is normally well behaved, but when we are gone, she gets very nervous (thinking she's been abandoned again?). To combat her nervous energy, she looks for ways to get in trouble. Her first choice will be to tear up paper, but if she can't find paper - anything is fair game.
We started putting her in a crate when we were gone even though she hated it, and we gave her a treat when we put her in. Now, she loves her crate. Before leaving the house, we say "Colleen, kennel." and she goes in on her own. We've even caught her going inside to nap.
I'm not sure if any of that helps you or not, but I wanted you to know that you aren't alone. Could you perhaps try putting her in a crate with a favorite toy, a favorite treat, and a blanket/towel/article of clothing that you have used? Having Mommy's scent isn't as good as having Mommy, but perhaps it will help?
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Permalink Reply by Boots and Superstar! on
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Hi, I just got a new pup, and he is a smart dog indeed. he knows when to go potty, eats well, plays a lot with Superstar and no aggression issues. When I trained Superstar in her cratetraining, she was a breeze, but with Boots...thats another story....he whines all night long!!!!!!!!!!!and some people tell me to let him whine but he whines for 7 to 8 hours straight! he goes potty before going to bed and during the night. I put a nice towel for him, feed him in the crate, give him rawhide, kongs with PB, plays with SS and I walk him for half hour. I try to get the pup tired and he does but he cant stand the crate! I dont want to let him roam around the house when I leave cause I have carpets and he still is a puppy. He pees on the crate! and the crate is adjusted for crate training. and when I take him out when I come from, he has slob all over his mouth!So I dont know really what to do! Help!
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Have you ever gotten him out because he was whining? Just wondering as this would be inforcing what he wants not what you want. I've crate trained 5 of mine and I do know that they all were different. Livvy for one did not want to be "locked up" at night but did accept it after a week or two. Now at 1 year she does use her crate often just to take a break or starts out there at night and comes into our room much later. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Another thought about Boots and crates: what type do you use? Some dogs hate the plastic cargo crates and are fine in a wire crate; they don't like the confined feeling of having solid walls and are ok if they can see around them.
Others are just the opposite and if they can see out, they are upset and want to be out. For these dogs, sometimes draping a blanket over all but the front of the crate will help them.
Out of the blue our dog started barking in the crate, and then we realized he was actually looking out the back of it and could see out the window and was barking at critters in the yard. A towel put an end to it.
We had a lab when I was still a teenager who would not stay in the crate and would actually fight to get out of it. He was ok with the door open but not shut. So much as we believed in the crate-training, it never did work for that particular dog.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Yeah, we never were able to get Sparty to accept a crate but I think Izzy would love one. She always finds spots that are tunnel like to sleep if we are not sitting still so she can lay next to us. Sparty would dig at the crate like it was killing him so we blocked off the kitchen for him when we were potty training him.
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