Separation Anxiety In Adult Dog

[Keely's Mommy]

Hello All-

We got our almost 3 year old Collie/ Shepard Mix dog about 3 months ago. She was abuised by her first family. Then left outside due to first family dog not liking her by her second family. When we first got her she was a good dog while we were out for the most part. We did use a kennel for about a month but then started leaving her out for short periods of time. We then worked up to 5 hours. She was doing great for the longest time. Then about 2 weeks ago she started tearing things apart in the house. From what I am reading about Separation Anxiety I feel that fits her. I am not sure how to help her. I really dont want to have to kennel her all the time when we are not home. Which we are both rarely gone at the same time so it is not often. Does anyone have any idea how to help our dog.

Thank you

[DiggityDogs]

What kind of things is she tearing apart? What other symptoms make you feel that she has separation anxiety?
Unfortunately, if she's tearing things up the safest thing for her is to be confined, whether in a kennel or gated in a small area, however gating her may not save your things from being eaten. It is really more for her safety, because if she's being very destructive she could ingest something that could hurt her, or she could chew an electrical cord and be electrocuted. You may think about crating her a few days out of the week, and maybe taking her to daycare a few days out of the week. The course of action to take to remedy the anxiety depends on the severity of it, and if she's only chewing things up it's entirely possible that she's just plain bored.

[vikia]

We leave our older dog out, but crate the year old.

Cooper was shredding anything paper or boxed. He had a "free for all" with an entire new box of tissue. So for his sake and ours, crating was best. He did not like it at first, but now he is very calm even when we return.

This is going to sound silly, but I think Shelby corrects him while we are out. When he was first put in the crate and freaking out, trying to escape the crate, our older dog (who NEVER barks aggressively) started to bark at him until he calmed down. And Shelby never barked at him until after we left the house and closed the door. But we heard him. We peered through the window to see what was happening and Shelby was taking charge.

So now when we get home, both dogs are calm and quiet but wagging their butts off.

[MhadDog]

when we got Kiara,our Female husky,we had to take her everywhere because she would tear the house apart...

we tried crating..lol..we came home,the crate was flipped over,the plastic tray was pushed out somehow,and she tore a hole through the bottom grates,escaped,and tore the house apart..lol

this was within the first 3 months of rescuing her...

shortly after this i bought my bike attatchment and started running her every day..then every other day....this helped,along with her settling in,but is when wh got a companion pup for her that the anxiety issues were history..

keep us all posted on what actions you take and how your pup progresses...you will figure it out...