My puppy has separation anxiety and kennel issues. Is a playpen good?

It sounds as if your puppy is developing serparstion anxiety. The good news is that she is still young and you have time to correct her behaviors so she can live a long happy life! I would recommend first commiting to crate training your dog. This will help prevent her from destroying things and keep her safe so she doesn't get into anything that could harm him. Crate training can take a few weeks but once she is used to the crate she will begin to feel safe there. I would also recommend taking her on a fast paced walk before you have to crate her to help drain some of his nervous energy. You can also try giving her a chew toy like a kong in the crate to keep her distracted. If these tactics do not work I would recommend talking to your vet about starting her on an anti anxiety medication until she becomes more accustomed to her crate. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I agree with you. This is possibly separation anxiety which is actually way more common than people think. While there are behavioral medications that may help, I still prefer more behavioral modifications such as increasing the frequency of those times that you are separated to get her more used to it but more importantly, start rewarding her for when she behaves well when left alone. You can do this with praise and of course treats. If this does not work, there are medications that can be used for this purpose which your veterinarian may be able to prescribe if deemed useful at that time. Good luck and have a good night!

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach to address your concern! Unfortunately, separation anxiety can be quite difficult to address for most dogs. I usually recommend a multi modal approach. I recommend the following non-prescription approach prior to anything prescription: 1. NaturVet Quiet Moments calm chews plus Melatonin (can be found online quite easily. 2. Adaptil pheromone collar 3. Adaptil diffuser 4. Thundershirt In combination with this, I typically recommend providing plenty of toys such as a kong toy filled with peanut butter and some other noise making toys. I have recently recommended a product called the Pet Cube. This allows you to watch him via an app on your phone remotely and you can even control a laser pointer and interact with him while you are away. If this does not work or the behavior worsens, I typically recommend adding in anti-anxiety medications such as Trazodone, Amitriptyline, Clomipramine (clomicalm), etc. in combination with the above recommendations. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

This is consistent with severe separation anxiety and will need some medical help. Talk with your vet about anti-anxiety medication which can help tremendously. (There are many different kinds.) Even with that, you will probably have to do some training and counter-conditioning. Work with a trainer or behaviorist if needed. Crate training helps some dogs with separation anxiety but can actually make some dogs worse so consider that if you’d like to try. Please note that training is very likely to fail without the medication. Eventually, you may be able to wean off of the medication but some dogs need something long-term. Best wishes to you and Penny May!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Usually these behavioral issues can be corrected but it does require time and patience. I highly recommend that you find a qualified dog trainer that can help her as this will usually take a professional to help. Good luck and have a good day!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Separation anxiety can be difficult to address but with patience and persistence training can help. Rather than starting on anti-anxiety medications right away, I typically recommend trying products such as NaturVet Quiet Moments Calm Chews with Melatonin and an Adaptil collar, which can both be found online or at your local pet store quite easily. I would also recommend using a Thundershirt, which can be found online or at the pet store. It would also help if you began feeding Sienna breakfast and dinner in the kennel so that she becomes used to being inside the cage for positive things. I would move all of her toys to the inside of the kennel and whenever she goes inside the kennel, reward her with her favorite treat. If this does not help, I would recommend speaking with her veterinarian and discuss anti-anxiety medications as these may be beneficial in deterring this separation anxiety she suffers from. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further!

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. It sounds like snowball is dealing with separation anxiety. This can be difficult to address, but it can be done. The most important thing when addressing separation anxiety is providing plenty of environmental stimulation or enrichment. By this, I mean providing plenty of toys, interactive things such as tennis ball launchers, radios or TVs playing,etc. I find that one of the most useful things for dealing with this is a device called the petcube. This device allows you to monitor your pet through a web camera. It also allows you to talk through a microphone built-in on the device that you can speak to through your phone via an app. The petcube also has a laser pointer that you can control so that you can play with your pet away from home. When training a dog to get over separation anxiety, it is important to start with small periods of time where you are apart from snowball. By this, I mean leaving for 5 to 10 minutes, and then coming back and reassuring snowball that you are still there. Gradually increase the periods of time at which you leave her alone in the crate or in a small room or wherever she is when you leave her. I would probably do this on the weekend if you have the weekends off so that you can spend an entire weekend working with snowball. In really bad cases such as destructive separation anxiety where the animal is destroying things around the house, anti-anxiety medications may be warranted in those cases. However, with snowball I would start with the non-medicated training and see if you can get her more comfortable alone at home. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns. I am also available by phone or text based consultation if needed