My dog howls when I leave. How can I stop his separation anxiety?

Hi Lola and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about your problem with Asher Jackson. Behavioral problems are very complex and unfortunately this forum is not adequate for helping you solve the problems. Separation anxiety is one of the toughest problems to take on but with behavior modification and sometimes drug therapy, good progress can be made. Sometimes this involves a certified dog trainer or veterinary behaviorist to aid in the improvement. My best advice is to seek help from your veterinarian. They can evaluate Asher Jackson, take a thorough history and then advise a diagnostic/treatment plan. Diagnostics may include blood tests and other tests to make sure that his overall health is good and to assess internal organ function in case some drug therapy is implemented. Your vet may even refer you to a trainer or behaviorist for more one on one training. Good luck with Asher. I know you can make head way in this case.

Hi and thanks for your post on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am sorry to hear Leo is having some separation anxiety. A few more tips that can help would be to freeze a Kong stuffed with low fat peanut butter or low fat plain yogurt to give to him for hours of entertainment a few mins before you leave. The Adaptil pheromone spray can help if you spray this around his bedding or crate 15 mins before you leave. Another suggestion are calming chews such the ones made by VetriScience (Composure) you can give him daily to help with anxiety. Lastly, never make a big deal out of leaving. Say your goodbyes 1/2 hour before you leave and never right before. This can make matters worse for Leo. I hope these tips help and best of luck to you and Leo!

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!

I'm sorry to hear of their predicament. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find shelters willing to take on additional dogs. They may have better luck finding breed specific rescues willing to take on Chihuahuas. They may need to search outside of the proximity they have been considering, and start looking significantly further if they are intent on relocating the dog to a safe and happy home. In terms of treatment for anxiety and separation, I think the first thing they need to do is try to make Uki feel as comfortable as possible. If the dog isn't crate-trained, they need to get this done as soon as possible. Giving Uki his own space that he can make his den will give him a comfort zone that he may find as a nice area to settle down. Once this exists, this will be where he needs to stay during times when he is alone. In terms of treatment for separation, there are several natural and several pharmaceutical methods to deal with it. I usually recommend more natural methods first before jumping to pharmaceutical intervention. I would recommend trying things like the Adaptil Collar as well as the Thunder-Shirt. If neither of these seem to be successful, use of drugs such as Trazodone, Fluoxetine, and/or Alprazolam are all options for treatment. Hope this helps!

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.

Great question! When a dog has separation anxiety, typically you will see destructive behaviors from them when you leave the house, such as tearing up objects. They can also excessively salivate, whine, howl, bark, chew on things, defecate and/or urinate in the home, dig, or try to escape the house. If you are concerned that Fox may have separation anxiety, there are a few things you can do for it. I recommend crating him when you are gone. The crate will provide him a small space where he can feel safe in it when you are gone. You will have to slowly train him to get used to a crate. Start putting him in it when you are home and sitting nearby so he doesn't think you are abandoning him, and slowly increase the time he is in it. He can have toys in the crate, and puzzle toys with treats in it that he has to figure out how to get the treats out. You can put a tablespoon of peanut butter in a Kong toy and freeze it in the freezer overnight, then give it to him in the crate. That will keep him occupied for a while. Finally, you can get a pheromone diffuser called DAP that helps dogs with anxiety and pair that will a DAP pheromone collar that releases pheromones when in contact with his skin. If these methods do not help him, then I recommend having him seen by a vet to discuss the use of anti-anxiety medications. Good luck, I hope this helps!

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!