Oh My Dog!

Separation anxiety is a contentious topic. Often, what’s described as separation anxiety is simply boredom or bad manners or a combination of both. With Lucas and Emmett, while they both displayed similar behaviors when we left the house, with Emmett is was full-blown separation anxiety. With Lucas it was mostly that he was an ass. But we worked on both, equally!

A bit of a digression: When we first adopted Emmett, the shelter said we could not crate train him, that he freaked out, but that he was totally fine with having a small area to himself – in fact, a shelter worker had left the door open to Emmett’s run by accident one day, and he never tried to leave! When the shelter did our home visit, they suggested that we baby gate him in the kitchen.

Emmett and one of his special toys

The front door to our condo was off of the kitchen. We had a number of incredibly fabulous, patient neighbors who kept us posted: Emmett cried for the full four hours you were gone today, Emmett cried and scratched at the door the whole time you were at the grocery store, Emmett cried and paced when you went to get the mail, and so on. We would leave, he would lie down in front of the door and cry, pace, whine, scratch. When our neighbor Lou finally met Emmett he exclaimed, “THAT is the dog you have in there? I thought you had a teeny puppy!”

All this is to say, I’ve read a handful of pet blogs lately that have been talking about their battles with separation anxiety. And while I would caution anyone to talk to a professional trainer first, I wanted to share what worked for us in case it helps someone who’s dealing with similar issues.

It was all about the routine.

Every single time we left the house (EVERY single time for the first few months, even to run out to get the mail), we performed the same series of steps:

Emmett went into the kitchen, and we latched the baby gate. We turned on the radio to a low volume. We reached into the cupboard and pulled out two or three of his favorite toys that were special toys (they ONLY came out when we left the house. Stuffed Kongs work great, Busy Buddy, etc.). Then, what turned out to be the most important step in the process for our food-motivated Emmett, we pulled a biscuit out of the cupboard, led him to his bed, said “Be good, we’ll be right back” then gave him the biscuit. Then we walked out the door. When we got home, we’d unlatch the baby gate, turn off the radio, pick up his special toys, then give him rubs and hugs and tell him what a good boy he is.

The trick was repetition. We performed this same series of steps 100% of the times we walked out of our front door, even if it was to run to a neighbor’s to borrow a cup of sugar. Every. Single. Time. Yes, it was tedious, but it worked. Within a few weeks, Emmett caught onto the routine, and our neighbors reported a significant decrease in his crying. After several months, when we would get ready to leave, put our shoes and coats on, etc., Emmett would dash to his bed and start licking his lips, awaiting his special biscuit.

When we adopted Lucas, he did bad things when we were away, but even though he was a puppy, he never once had an accident. And once we helped him learn what was appropriate for him to chew (NOT the arms of our furniture), his bad behavior ceased entirely. Even though Lucas didn’t suffer from separation anxiety, I feel confident saying that the routine helped him as well because he was very quickly able to learn what was going on and to assimilate into our specific routine.

Lucas, the first weekend with us!

WHEW! Long post! I hope this helps, and if anyone has any questions about our routine, the steps we took, or whatever, fire away!!

Anyone else faced separation anxiety? Any tips or strategies to help pups overcome their fears?

Lucas spends a big chunk of his day guarding the house from his perch on the chaise in our bedroom. Lately, though, with the gray, icy, snow-covered days, he’s been sleeping more than guarding. We are all so ready for spring, so ready to resume our normal, active lives, so ready to wear shoes instead of boots and to see grass instead of ice.

I received 101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog for Christmas, but haven’t really had time to dig into the book yet. I think this week is perfect to start some of the more challenging and engaging tricks to get the boys active again!

How about you? How do you beat the blues during this homestretch of winter?

Go Colts! (fuzzy camera phone pic)

Coming into the weekend, all our plans have changed! We were supposed to fly into Baltimore to meet our new nephew, but we heard they’re getting a little snow, so we’re rescheduling our flights. That freed up Saturday and Sunday so we can watch the Colts win the Super Bowl while snuggling Emmett and Lucas (better pics of their Colts apparel to come on Sunday)! Then, Emmett and I were supposed to spend the morning visiting three kindergarten classes, but due to inclement weather here, schools are closed, so that was canceled. And I had one appointment this afternoon, and it seems that might be off too. Which means we now have three full unscheduled days!

I think we’ll be setting up our indoor agility course in the basement to get the boys some exercise while it’s icy out. In the meantime, while they’re snuggled in bed snoring away, I’m catching up on lots of dog blogs! Here’s what I’ve been reading this week:

From Dolittler: BSL is a bitch… until a judge says otherwise

From Smart Dog U (I’ll be working on this with Lucas this weekend!): Simple Way to Get (and Keep) Your Dog’s Attention

From Pawcurious: Meep Meep, a post about counter surfing

I also recorded Animal Planet Investigates Dog Fighting, but have yet to decide if I should actually watch it or not.

How about you? Weekend plans? Links to share?

We returned Otto to my parents this past weekend. If nothing else, the week of dogsitting followed by a 90-minute drive up north proved that if we were to adopt a third dog, we need a bigger car, even if the dog is as small as Otto.

After Otto’s visit, Lucas needed a bath. From a week of playing with Otto, his fur was matted with slobber, and he had chunks of mud stuck to his belly. He really only needs a bath a handful of times each year, and he was due. While this might not seem like a big deal, poor Lucas hates water. Not just a little bit. A lot. He runs from the hose in the backyard. He refuses to dip his toes in puddles on the sidewalk. He won’t swim, and he definitely won’t go into the bathroom. Bathing him is an epic struggle. Last time John tried, Lucas kept trying to ninja-escape from the bathroom. And, of course, nosy Emmett was all up in Lucas’ bath business.

Since then, I have tried everything to lessen the horror of bath time. First, we worked on decreasing his bathroom-associated fear. I left treats in there for him to discover on his own. I started brushing him in the bathroom while giving him tons of treats and praise. Then I got in the tub with him and fed him treats while getting just his feet wet. When it was time for a full-fledged hose down, I cooked him sausages and hot dogs and bacon. I tried liver. No matter what, the poor guy just shut down the second he got in the tub. He tucked his tail, hung his head, and froze, refusing any of the meaty treats.

Until.

It’s such a great moment when you find the exact right motivation for your pup, right? It’s such a relief to know that you finally, finally got him past the pain of fear and into tolerance. Yesterday, Lucas got into the tub, allowed his feet to get wet, tolerated his back and neck getting wet, even stood for a good scrubbing. For what?

Slices of processed American cheese.

Huh.

This was the first bath that he didn’t tuck his tail. It was the first bath that he didn’t forcefully try to push past me to get out of the tub. Heck, it was the first bath that he actually ate the treats I was offering. It was the first bath that we got all the way through the last rinse before he started to get panicky.

All for slices of food-product-flavored-to-resemble-cheese.

Who knew.

Have you ever had a training session that just dissolves into laughter? You just have to stop working because you can’t stop laughing? Meanwhile, you dog is staring at you like you’re a raving lunatic?

I taught the boys to “wave hi” using the clicker. Since they both already knew “high five,” I started with my hand in the “high five” position but clicked whenever they missed, giving the “wave hi” verbal cue. They got it immediately. They got it so quickly, in fact, that Emmett basically sat waving his little paw in the air, like a second grader trying desperately to get the teacher to call on him. Every time I glanced in his direction, his little paw flew up in the air. After a few minutes of that, John and I were laughing so hard, I could barely continue with the training. Even when I was working with Lucas, Emmett sat with his paw poised and ready to wave!

Also, John was hanging around while I was working on the behavior. About three minutes in, he pointed out that when Emmett responded slowly, I said, “Come on, buddy!” or something similar… so poor Emmett would get confused and scootch forward like… I’m already here, lady! Stop saying come!

That’s the great thing about the clicker. After a few minutes, we were able to refine the behavior so that Emmett wasn’t holding his paw up in between turns, and they were both waving on the first cute.

In this last pic, thanks to Emmett’s bandage (after last week’s biopsy), you can see the waving movement we finally nailed!

It was nearly impossible to get a good picture with our little point-and-shoot camera, but I might try to get some film footage of a training session next week!