# does anyone have any ideas to help get rid of separation anxiety?



## hunnefeld1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I have an 11 month old GSD. He is an aweosme dog, but always follows me around wherever I go. When I have to leave for work or to go out I put him in our garage or in our back yard so he has plenty of room to roam around. The problem I'm having is he has been destroying the door frames in the garage and the screen on the out side trying to get back in. He stopped destroyign the door frames for a while when my girlfriend was laid off but now that no ones home for 5-8 hours a day he tries to get back in the house. Does anyone have any ideas on this problem?


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

What do you give him to do when you're gone? It may not necessarily be separation anxiety, but rather boredom. 

My dogs are all crated in my house when I am at work for the safety of my house and for their safety. With the Florida heat I also feel much better knowing that they are climate controlled. When I was having to leave my little one outside in the kennel under the roof on our porch, he was with a fan, 2 or 3 interactive toys, and giant horse bucket with water. 

If I leave my dogs I give them something to do. Meals in dispensing treat balls, stuffed Kong toys, Everlasting Treat Balls, Busy Bones, etc. This gives them something to focus on in their crates so they're not so bored when I'm gone.


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## hunnefeld1 (Apr 21, 2010)

When I leave my dog he always has 2 or 3 bowls of ice water a bowl of food and 4 or 5 of his favorite toys. I don't know if its boredom or not. I also live in Florida and wish I could leave him inside since its starting to get so hot out. I tried to crate train him but he broke out of the crate within the first few hours.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

How many hours of exercise (off leash - tired to exhaustion) is your dog getting weekly.

How much out-of-the-home socialization/car rides/meet & greets per week?

Dog classes for mental stimulation/socialization? Obedience, rally, tracking, agility, herding, flyball.........clicker training? 

How many 'mental' toys do you put around the house so your pup has to use their brain to get their meals (or not eat?). Filled and frozen kongs?

Dog IQ Puzzles Nina Puzzles for Dogs : BestFriends General Store

Interactive Dog Toys | Interactive Dog Toys from FetchDog





 
My dogs like the Purple Squirrel Dudes, I can get more than 1/2 cup of food in the large ones

Tough Dog Toys, Durable, Tuff, Heavy-Duty Toys for Dog, Dog Chew Toys










THIS is what I mean about exercise and socialization that I have to do with my dogs to mentally and physically tire them out.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

WOW - I feel for you!!!

I've had two dogs with separation anxiety ... an uncle and his nephew. To be honest I lucked out resolving the issues and I can't say they would work for any other dog. Both boys had lots of exercise, I seldom left them alone for more than an hour or two, plenty of toys were available, etc. I know some of their relatives also had this problem so I honestly believe it can be heriditary????

With Niki, he not only learned to unlock the windows, open them and escape from the house (fortunately he just waited by the gate for me), but nothing could hold him (wire crates and plastic ones). Out of desperation I purchased a 700P Vari-Kennel which kept him happy and contained ... and yes, I know he could have destroyed it had he wanted to - I could never figure out what he liked about this type/size that he didn't like about other crates.

With Mac he destroyed all crates including his Uncle Niki's (but fortunately he stayed in the house). But he was happy having complete freedom of the house so that's what I do ... Slider, Bruiser and Faith share the dog's room, Mac has the rest of the house. 

In other words, I didn't really resolve the problems, I just placated the dog by finding out what he wanted! Not a good solution, but it worked.

If I had not found a resolution to this nasty problem, I would have purchased a dog jail. Well, actually I did get one for Niki ... it was built by a friend up in Canada who dropped it off at a mutual friend's house in VA. I let my friend have it since getting it down to FL would have been a big problem (it weighed about 400 lbs). I later found they make some commercially that are much lighter in weight.

Here is an example of a crate I would have looked at - I'm not saying I would buy from this company, but it has examples of what appear to be crates that would be difficult or impossible for an escape artist to destroy.
Dog Crates & Accessories, Aluminum Dog Crate, Powder Coated Dog Crates

GOOD LUCK!!!


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