# Never ending anxiety



## Graychamp (Nov 17, 2014)

Hey guys!

So, Emma is 10 months old now and training has been great. I get her out 1-2 hours every day and she's awesome at on leash and off leash heeling/recall. She's been through basic obedience and we've begun search and recovery training to give her a job due to how high drive/energy she is. There's only one thing I've really had no success with in training her....and it's for her not to freak out when I leave. Whining, high pitch barks/cries, howls. It's when I leave for work or when she's left in her kennel. I've begun to teach her calming methods, settle, head down, down stays but nothing's been helping. I've also been putting her in her kennel and when she goes extended periods of time rewarding her with a good treat and high praise. Can't get her to stop being neurotic about me leaving though. Anyone have experience with this? Is it just one of those things I'll have to stick with and as she gets older she'll grow out of it? All suggestions are welcome!


----------



## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

You can try a new approach of being aloof with the dog when you leave and when you come back into the house.

I would think that praising the dog after she spends time in the crate can add excitement to the situation and that may turn to anxiety easily too.

Try to act cool with the dog and she should calm down too. 

To calm my dogs when I enter the house, I would just ignore them for a few minutes when I get home and they get used to it and are more relaxed with greetings. 

Also you can try going through the motions of leaving the house, but not actually leaving. The dog sees you get you stuff ready, get dressed put shoes on etc, and these will all be triggers for her to get stressed as she thinks your leaving.

So on a day off, go through the motions to leave but don't. You can try it a few times. Go out the door, get in the car, whatever. Come back. Remain neutral with the dog all the time. Your aiming to show the dog all these actions are not worth getting anxious over.

Consider why the dog gets anxious. Is it rational. 

A good way to deal with issues like this is to research different training methods or behavioral books and ideas. In there you will find some ideas to communicate differently with the dog so that it doesn't get anxious when you leave or when it is left alone. 

I enjoyed 'Cesars Way' for his simply ideas on the greeting ritual (no touch, no talk, No eye contact for 5 mins) and alot more of his simple theories.


----------



## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

No first hand experience with this one. But I would look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ka2x-yMSzM


----------



## Graychamp (Nov 17, 2014)

Thanks for the info both of you.

Couple of things you two brought to my attention. I've gotten her to calm down when I come home. I have her do a sit stay in her kennel before I let her out and then I ignore her for a bit. She's still excitable but nothing like she used to be. This morning I managed to get my keys/stuff, and put my shoes on without her seeing it and when it came time to leave I just walked out. My fiance said she barely whined...where as it is usually heavy whining and high pitched barks. Guess that was the missing link. Before I'd leave I would always give her some love. Hopefully sticking with this will end up helping her not get all worked up when she gets put in a kennel when we leave. Time will tell!

Thanks again!


----------



## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

Yea saying too long goodbyes can be a trigger to be anxious.

I would still play around with the triggers so the dog is neutral to them rather than trying to sneak out but also use whatever works for now.

The more cool you are, will show the dog, there is no need to worry. 

I like to think of it as calming the energy in the pack. Once the dog is relieved of anxiety then it is much easy to enjoy the dog.


----------



## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Less is more as it were.


----------



## TT120 (Apr 21, 2015)

I have found that messing with the triggers is helping Bruno to not freak out so much when I leave for work. I've noticed that my shoes and keys are definite triggers so I started putting on my shoes and putting my keys in my pocket and then sitting on the couch to watch TV. Sometimes I'll leave for a bit without my shoes or keys and It's calmed him down considerably. Also, I ignore him for about 5 minutes when I get home after work. I've never had a dog with separation anxiety before so this is a learning experience for me.


----------



## Graychamp (Nov 17, 2014)

MadLab said:


> Yea saying too long goodbyes can be a trigger to be anxious.


Yep, definitely learned that one.



MadLab said:


> I would still play around with the triggers so the dog is neutral to them rather than trying to sneak out but also use whatever works for now.


Agreed. She's usually up and at it in the morning but she wasn't around so I preemptively got my keys and put my shoes on to see how she'd react (as those seem to be the big triggers).



MadLab said:


> The more cool you are, will show the dog, there is no need to worry.


I can be as cool as a cucumber and as long as I do one of the triggers she still freaks.



MadLab said:


> I like to think of it as calming the energy in the pack. Once the dog is relieved of anxiety then it is much easy to enjoy the dog.


I agree. When she's settled and focused thinking she's awesome. But hey, 99% of her issues are most likely caused due to my own lack of knowledge/ poor communication with her. It's a learning process. Just gotta stay consistent and work at it, which I will!


----------



## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Similar "issue" I just added these. 

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/6818801-post4.html


----------



## Graychamp (Nov 17, 2014)

Chip18 said:


> Similar "issue" I just added these.
> 
> http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/6818801-post4.html


Interesting. The first video I had watch yesterday. The article is something I've -in a sense- been working with: a long down stay. I will try this out. Thanks for the info.


----------



## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

You "could" also have a naturally anxious dog. I don't coddle my dog, I'm always calm, aloof, casual, etc. and yet Kyleigh shows signs of separation anxiety. 

Not in the same situation as you have - I had no issues with crate training, etc. BUT, when we go to a new environment and I put her in "place" if I walk more than 8 feet away, she starts to pants and whines. She will not break her place at all ... but she's not "relaxed" there. And when I walk back up to her quietly - no eye contact, nothing, as soon as she sees me walking back towards her she gets more anxious, if I stop, it lowers, if I move back, she's still anxious, but not as much. 

I've been working on this for 6 months and I haven't seen ANY changes. 

Monday night I attended one of my friend's training classes. I put Ky in place in the middle of the room and I sat on a chair about 15 feet away. There were 10 dogs in that room going through obedience classes, tons of distractions, dogs got off leash, dogs went up to sniff her, balls were tossed around, etc. and she never moved. BUT she never stopped panting or whining either. 

I've heard TONS of people call it the shepherd whine. It bothers me because it means that she is NOT calm and relaxed but only staying there out of obedience. 

I'm attending a workshop this weekend on anxiety, so hopefully I'll get some tips!


----------



## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

I think Newlie had a little separation anxiety that showed up after he had been at our home for a while. He would bark and carry on when I left to go to work and then would have little temper tantrums where he would destroy something. He chewed up my laundry basket and dustpan, took multiple bites out of my eggcrate mattress, destroyed 4 footstools of my husband's and took a bite out of our couch.

He hasn't done anything like that for a while, maybe he just grew out of it. But here are a few of the things we did that seemed to help.

Plenty of fresh air and exercise.
Confining him to one area of the house rather than giving him free rein.
Very low-key attitude when I leave and come home.
We try to follow pretty much the same routine most mornings, I think it's calming for dogs just as it is for young children.
Right as I am getting ready to walk out the door, I give him a Kong with either some of his dog food or little treats and put a little peanut butter or cheese spread inside the compartments on his puzzle game so he has to move the button over and then lick each little compartment 1,000 times to get all the good stuff out. He looks forward to it every morning and just about holds the door open for me to leave now, lol. He is so focused on his treats that it's like he doesn't even see me walk out the door.

I have heard that sometimes a piece of clothing, an old T-shirt or something like that with your scent on it, can be comforting as well.


----------



## Graychamp (Nov 17, 2014)

Kyleigh said:


> Not in the same situation as you have - I had no issues with crate training, etc. BUT, when we go to a new environment and I put her in "place" if I walk more than 8 feet away, she starts to pants and whines. She will not break her place at all ... but she's not "relaxed" there. And when I walk back up to her quietly - no eye contact, nothing, as soon as she sees me walking back towards her she gets more anxious, if I stop, it lowers, if I move back, she's still anxious, but not as much.
> 
> I've been working on this for 6 months and I haven't seen ANY changes.


She'll go into her crate on command and enjoys sleeping in it at night. I often times leave the door open and she'll just stay there the whole night. It's always related with myself or my fiance not being in the same area as her. Now, sometimes she'll just go off and sleep somewhere out of sight from us. It's like she only cares about it when she doesn't have the control over if she sees us or not. It took me forever to get Emma to do a sit stay out of line of sight. She won't hold it for too long but I'm working on it. I don't have the issue with the panting/whining while stay but I can tell she's uneasy at times.



Kyleigh said:


> Monday night I attended one of my friend's training classes. I put Ky in place in the middle of the room and I sat on a chair about 15 feet away. There were 10 dogs in that room going through obedience classes, tons of distractions, dogs got off leash, dogs went up to sniff her, balls were tossed around, etc. and she never moved. BUT she never stopped panting or whining either.


At least you can get her to stay..that's progress but I understand how you want her to just relax. I feel obedience would come so much easier if Emma would take a chill pill.



Kyleigh said:


> I've heard TONS of people call it the shepherd whine. It bothers me because it means that she is NOT calm and relaxed but only staying there out of obedience.


Yeah, I know the whine haha, haven't had any other dog as noisy as Emma. 



Kyleigh said:


> I'm attending a workshop this weekend on anxiety, so hopefully I'll get some tips!


Awesome! Let us know what you figure out. I'd be interested. I'm currently just going to stick with teaching her calming commands and quit exciting her when I leave/come back.


----------



## Graychamp (Nov 17, 2014)

newlie said:


> I think Newlie had a little separation anxiety that showed up after he had been at our home for a while. He would bark and carry on when I left to go to work and then would have little temper tantrums where he would destroy something. He chewed up my laundry basket and dustpan, took multiple bites out of my eggcrate mattress, destroyed 4 footstools of my husband's and took a bite out of our couch.


-Knock on wood- Emma has not destroyed any furniture of ours. She's always been really good about just chewing on her toys. Emma will freak when left alone but it doesn't last...it starts off heavy..lasts about 2 minutes and then she'll let out a few howls and then lay down and wait. Seeing as it's not constant it makes me feel like it's something I've done to condition it.


----------

