Trying to leave the house
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| Do you let him out with you for a little while before you leave for work? Maybe taking him outside for 20/30 min would make the difference. That made the world of difference with Toby. As Toby got older it didnt bother him at all. |
| Thanks for the reply so quickly...he gets a walk that's 1/2 hour-45 minutes every morning around 6:30 am, I leave maybe an hour later sometimes more sometimes less. One thing I did not mention is that he seems to have a strong association with the side door as the "leaving door" as opposed to the front or back door. That is the door we are in and out of 99% of the time for workout, doggie playtimes on Sat, et al. |
| I don't know if it would help for you or if you already have this in place, but do you do the 'wait' command? Both our OES know the 'wait' command when it comes to the front door.
They freeze in their tracks three paces from the door when we go out of it. This was so that we could enter and exit without the dogs bolting out the door and into the street. We live on a street between trucking companies so we frequently have semi trucks hourly passing our home. |
| I have found the best way to subdue this behavior is to have treats on you and ready and use a distracting command to stop the other behavior. When Owen pulls that crap (and it's the same crap, too, only it's when I come home rather than leave), I pull out the treat and make him sit. I take a step towards the way I was going and make him sit again before he has a chance to jump, sit, treat. Getting him in a stay is better but that only works when the excitement level isn't skyrocketing. I've been pretty careful lately to try to get him to sit before any behavior happens because I don't want him to chain that behavior with the sit to equal a treat. It has helped considerably. It's not perfect but it's getting better. |
| I have had two separation anxiety sheepdogs. The first one got upset with "have a good day" being said to each other as we were leaving. Six weeks after we got him is about the time my current one exhibited it.
I agree with Jill as far as the treat thing. Also it helps if you give something they only get when you leave. That makes leaving a good thing. Harry only gets a Kong when we leave. As soon as we get in the house we pick it up. Sometimes I get the Kong ready and leave before my husband. I can tell that Harry is like "when are they leaving, I want my Kong". We never say stuff to each other or to the dog "like see you later", etc. That only adds to the anxiety. You also might want to direct your dog to a rug or a crate when you leave. Teach him now what the expected behavior is. When he gives you that behavior than give him the special treat but make him stay at that spot. If you are firm and consistent the dog will learn what is acceptable where you are concerned. Good luck. |
| I will try the treat method you all have mentioned. Ironically enough that is exactly what I do when I leave him with my parents (the ultimate dog vacation for a day!) but for some reason did not equate the improved behavior with that. Thank you so much and I will keep you posted! |
Look forward to trying these. Our Winnie still goes into the "red zone" and hurls herself at anyone trying to leave the house 
We've resorted to me taking her for a walk while hubby leaves for work. If I need to leave, I put her in her crate with a Kong and then depart. She knows the "wait" command, but never when we are trying to leave the house. She's now 14 months old....  |
CMB wrote: One thing I did not mention is that he seems to have a strong association with the side door as the "leaving door" as opposed to the front or back door. That is the door we are in and out of 99% of the time for workout, doggie playtimes on Sat, et al.
We had this issue for a bit. Thank god the trainer gave us good advice. She said it's much easier to curb the negative association then to fix separation anxiety. She suggested using other doors. It was like a magic trick....the other doors meant nothing bad, only the front door. For work, when my husband left we distracted her and he left out different doors other than the front door. When he was home on weekends he practiced coming and going from the front door and showing her that getting the keys, opening and closing the door, knocking on the door ALL meant yummy good things for her. It switched the negative association to a good one. But while we could transition it the trainer said not to make the negative association stronger. IE-don't aggravate the problem by letting her continue to get upset by him leaving out the front door. Did that help? |
First of all thank all of you...and yes things have gotten a bit better-slowly of course but surely...the treats and different doors used intermittentedly (sp?) other than that we're just having normal 18 month old crazy time at 8:30 at night for a few minutes (the last blast) before starting to crash...once again thank you all  |
DannyboyStephjoy's OES wrote: CMB wrote: One thing I did not mention is that he seems to have a strong association with the side door as the "leaving door" as opposed to the front or back door. That is the door we are in and out of 99% of the time for workout, doggie playtimes on Sat, et al. We had this issue for a bit. Thank god the trainer gave us good advice. She said it's much easier to curb the negative association then to fix separation anxiety. She suggested using other doors. It was like a magic trick....the other doors meant nothing bad, only the front door. For work, when my husband left we distracted her and he left out different doors other than the front door. When he was home on weekends he practiced coming and going from the front door and showing her that getting the keys, opening and closing the door, knocking on the door ALL meant yummy good things for her. It switched the negative association to a good one. But while we could transition it the trainer said not to make the negative association stronger. IE-don't aggravate the problem by letting her continue to get upset by him leaving out the front door. Did that help? Thank you so much for this great advise. We've started using this method for when the girls aren't going with Daddy and it really works. Most of the time the girls understand to "stay" and "they can't go this time" but there are times that Violet gets the group going and they all become "hard of hearing" and get a little out of control. So I send hubby out the front door instead of the door to the garage and all works out great. |
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