We have been going through this with Harvey, and hopefully... fingers crossed and touch wood coming out the brighter side now.

When you leave is he really tired after a great walk? Is he crate trained and have you tried calmatives? Sorry about all the questions but being tired and crated along with calmatives cracked it for us.

We also did the following... This can take a week for each step though, depending on your dog.

1) Put the dog in their area, get yourself ready to go out, shoes & coat on, pick up keys then sit down and read a magazine. This desensitise him to this getting stressed while you get ready.

2) Do the above re getting ready, but instead of sitting down go out lock the door, then immdatly unlock the door come in coat off, ignore the dog. You do not want emotional reunions... also ignore when you go out. The dog will look at you and think your mad, but you need to teach them you always come back.

3) Slowly increase the time..1 min..2 min 5 min etc. As you get longer this is where a good long walk and run will really help you. Give him a stuffed kong etc to keep him busy.

4) eventually you should be able to build up to a few hours. Our boy managed 8 hours the other week although this would never usually happen but our dog sitter was stuck in the UK.

Leaving a tv on, light on and a top that smells of you near by may also help.

Good luck hope this helps

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