Hi!

I have a 10months old SBT and hes pretty good all round! Mostly well-behaved and obedient and very friendly!

He's not particularly destructive although if he gets his jaws on sth tasty..
Seriously normally I am the one to leave him alone at home (as I leave later than my partner) and hes mostly well-behaved during that time. He had a few "accidents" (spoiling but also chewing on the wooden boards) at the beginning but now hes mostly good! I take him for an hour walk/run in the morning and usually same in the afternoong, and some more during the week-end and we try to exercise him "mentally" as well (with "find-games", "dog-puzzles" etc)!

Anyway the point is; when my partner leaves him alone (rarely) he will LOOK FOR sth naughty to do..for example, if there is a bag of some sort on the dining table, its been there for weeks and he didnt care, but the day my partner leaves him alone he will grab the bag (god knows how! Hes grown up without my realising i suppose!) and try to destroy it..and everything else he can lay his paws on..he even had a pretty bad go at the wall once..I left to go to India for 2 weeks and my partner was alone with him...well the house wasnt in a pretty state when i returned (oki, not that bad but still!! far from what he would normally do!!)

AND its the SAME problem with a dog-sitter we have; basically we have a couple who comes over when we need Diego taken care of (when we have to leave him alone more than 6hours say - it used to be once a weeks roughly, now it is less frequent), and mostly they come together or just the girl...but the days the guy only comes Diego does exactly like when its my partner!! Chews on everything etc etc (we usually leave him with a chew bone but he normally waits for me to be home before he starts on it..dunno why..but on those occasions the chew bone has usually disappeared by the time im home!)!

So I dont know what to think really..
Why the need to chew/destroy when he is left alone by my partner or the male sitter and not when its me or the girl??
Both guys are very good with Diego so I dont think its a dominant/anxious type of problem...

Is it sth to do with the fact that they are men and hes a male too? How?
Or is it because he is normally left alone by either me or the girl and he is not used to being left alone by the boys..?

What to do??
Any suggestion welcome

Cheers

Isa - a really puzzled owner!

It sounds like separation anxiety to me, and the dog is probably identifying better with male figures.

Google Separation anxiety and go from there.

You had the dog from what age?

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Nick Jones MCFBA
Dog Behaviour Specialist and Trainer

http://www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk

But as far as I understand it separation anxiety is when the dog thinks hes top dog, dominates the person whos leaving him and therefore worries when the person in question is out of his sight, like a mother would be worried for her children if she doesnt know what they're up to... No?

We got the dog when he was 10 weeks old!

Cheers!
Isa

Oh boy...where did you read that one?

Separation anxiety is simply a matter of the dog having not learned to cope in your absence. The dog has not been shown how to be independent and relaxed when you leave. Nothing to do with dominance whatsoever, sorry.

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Nick Jones MCFBA
Dog Behaviour Specialist and Trainer

http://www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk

mmm..well i heard that from many a dog behaviour experts, including Jan Fennel...
And how do you "show" a dog how to be relaxed and "independent" at home if not by being a good pack leader, and the dog being a submissive pack member, clear (and all the happier for it) about his pack status?
But i suppose its not necessarily the only problem..

Yeah maybe he "identifies" more with male members of his pack and doesnt like this "male" pack splitting up..dunno!

Cheers anyway

Is he crate trained? Crate training him would help with the destruction. Bailey, a retriever/shepard mix, she had separation anxiety. She would find something to tear up or chew. We took the crate back out and that helped some. We eventually had to give her meds to calm her down. Unfortunately, she is now at Rainbow Bridge and no longer suffering from anything. (this was not from separation anxiety).

If he's left for 6 hrs per day a crate would probably drive it mad don't crate it!

I think that if you feel you have a significant problem you should look for some one to one help, rather than to get conflicting advice online and also make behavioural decisions based on a book or two.

Leadership is critical yes when looking at S.A., but it does not relate to the dog feeling dominant.

Most dogs I have seen with SA have not been dominant...just a bit of a wreck due to mixed signals from the owners. This is where a good one to one helper would get you back on track all over.

Best wishes,

Nick

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Nick Jones MCFBA
Dog Behaviour Specialist and Trainer

http://www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk

I'd say its best to get a trainer to come see you both and your pup for the most appropriate advice... its hard to say why he would react this way to one of you but not the other without seeing the whole picture

Has your partner tried leaving the pup at short intervals then build up the time, so a few mins at first, then longer and longer so the dog is happy and confident that they are coming home. I agree that SA has little to do with dominance, i think people use the dominance theory too flippantly for too many things without a full understanding of individual situations.

Also, buster used to be a naughty pup when left but we made leaving very matter of fact! didnt make a big deal of leaving, just made him sit as we got ready to leave and left - no big drama or excitement for him all very boring altogether. Now he just sleeps when we are out!

Hi there hes still only a young a dog and staffies are prone to chewing things up, my rescue lad had real bad sepertion anxiety to the stage were he ate my sofa my stair carpet and pvc door, he is now crate trained, but i leave him in the crate and get back hes fine but when my OH left him he had tried to escape.

So i made OH do more work with him so he was not just attached to me and trusted him now he his fine and doing really well, dose he follow you around the house were ever you go, if yes you need to point and tell him to move do not allow this behaviour to happen or he will attach to you to much and then you have a problem, make sure he as had a real good walk burned of some energy and give his brain some stimulation, get him a kong and fill with some of his dried food and grate some cheese stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds and give him it it should take a few hours to finish and then he will be knackered cos he working his brain and not been board hope you sort this out and let us no how you go good luck

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Sorry can i also say people have a thing about saying there dog is been dominant, and blame this all the time you dont have to have a dominante dog just cos he tries it on with you dose not mean he is dominate, sorry the other guy said sepertion anxiety is when left alone and not been indipendent and he is right this dose not mean you are not a good leader it means you have to train your dog to your rotuine and make sure he knows whats happening and that he is happy things.

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