Hey guys, I'm looking for advice. I rescued a dog in November from our local rescue centre. Her name is Cassie, she is a 4 year old Cocker Spaniel and she is causing havoc when left alone in the form of barking and howling. I've tried various things i.e. leaving a worn tshirt of mine next to her bed when I leave, giving her a small meal before I leave to see if she will sleep and I have even tried an ultrasonic collar, which is supposed to omit an ultrasonic squeal when she barks, but how can I tell if it's working if I can't hear it?????............Last night I left her for about 1.5 hours and when I got home, my neighbour cornered me on the stairs to complain about the noise. When I got indoors, Cassie had wee'd at the door.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what action I can take???

Awwwww bless her she is just insecure & lonely

I'm sorry I'm no help as mine is the same & he's three next month

We are also having the same problem with our 16 month old staffie cross, but he even does it when we have people round to come and sit with him. If he is not with either me or my GF he will just bark! Normally he is with one of us all the time and is well behaved. But as soon as we both go out and leave him, even if we leave him with someone, he will not really listen to them and just bark, which then normally sets my other 2 dogs off!

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Dogs: Timmy, Levi, Frank and Patch
Cat: Betty
Bearded Dragons: Bernard
Corn Snakes: Red, White and Yellow
BCI: Star
BRB: Boris
Royals: Hermione, Stan and Cedric
Rabbits: Bumble and Junior

seperation anxiety.
if you goggle it or go to a good training site it will help you better than i can explain.

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my puppy depends on me for everything in his life.
i will not let him down.
i will nurture him and love him, teach him and train him to be the best he can be.
in return i will be the best i can be for him.
all i ask is a wag of his tail and a lick of his tongue.

Hi. Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on taking in a rescue, the world is a better place because of people like you!

Sounds like a bad case of seperation anxiety. Luckily there is a lot you can do about it. Your best bet is to google it or read up on the subject.

At present, using the ultrasonic collar is just treating the sympton of barking. S/A goes a lot deeper than that. By having an understanding of why she is doing this you can look at what you are doing wrong. Some examples:

* Not allowing the dog to follow you around so much at home
* Not saying good bye
* Ignoring the dog when you return home
* Draining energy via walking
* Maintaing a pack leader status at all times.
* Building up the time you leave them for.

These are just a few examples.

Quite often when people take in rescue dogs they feel sorry for the dog because of where they have come from. They do not set rules and boundries from the offset and give too much affection. These dogs need a leader from the outset, and when we do not fulfuil this role we get problems (dog aggression, seperation anxiety, human aggression, obsessive behaviour etc) I also made these mistakes by projecting weak energy in the beginning. What we see as being nice, caring and understanding is, to a dog, weakness.

I am not saying that this applies to you, maybe you have been pretty firm from day 1. But I do think this is applicable to most humans.

To have a balanced dog, they need 3 things - in this order EXERCISE, DISCIPLINE AND AFFECTION. Discipline means rules and consistancy not physical discipline. If you give to much affection and not enough exercise and discipline then the dog will not be balanced.

How much exercise are you giving on a daily basis?

Vicky x

Hi Thunderbug

I had this problem with a greyhound that I rescued. Her previous owner had gone into hospital so she was on her own for about a week with family popping in to feed her. She howled continuously, bless her.

She used to pee, pooh and howl when I left - the howling did stop after a while but the peeing and poohing continued.

I used to give the dogs a kiss and say goodbye when I left - unbeknown to me, this was (according to Dog Whisperer) letting her know 'I'm going to leave you, now's the time to get anxious'. Apparently it's best to just leave, don't say goodbye, just go. This worked instantly.

It also helps to keep popping out for 5 mins, go out one door come back in another to get them used to you going.

I hope this helps - it worked instantly for me

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In your case you have hit the nail on the head - "normally he is with one of us all the time". If you want to solve this problem then you need to break the tie a bit.

One of my dogs is a staffi x and he has the potential for being exactly the same. These dogs love to be with people and I hear so many stories of S/A with these types. When I first got him (he is my 3 rescue) he slept with my sister, I realised this was making him too dependant so I stopped it. I also reduce the amount of time we spend with him. You are in a good position to fix problem because you have 2 other dogs.

Vicky x

Erhh
Can you say it all again please? In plain Enlish!

You might wait a while he's been evicted.


With the seperation anxiety it needs to be tiny steps. I don't think there is a quick fix but have you tried this

1) buy a kong and stuff it with something tasty (naturediet is very good and you can freeze surplus in ice cube trays as you will only need a little to start and deforst a couple of cubes a day.

2) put a tablespoon of Ndiet in the kong give it to the dog and see how long it lasts.

3) do it the next day give the dog the kong and leave the house for a bit less than it takes for him to finish the kong. Big fuss when you come in if he isn't barking.

4) inc the amount ndiet (you can freeze it in the kong to make it last longer) gradually and inc the amount of time you stand outside the front door.

5) give your dog rescue remedy (available in boots)

6) You could try puzzle toys too.

Hey Vicky, I take her out 3 times a day, 5km in the morning and afternoon and 2km at night. In Ibiza, they are pretty strict about having a dog off the lead, but I do break the walking time up by jogging part of it......I know that Cockers are pretty energetic dogs, and need lots of excercise, but the last time I had her off the lead, playing ball with her, I was stopped by the police...... I can't imagine what she went through before I resued her, but she aint your normal full of fun, bouncing around the place Cocker. She is very placid and is afraid of water..........She picked up the dicipline thing really quickly, giving me each paw before treats and meals, sitting on command, etc....If I could just get her out of the anxiety that she has, she will be the perfect dog.....