# Seperation anxiety



## Barneybear (Sep 18, 2012)

Hi we have a 14 week old male standard poodle called barney. 
He is being well socialised, however we are experiencing issues when it comes to leaving him. 
He is fully crate trained and will happily go into it at night with no whinning. 
The issue is when he is not in his cage, if I pop upstairs or into another room with the door closed he will sit and cry often urinating himself. 
Throughout the day he has to be by your side. If myself or my partner goes out he will run round the house looking for them for 15 minutes until you can finally distract him. 

Any help or advise would be appreciated


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Poodles really like to be near their people. Lily follows me from room to room all the time and she is four. The following you around is part of the deal I think. As to the peeing, I suspect that may be because of how young he is (not foolproof in housebreaking).

One of the things we did when Lily was little was to make sure that we didn't make a big deal out of leaving. We still don't.

I would suggest that you train against the worry of people leaving. There is advise about this in another thread (in this subforum I think), but here is the short version. Leave without a big fuss, walk away from the door for a minute. Go back in. If there has been quiet, reward it. If he hasn't been quiet ignore. Keep doing this until you get quiet after you leave and then work on extending the time. He will come to understand that leaving isn't bad because you always come back (eventually).


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

We had a few weeks of excited peeing. Happy to see Aunt Susan, jump up for love and pee on her leg from the excitement of it all! Probably about the same age. I think they may not have full control at that age. 

The whining and drama at being left went away as soon as I left him gated in the kitchen instead of locked in the crate... now he has run of the house - but I can't handle finding hidden gifts on the hardwood... 

It only happened a few times here, and we just did not let him get any feet off the floor until it stopped. (This may be the signal that reminds us that a very small puppy reaching up to be picked up or loved is a lot cuter than a 50 pound dog doing it, and to train that out of the bag of tricks...) 

patience, time, and training - and remember, 90% of dog training is training the people!

sarah


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## Harrymummy (Aug 27, 2012)

I agree leaving without a fuss helps. 
When I'm home he follows me everywhere. I used to restrict my activities a little, now I just carry on as normal except remembering not to step on him or trip myself up. At times if he is not under my feet I end up worrying. Not cos he is 'lost' but cos I know he is up to mischief whilst I can't see him. Stealing tissues and my slippers are some favourites 


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

I'd work on desensitizing him to just a split second of being alone, at first. Taking him potty first will hopefully help with the urination part.

Toss a really, really high value treat away from the door and pop out the door for a split second. Don't make a fuss. 

Repeat often at random times. Do this faster than he even has a chance to react.

When progress is made with such a short period of time away, pop out for a little bit longer every 5-10 times. Literally, just a few seconds more.

As your pop outs become longer, toss more treats. Eventually see if you can get him calm enough to accept a Kong or other treat filled toy. Reserve them only for when he has to be left home alone. 

I've had a lot of success with this method with adult dogs with severe separation anxiety.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Do not this stop you from normal puppy training. You do needs to accept being away from you - for his own wellbeing.

My dog tends to be this way too and it's constant work. He is not too bad because I've been aware of it and working on it since he came home.

What I have learned is that separation issues are usually a result of a problem in your overall relationship with your dog. (was doubtful when the trainer told me this, but she is an EXPERT with separation issues and I am not).

She had me keep a journal of my interactions with my dog and the ways he found rewards. It was obvious quickly that my interactions with him were not rewarding - or less rewarding than playing in the yard and other things he was doing.

It had improved to the point I had forgotten about it. (Yay!) Then one night he must have not pee-ed when we put him out at night or maybe drank a lot of water outside because (totally housetrained), in the morning he woke up and whined a couple of times and then pee-ed on the used-to-be-white carpet. I was NOT HAPPY and ungracefully tossed him outside.

He had separation and submissive peeing issues constantly for 3 days afterwards. It has been about a month and he's not back to perfect yet.

Relationship problems and distrust with your dog show up all over the place - inluding coming out in separation issues.

You must be in the middle of housetraining, mouthing and chewing right now. Is that causing stress? What is your puppy's life like?


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## Barneybear (Sep 18, 2012)

Barneys housetraining is going really well other than went I pop upstairs, even after he has just been outside he will still have a small wee. He is a bit bitey which we are trying to control. It's weird because when he is in his crate it's fine no crying. 


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

If he tolerates crating fine, then try training a place (go lie down on your bed) command. Very helpful and will likely teach your dog to be comfortable when you walk away.


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

I forgot to mention that if he's really anxious, he likely won't except even the highest value treats at first. But don't give up. The eventually do accept them. You want to gather them up, however, if you pop back inside and he's ignored them. He should only be given this "consolation prize" when he has to be left alone. Otherwise, he'll view your return as the thing to look forward to when you want him to look forward (as much as possible!) to your leaving. 

Your leaving should be a wonderful thing to him, as much as possible, anyways. It should be the time that he gets his favorite toys and treats. If he's a safe chewer, you can also use this as an opportunity (when he's left alone for longer periods) to give him his chew of the day. The grosser, the more they like them. Pigs ears, tracheas, bully sticks, etc. 

A LOT of standard poodles are mouthy, especially as puppies before they learn bite inhibition. They're just mouthy dogs in general. They often gently hold my hand when we're walking. Lol.

Teaching bite inhibition is pretty easy and fun and doesn't have to be punishment based at all! There's no reason for it. (FYI)

Keep a chew or stuffed toy within your reach at the times that your dog is prone to being mouthy. If you don't want your dog to mouth you at all, stick the toy in their mouth when they're mouthing and praise. Also tease them with the toy and make it much more fun to mouth than your hand. They'll learn to reserve mouthing for toys. Mouthing toys is more reinforcing then mouthing your hand, which you shouldn't give them an opportunity to do if you don't want them to mouth you at all.

If you don't mind gentle mouthing (I love this kind of play), stick the toy in their mouth when the mouthing gets too rough and praise. Also make the toy very tempting and exciting at this point. They'll get the point that gentle mouthing is for their humans and when they need to mouth roughly, that it's designated only for toys.

I teach my dogs that gentle mouthing is okay for play with me but rough mouthing is only okay on toys. As a result, they play bite with me and when they get the urge to bite rougher, they turn away from me, grab a toy, and bite the heck out of it. 

If a dog doesn't seem to grasp the concept of gentle biting for people and rough biting for toys, then it's best to resist all biting to toys. Keep it black and white.


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