Separation anxiety & sleeping on bed

1856 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Moonstream, Jul 31, 2016

kj21

Discussion Starter · Jul 30, 2016

Please help. I've made a big mistake and I don't know how to fix it. I went on holiday and put my dogs into a dog hotel. It's a family hotel that we have a good experience with but it was the first time for my dogs. They're very close so I thought that being together would make it easier for them to adapt to a new environment. One of them was fine but my other dog (3yo greyhound) was suffering bad separation anxiety and he barely ate and he did nothing but lie on the floor, which resulted in him having bad bruises all over his body (as greyhounds have very thin skin) and he lost a lot of weight. He looked terrible when I picked him up. The first night he was back home he barely left my side and was extremely clingy. I felt so guilty and so sorry for him that I let him sleep on my bed against my better judgement. And of course since then he only wants to sleep on my bed and throws a tantrum if I don't allow him. The problem is that I have a baby sleeping in my room as well so I can't let him bark and whine and bang on the door etc. What can I do to get things back to normal? (i.e. getting him to sleep in his own bed & getting his confidence back) Is it possible that getting him a crate might help? Thank you for reading!

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Lucillle

· #2 · Jul 30, 2016

Hasn't he been sleeping in your bed all along?

kj21 said:
Our dog, 2 year old greyhound who has lived in a kennel until we adopted him a few months ago, gets defensive of our bed. We let him sleep at our feet, but when he lays in my husband's spot and he tries to move him, he gets annoyed and growls/snaps at him (never actually hurts him though, just gives a warning). He is really gentle and sweet otherwise. Also, he never does it to me, only to my husband. How do we let him know that sleeping on the bed is not a right, it's his privilege and the bed is actually ours, not his?
Thank you.

I suggest you crate train your dogs. It is a process, but for my dogs it went pretty quickly, as they get treats and are fed in their crates. They actually have two sets of crates in different rooms, one set in the study, where they get fed, and the other set in my bedroom where they sleep.

I've outfitted their sleeping crates with cushy pads (for the two larger ones, orthopedic pads with a donut bed on top) chews and treats, and they are happy to go in there crates and know which ones are theirs.

To start out with I suggest a kong with a frozen concoction of chopped hot dog mixed with kibble, or anything that is very tasty that will take him a good long time to finish.

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kj21

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 30, 2016

Lucillle said:
Hasn't he been sleeping in your bed all along?

no, we moved house and implemented a new no-furniture policy. It worked fine for both the dogs until now.

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Moonstream

· #4 · Jul 31, 2016

It isn't uncommon for dogs to be more clingy when you come home and take them out of boarding, especially if they aren't used to it. Is it definitely sleeping on the bed he's wanting, or is it possible he just wants to reassure himself you're there? You could try putting up a baby gate, instead of closing the door (which is what it sounds like you're doing?) so he can still see you and there's less of a barrier. Or, get a play pen and gate off the part of the room with the bed, so he can get close to you but not onto the bed if you don't want him on the bed.

My guess is that trying to introduce a crate now, when he's developed this new separation anxiety and is already on high alert about where you are because he may be afraid you're going to leave again, and presumably has not been regularly crated before now is not going to help stop his barking/whining. I just moved cross country with my normally very solid year old Boston. She had always been a velcro dog, but not really a dog I'd consider to have separation anxiety, just a little bit anxious when I leave. She's been crate trained her whole life, from the time she was born, and loves her crate. When I try to crate her now in our new place (after a week of me being gone for long periods, relatively often or more often than normal), she makes awful noises- howling, screeching, creening barks, really terrible. And, normally, crate training involves some level of waiting a dog's *loud* fit out, as well, so not a great option with a small child- especially one young enough to be called a baby- in the house.

You might work with him during the day to teach him that the way he gets you to come back is by being calm/relaxed/good. If you google "separation anxiety in dogs" you'll get a lot of results- Sofia Yin has a good page about it, as dogs clickersolutions.com, which is run by Karen Pryor. Ignore the Milan/Dog Whisperer stuff the comes up, though. The best advice I can give you is to reward calmness when you see it (with praise and/or treats), avoid making a fuss when you leave (which can raise anxiety/work them up), and only greet when you come home after he's had a chance to calm down a little bit.

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