Separation Anxiety

Hello. We recently rehomed a rescue dog on the 21st August, he's a 3 year old male staffie. He's been showing signs of separation anxiety, in the sense of following us from room to room, crying when he gets shut into the kitchen and having to sit near us constantly. Also at night when we put him into the kitchen he's crying and barking. I know he hasn't been with us long but I just wanted to start kicking the habit before it gets out of hand. I would love some advice from anyone who has dealt with this before. He has a bed in the kitchen with a kong toy that we put treats in, as soon as he's eaten that he starts crying and scratching at the door. Thanks in advance.

Firstly you are correct he has only been with you for a couple of days so he does need to settle. Just bear with him . Personally I would just let him do his thing for a few days and then start to get him into a routine , not sure if it would be correct under the circumstances but thats how I would handle it. If you want to separate yourself from him then do it very gradually jus making it a little longer each time. As for the crying on a night , then just trey getting up once , letting him go out for a wee and then putting him straight back to bed like you would with a pup, and you have to grin and bear the rest of it. You can make sure he has a cuddly toy or something to help settle him. Maybe you should think about starting crate training with him as well so he has his own little den where he feels safe.

Thank you for your reply. How long do you think is a suitable time for him to settle in, before starting the training? Do you think the baby gate option would be suitable at the moment, or just use the kitchen door straight away? With the night issue, is it better to get up once and then try to ignore the crying for the rest of the night? I don't want to cause him unnecessary stress but I've heard it's not good to keep going to him. We've moved the bed into the living room during the day and he doesn't mind sitting in it but once we get him he does too.

All dogs are different but he will settle. Try leaving him with an article of clothing with your scent on it and leave a radio or TV on at a low volume.

Will he eventually settle on his own with regards to being left on his own in the kitchen, or will this always require training?

steph37 wrote:Will he eventually settle on his own with regards to being left on his own in the kitchen, or will this always require training?

I assume you mean settle in the kitchen on a night for sleeping then yes , I hope you don't mean you just want to leave him in the kitchen . How's the exercise going with him how much do you do ??

He will eventually settle. He crys in an effort to recieve attention and if you go to him it will reinforce the behaviour. You either have to ignore it and the period of time he does it should decrease each time or find a different sleeping arrangement. You could move his bed closer to yours for instance.

Yeah I meant with regards to at night, and he'll go into the kitchen when we go out for short periods during the day because I have indoors guinea pigs in the living room. He went out for four walks yesterday and three today, all spaced out during the day. He's fine when he goes out for a walk, and we've only had one accident at night, other than that he'll happily go to the toilet outside. Also, how often do you feed your staffies? We've been feeding him in the evening about 5.30, just wondered if it'd be better feeding him in the morning, or feeding him the same amount but once in the morning and once in the evening. Thanks again for the advice

Tilly is 2 years old and we feed her twice a day but stick to the guidelines on the packet ( so for us it is the same amount split into 2 meals but this isn't what I advise it's what we do and it works for us , what food are you giving him ?? The exercise sounds goo but you don't say how long for ??
I know you probably don't think so at the moment but if you are persistent the crying will die down in time just don't keep going to him , we made thaat mistake with Tommy as a pup settluiing him in even though all my friends on her told me not to , the upshot was it took him a lot longer to settle.

The rescue home supplied us with a weeks supply of Pedigree wet and dry food which we've been mixing up in his bowl, I think we're gonna stick with this one, unless there's another brand that you suggest? The walks are normally about 30mins for each one, trying different routes out. Yeah I've read something about not going to them, it's very hard not to when you can hear him crying and whimpering, even though I know it'll be better for him in the long run. How long did it take your dogs to fully settle in?

Here is a list of recommended dry foods

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/dryfood.html

The wet food really isn't good as it is mostly water and will cause plaque build up on their teeth. He should stop the crying at night very soon. Suki only did it for 2 or 3 days.

It depends on the dogs really ,

Tilly was very quick as girls often are although her behaviour only went to 100% good girl when we got Tommy as if she was trying really hard to make him look bad Tommy , he's very good through the nioght but he is in a crate and will be for some time yet and is very much an over the top puppy , let's say a work in progress. I don't know what your boy has been through and how long he was in rescue but you have to remember he has a past and although no doubt he has a brilliant new home it doesn't neccessarily mean he will settle straight away. It could take him several weeks to settle and a lot of work , he may settle very quickly there is no hard and fast rule.
Maybe you'd be good now to think about putting him on a good complete food dry , we are just converting over to Fish4dogs which is very highly rated but there are many others out there, a lot of our members feed raw and swear by it but its not for everybody.
Regarding the walks I would try and make 1 of them a good but longer we would normally say 2-3 walks a day of minimum 45 minutes each

Hi!

Separation anxiety is very common with rescue dogs and needs to be dealt with carefully; slowly and gradually. He needs to learn that you coming and going is no big deal. I haven't got the time to write a detailed response now but will come back later to give you advice. I've gone through it with all three of my rescue dogs.

What I will say for now though is have a look into calmatives like DAP diffusers, sprays, Zylkene etc.

And a quickie on the food - pedigree is dire. Wet food is fine if you prefer that over dry although you will have to pay more attention to dental hygiene. Wainwrights trays from P@H are a really good value wet.

What budget do you have for food? Have a mooch about on www.whichdogfood.co.uk to learn a bit more about what's good and what's not.

Is it something that every rescue dog can eventually get over? Or is there some dogs that just find it too stressful for them? My main worry is that even with training he won't learn to be okay on his own. I would really appreciate some advice when your free from someone who has gone though it themselves. I will definitely have a look on that website, thanks for the link. Are them recommended pet foods widely available in pet shops or is it something you need to purchase over the Internet?

Wainwrights is Pets at home own brand and fairly decent , our 2 were both on it since pups (dry food ) . The Fish 4 dogs that we are going to now can be ordered by your local pet shop if they are helpful enough but its as easy to get fom the internet , I just got some last week £35 for 12kg , ordered friday and delivered Monday from www.chemistdirect.co.uk if you makle the order up to £40 with other bits then delivery is free

Check out the link Jstaff has put up this is something we have compiled from the forum and our members who have staffys and staffy x etc you can't go wrong.

Is he having enough to eat before he goes to bed?

I noticed recently with Rocky that he would not settle for bed as he was still hungry, starting giving his meals in smaller amounts and more regular including supper and he is fine to go to bed now.

I can highly recommed the Barking Heads kibble which is on the list of recommended foods, this is what Rocky has now.

We've been feeding him about half five in the evening, and then we've been putting him into the kitchen about 10pm and going upstairs. We leave him with a dentastick to chew on but as soon as he has finished he's at the door crying. The past two days we have taken him for a longish walk about 7:30pm, when he's in the living room he is quite relaxed and he's okay to lay down. It's just as soon as he goes into the kitchen it starts.

See if you can split his dinner into two amounts, half at the normal time then the rest just before he goes to bed.

also try putting a radio on in the kitchen, just find something talky like radio 4 or some quiet music just on in the background.

Hope it works out for you.

Maybe you can
a) think about letting him sleep nearer you if you are comfortable with this
b) try other toys like maybe a stag bar - highly recommended

Our dogs sleep upstairs with us, Tilly on our bed (she's an angel) Tommy usually i a crate in my daughter's room though tonight he's in with us so he's not on his own as my daughter is out for ther night. As soon as we can trust him he will have the run of the house and it's pick a bed time though I realise this is not for everyone.

Yeah I might try that, if it help settles him easier. We'll put the radio on tonight to see if that makes much of a difference. We've had problems tonight due to a dwarf hamster and guinea pigs being in the living room. He has been jumping up at them all night, so we've had to move them both upstairs where he can't get to them. But now he has been jumping up on the sideboards where they were, we've sprayed it down but it didn't seem to put him off, any ideas how to stop this would greatly appreciated.

you should definitely look into crate training in my opinion

Have you got any links or info on what's involved with crate training?

steph37 wrote:Have you got any links or info on what's involved with crate training?

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/cratetraining.html

How would this benefit a dog? Would the crate have to be in the living room or can it go in the kitchen? Do you close the crate during the night once he is comfortable being in the crate? There's not really enough room for a crate in any bedroom, esp now we have two cages in our spare room. He has cried for 30mins tonight but haven't heard any since so i hope he has settled down for the night. When he has been naughty is it a good idea to put him in the kitchen as time out, or will he associate that room with punishment and then finds it hard to settle?

Crate training can be helpful with separation anxiety but only once the dog is 100% happy with it.

Separation anxiety is something they can get over, it's just a slow process and you have to be patient.

Have a look at the following:

http://www.rspca-westhatch.co.uk/SeparationAnxiety.htm - a good little article that summarises what I did.

Here's a link to the Zylkene website - http://www.zylkene.co.uk/ - it's not something I've used but know people that've found it helpful to ease stress during the training process.

DAP - http://www.adaptil.co.uk/ - stands for dog appeasing pheromone, another calmative that can often help reduce stress.

Hope this helps

ETA: It's important to remember that dogs aren't 'naughty', they are amoral, they don't understand right or wrong, just safe and dangerous/beneficial or not beneficial. If he's doing something you don't want him to do then train an incompatible behaviour rather than just tell him off. For example, if he's jumping up, teach him to sit as he can't jump up when he's sitting.

steph37 wrote:How would this benefit a dog? Would the crate have to be in the living room or can it go in the kitchen? Do you close the crate during the night once he is comfortable being in the crate? There's not really enough room for a crate in any bedroom, esp now we have two cages in our spare room. He has cried for 30mins tonight but haven't heard any since so i hope he has settled down for the night. When he has been naughty is it a good idea to put him in the kitchen as time out, or will he associate that room with punishment and then finds it hard to settle?

Hi Steph

I was referring to the crate training as a way of having him closer and secure on an evening as you talk about him jumping up at the other animals etc , or was this not at night time in the kitchen . Sorry if I got this wrong. I think that you are correct with your comment about time out in the kitchen , in a way this is the same as the crate philosophy just on a bigger scale, when using the crate it should never be as a punishment.
We don't use a crate any more for Tilly as she is great around the house , no problem on a night and when we are out as long as she has been walked and toileted she can have the free run of the house without causing any destruction. Tommy is just a pup that is on the slow side to lerarning good behaviour so for him its a must. But a lot of our members crate train regardless and that's fine. The crate if used correctly is a safe haven for them and peace of mind for you.

For the moment maybe you see how you go with the kitchen and whether he settles down , just make sure he's nice and comfy with a nice bed , some toys to occupy him , don't forget to try the stag bar !

And just remember one last thing he's a staffy and that makes him very different in some ways to other dogs and not all techniques used on other dogs will work on him. Your best source of information is from our members and their experiences and I honestly mean that

Good luck >< and be patient

Hello. With regards to the pets he jumped up at them whilst they were in the living room while we were there. I don't think it was in aggression, i think he was just being nosey but either way it scared my guinea pigs so we moved them upstairs. After 30mins he did stop crying eventually and must of settled down because i didn't hear anything til about 6ish
we've been moving the bed into the living room during the day to encourage him to lay in this and not on the sofa, is this okay or is it likely to confuse him once it goes back into the kitchen?

steph37 wrote:Hello. With regards to the pets he jumped up at them whilst they were in the living room while we were there. I don't think it was in aggression, i think he was just being nosey but either way it scared my guinea pigs so we moved them upstairs. After 30mins he did stop crying eventually and must of settled down because i didn't hear anything til about 6ish
we've been moving the bed into the living room during the day to encourage him to lay in this and not on the sofa, is this okay or is it likely to confuse him once it goes back into the kitchen?

No I don't think so he will associate the bed with his little comfort zone and the kitchen with his sleeping den. Staffy's really need human contact and are generally much less suited to being left for long periods over and above other dogs, having said that we do have a lot of memebers that got to work all day and cope fine. The more time he can spend with you , the more he will settle. The one thing you must do though is let him find his own way and give him space whilst he is settling in.

Pleased you had a better night , maybe from you its a little parent panic in the early stages as you want him to come in to instant happiness and it all takes time, all you can do is offer him reassurance so he feels safe , but don't get in his face with it.

Regarding the other little furrys, Staffs are known to have a very high prey drive so exercise care with the little ones , Staffs are very nosey dogs , very mischievous dogs and very very very loyal dogs, you will not be dissapointed with him

Well i don't mind keeping the small animals in the spare room for now because it gives him more time to settle without the random squeaking from them lol and it'll keep them peaceful. What would you say is the best way to go about if he's grabbed something he's not allowed like a cushion?

Try and have a chew toy handy , take the cushion away from him with a good firm no and replace it with the chew toy

Okay, will try this next time, as we keep having to hide things from him so he doesn't chew them! Our local pet shop sells Burns food so we're gonna slowly start fading the Pedigree out and introduce this, the man in the pet shop said Pedigree was like the dog form of McDonalds lol. Have you ever had problems with your dogs trying to steal food from you? We can't eat near him because he jumps up and tries to get at our food.

steph37 wrote:Okay, will try this next time, as we keep having to hide things from him so he doesn't chew them! Our local pet shop sells Burns food so we're gonna slowly start fading the Pedigree out and introduce this, the man in the pet shop said Pedigree was like the dog form of McDonalds lol. Have you ever had problems with your dogs trying to steal food from you? We can't eat near him because he jumps up and tries to get at our food.

Tommy will try this when we aren't watching him, but he is just a pup, again it's all about catching him a good no and making him wait. It is recommended that you should always have your dog sit and wait for his food until you tell him he can have it , so 2 commands to master , sit ..and wait.. . I have seen someone have this so good that they can fill the dog's mouth with them little bonio biscuits hanging from the lips (I think about and the dog ( a staffy ) just patiently waiting to be told he can have them