Separation anxiety

Our two year old has had this before and it seems to have resurfaced she is going through a false pregnancy I've been home so she hasn't been alone but when I left her for an hour yesterday the neighbour complained that she was going mental, today I have left her for five mins stood outside and the noise was so bad. I'm currently sitting at the front door all doors open so she can see me she's still sitting crying in her bed our neighbour goes mental about this but I really am trying everything I can't be home all the time I want to help Maisie and hate her feeling like this I'm hoping it's just temporary until she is over this false pregnancy maybe she just needs company until it's all over,

Awww bless her, does sound like the false pregnancy could be the cause, I know it can be quiet distressing for some dogs. I've not been in this situation with either of mine so unsure of what to suggest Ami, hopefully someone with first hand experience will be able to offer some solutions

We were at the vets today for another check up she said it will be that that's causing it luckily my partner and I are both off this week and next so hopefully by then she will be over the worst.

No experience of phantom pregnancy either i would advise after advice from the vet perhaps discuss speying wee maisie . But would strongly advise speaking at length with a vet . Would stop your dogs distress and also stop other male dogs bothering her when she is in season good luck. Let us know how maisie is.

Don't worry she's was due to get spayed this week but we noticed this phantom pregnancy so couldn't go ahead with it. Once this is over she's straight into get spayed. Best thing for her poor wee sole just now. Don't want to mother her too much but feel so sorry for her!

Aw bless her

Maisie is so much better now and nearly over the false pregnancy had another complaint from the neighbour this morning I have been practising leaving her now and again for short period doesn't seem to be working unless our neighbor is just enjoying complaining I'm trying to not let it upset me as I know we are doing all we can for Maisie. She's booked in to get spayed beginning of may so fingers crossed that all goes well.

I'm glad to hear Maisie is feeling better. I don't have experience of separation anxiety. My friends foster did suffer with this. He gave Ozzie a bone or chew & practised just getting his coat on, then going out the door for literally a second then coming back in progressing to longer times. He also didn't make a fuss of Oz before leaving or on returning to try and let Ozzie see it wasn't a big deal, just calmly left then returned. It's a pity about your neighbour. Is there any way u can befriend them a bit & explain you are working on this. best of luck

I don't think there's anything we can do with the neighbor both me and my other half have tried, we had issues with her parties last year think this is her getting us back for complaining about her noise - makes it a bit awkward for us especially when it's so nice outside (I try to avoid them) main thing is I know that we are working on it and it will get better in time just won't happen over night. i make sure Maisie has a decent walk befor we leave and I try to ignore her before I leave too so that she's used to not being with me. I know she will get better through time just hard when we have a neighbor like we do!

Took me 2 years to rid mia of seperation anxiety its not an overnight thing i trained my dog myself and worked on this everday three times i closed her in the smallest room of the house and took to leaving her for a full five minutes in the house this was staged over a very long time wish u the best of luck

I know what it's like to have an awkward neighbour. Mine moved out a year ago & the whole atmosphere lifted. Let us know how Maisie gets on

I have started just getting her to stay in the hall with her kong even while im in the other room, i have started to close the door so that she cant see me im hoping this weekend to start leaving the house and just sitting outside for 1/2hr to hopefully come back in to an empty kong and quiet maisie!! Our neighbour retaliates by playing loud music and having parties every weekend. Shes getting spayed beginning of May not sure if that will help with this or not will def help with the Phantom pregnancy. thanks for your words & advice everyone

It must be so worrying, just keep it nice & slow. Kong's are brill I think for when you have to go out. Let us know how things go, Maisie is beautiful

Maisie seemed better this morning when i was leaving for work shes loving the kong stuffed with biscuits and meat paste she was sitting in her bed waiting for me to leave so she could get it hopefully there was no crying after she had finished it - i've started leaving the radio on for her aswell so fingers crossed shes a bit better

That sounds promising. Well done for working on things with Maisie, sounds like it's starting to pay off

Does sound like progress has been made

Excellent news!

Major set back today - left for work as normal father in law comes and let maisie out at 12 then take her back about 2 for OH getting home at 3 this is when hes on an early. I gets to work gets a text from my friend to say our neighbour is slating us on FB saying that maisie has been howling all morning. She went a big walk this morning ran about like she normally does, she didnt look stressed when i left she got her knog and a denta stick as usual. I hate the thought of our neighbour slating us all over FB, I hate the thought of Maisie being stressed out and howling, Not really sure if she has been howling have asked other neighbour who we are friends with to see if she has been - is there anything our horrible neighbour can do if she decides to take it further? She has never came to our house to discuss maisie or any noise just put it on FB

I don't believe there is anything the neighbour can do. There are 3 jack Russell's at the end of the road I live on that don't get walks, they play in a large garden. Anyway they bark lots & a few neighbours complained. The council asked her to keep the dogs in early morning and late night. Your neighbour sounds awful. Can u leave something recording to see if Maisie really howls? The neighbour probably just likes a fb drama

I have recorded her before and never heard anything, at weekends i leave the house pretend to go to work and sit out the front and heard nothing. None of our other neighbours have complained we have an old woman who has complained about the dogs above her before and she even said 'oh i never heard wee maisie she must be so good' the other neighbour doesnt work and he has never mentioned anything either. The one that complains Via FB is a nightmare we have had trouble with her from day one. Everytime i heard about being the subject of her FB rants i get stressed out

I can see why that would stress you out. If speaking with her doesn't work I'd just ignore her. Try not to care what she writes, don't let it bother you. You aren't doing anything wrong & you love Maisie. Smile at the nasty neighbour & say hello. She will stop if she thinks it's not affecting you at all. My old neighbours used to talk about me behind my back, they made themselves look bad as I was polite to them at school etc. Inside i was upset & stressed but tried not to show it. Maisie being ok is all that matters

Thats what i need to do i know we do everything we can for our dog thats all that matters. Thanks Laura i do struggle with this neighbour but i do just need to be strong and ignore its all.

Don't let her have the importance to stress you out. Treat her as a minor inconvenience. People who rant on fb make themselves look like attention seekers

The other thing is to try and take the wind out of her sails a bit. Leave her a very polite note saying you understand she's been hearing Maisie still and it would be helpful if she could record her and keep a log of the times she's barking, so you can hear how bad it is for her.

If Maisie isn't barking she won't be able to do it and it might shut her up, and if she is and it if really is bad then you'll know. Equally, if she did decide to take it up with Environmental Health, they would be less likely to persue it if you are taking active steps to work with her.

My guess is that's the last thing she'll expect you to do and it might just wrong foot her into silence.

As for FB - it's the work of the devil sometimes. Don't let it bother you, it's just her way of making herself feel important/hard done by.

Liz that is a terrific idea. A copy of the note would be good to keep

Hi Liz, what a good idea unsure my OH will be happy to do that though just because of the way she has behaved with us ( she parties and plays loud music then argues with her partner till the early hours most weekends!) It all seems to have turned very sour which is just a nightmare situation,

I used to have a neighbour from hell. Other than getting the police to give her a verbal warning over physical harassment (she would drive her car at me when I was walking the dogs and threw horse poo over the fence), we smiled sweetly, remained polite and let nothing she did wind us up. She was after an effing match over the fence, or me bursting into tears or something. Not giving her what she wanted made her behaviour pointless and she eventually stopped (then died, a blessing I have to say).

It's like training a dog or a horse, you need to work out what response you give to their behaviour that will get you what you want. In this case, if the neighbour is trying to upset and cause friction, then being polite and cooperative will make their negative behaviour pointless/counter productive. Or at least that's the theory, anyway!

Plus, of course, it gives you a feeling that you are controlling the situation despite what they think - and smug satisfaction when it works.

This ones nice as pie when you see her then she would go in and send us a message on FB having a go at us about noise of the dog - we have since both blocked her and said to her if its really that bad then come and speak to us - she did say that she was calling the SSPCA i told her that was fine feel free to call them - she never has.