Adopted beagle help - severe sep. anxiety!

[fall03]

Hi guys, if this is the wrong forum, I'm sorry! We adopted a neutered male beagle two months ago. We were told by his foster that he was 5 but his vet records in TX show he is actually 8. The dog is very sweet and mostly mellow but has terrible, horrible separation anxiety. I am a work from home mom of three kids, two of those kids will be going back to school on Tuesday.

We have let him have the run of the downstairs and when left alone, he would spray/mark things like books, toys etc. So we mainly have him gated in the large kitchen, where he never sprays or pees. Little by little we let him come back into the living areas while supervised. He is mostly fine, but would occasionally spray/mark things. The real trouble is when we leave the house. We leave without much fuss (for a family of 5) and have tried leaving Kong treat balls, toys, etc. but he howls, barks and cries endlessly. He will also jump the gates in the kitchen then pee and mark EVERYTHING. Today he peed under the dining room table, all over my daughter's baby doll stroller, a plastic toy and into a wooden dollhouse. I cannot trust him alone in the house at all.

We have tried the crate but he was clearly not ever crate trained and the crate made his anxiety so much worse he actually pooped in the house as soon as he got out of the crate

Trainer's advice has been mostly to confine and let him roam little by little while supervised, not make a fuss going in /coming out, but nothing makes a difference. I'm at the end of my rope and with the kids going off to school I'm nervous he's going to destroy my entire house. Advice? The dog was neutered when his owners surrendered him in TX in May, not as a pup if that helps to know.

Edited to add that we walk him 3-5 times a day and have a dog walker who comes 3x week to take him on very long walks. We use Nature's Miracle to clean any spray pee.

Any advice welcome!
Thanks!

[lando]

Found this link- hopefully it will help. I personally never experienced marking, but I can relate to the anxiety. Judging from what you wrote, it seems like he's establishing that he is the pack leader. Is there other dogs in the house? Housebroken? Catching him in the act is key to fixing the problem

Hang in there!

Stop your dog from marking inside your house – Urine Marking: Dog Health Information Provided by DoodyCalls Pooper Scooper Service

[fall03]

Thanks - no other dogs but my daughter is 2.5 yrs old and makes a ton of noise, so possible he sees her as another dog. She is also potty training, and a few times he has clearly marked where she had a pee accident, despite the Nature's Miracle and steam cleaning. But today was really bad - he pretty much marked everything that wasn't nailed to the wall - so he is getting worse, not better Thanks for the link!

[brandypup]

Not a lot of time to disect this today but it is sounding more like a training issue then a seperation issue.

it doesn't sound like he is getting out side enough time. And has too much freedome inside.

Ill be back later or tommroow to read more into it. and give 2 cents instead of 1.

[brandypup]

We have let him have the run of the downstairs and when left alone, he would spray/mark things like books, toys etc. So we mainly have him gated in the large kitchen, where he never sprays or pees.
When he has too much freedom it's too much for him. When they have too muich room they use one aprt for potty and the other part is "home. When the area is smaller it's more used for "home" outside that area is used for potty.



Little by little we let him come back into the living areas while supervised. He is mostly fine, but would occasionally spray/mark things.
Very good start however if he was given the chance to pee he wasn't supervised. To supervise he should be leashed to you at all times with this freedom. That way your forced to pay closer attention and can catch incidents much quicker, hence correcting him by taking him outside and rewarding him for the good behavior. that in turn will help train him that inside is a nono, outside is good.

The real trouble is when we leave the house. We leave without much fuss (for a family of 5) and have tried leaving Kong treat balls, toys, etc. but he howls, barks and cries endlessly. He will also jump the gates in the kitchen then pee and mark EVERYTHING.
this sounds more like a board beagle. He needs to be a tired beagle in oder to be happy and relaxed alone. If you can make the gate hire that will help. Or get a sounds deterant that will squeal when he tries to jump the gate.


Today he peed under the dining room table, all over my daughter's baby doll stroller, a plastic toy and into a wooden dollhouse. I cannot trust him alone in the house at all.
It's very possible he was never potty trained or newspaper trained. Paper training teaches them it's ok to pee in the house, outside potty should be the only acceptable training. (nothing you can do about that, what is done is done if that was the case just an FYI note) The fact he is neutered means he is probably not makring unless he was neutered late and never potty trained. Male dogs pee alot and on everything. It's quite normal. HOWEVER you should also make sure that he doesn't have a UTI.

We have tried the crate but he was clearly not ever crate trained and the crate made his anxiety so much worse he actually pooped in the house as soon as he got out of the crate
Board dogs wll whine and howl and try and get out of the crates. Tired dogs will accept it more. Try giving him an hour walk and then work on crate training. Make the crate a happy place. Leavign the door open feed all his meals in there. He should have a set feeding 2 times at the same time every day.

Trainer's advice has been mostly to confine and let him roam little by little while supervised, not make a fuss going in /coming out, but nothing makes a difference. I'm at the end of my rope and with the kids going off to school I'm nervous he's going to destroy my entire house. Advice? The dog was neutered when his owners surrendered him in TX in May, not as a pup if that helps to know.
Honeslty - again it sounds like a lack of training and a lack of excersie. Increase his excersie esepcailly before leaving the house. And potty train him as if he is an 8 week old puppy. OUt every 20 minutes and adjust as needed. reward good potties with an extra 10 minute walk and a treat. No play time outside until ped/pood. (in other words donot let him sniff around for 10 minutes, go out keep him leashed say go potty wait tweo minutes then go back in if no pee. Inside keep him leashed to you. Go back out if he pees YES! treat good boy love love love and a walk so he can sniff around.

Edited to add that we walk him 3-5 times a day and have a dog walker who comes 3x week to take him on very long walks. We use Nature's Miracle to clean any spray pee.
This is a good start. But are those walks just walks or are they actually getting him tired? Bealges are working dogs, they have a stamina that keeps them running for hours upon hours. Like the energise bunnythey can keep going and going. Your long walks should be daily and they are also bonding. So although I admire you for making sure he is walked and getting someone to do it, he may want to be with you as well. SOmethign to try maybe.

If this is seperation anxiety it's only a start and could stillbe caused by boardum. So left to it's self yes it can get worse. Start now with more excerise and a training programyou should nip it in the bud.

Separation Anxiety in Dogs - PAWS Chicago – Chicago's largest No Kill humane and adoption organization

About Dog Separation Anxiety | DailyPuppy.com

ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- Separation Anxiety