[eagerinsight]

I love my 6 month old soooo much, but his behavior problems are responsible for my final warning of eviction! He is very lovable, but clingy. If my wife or I get leave a room he follows, if I stand up he stands up, he's like a shadow.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Problem</span>
How can I get him to relax and not follow us everywhere? This behavior manifests into a separation anxiety problem. When we leave him alone, all hell breaks loose. He will bark and howl (you probably know how loud he can get) for hours. I guess after 4 months of this everyday our neighbors have had enough and have formally complained to management many times. After 25 complaints from over 5 different neighbors management is threatening eviction if we cannot control his barking.

When he was younger we confined him to a xpen with his crate attached, and he barked and howled. So now we let him roam the house because he learned how to climb over baby gates and xpens, but now he howls directly at the door and no matter how well we puppy proof, he manages to destroys everything he finds, my IPHONE! We've tried desensitizing exercises, walking him for an hour before we leave, calming aids and spray anti bark collars, nothing helps. Is it time for medication? He is scheduled for neutering in 2 weeks will this help?

 

[Smeagle]

What do you do to keep him occupied when you leave?

He may be better with another dog for company.

Using tools like correction collars for separation anxiety is never a good idea, because you are punishing a behaviour that stems from fear/anxiety. E-collars, spray collars etc only work if the dog's behaviour is stemming from over confidence.

 

[silleb]

How about taking him to doggy daycare several days a week?

 

[Mel14]

You could try getting a crate for him. I crate my dog when I leave and he settles right down when he goes in it.

 

[eagerinsight]

When we leave, we leave him with a house full of chew toys and rawhide's.

I think he definitely has a dominance issue, no matter how much I assert my alpha status he still believes he's top dog.

We don't have the money for daycare.

I don't want to leave him in the crate for 8 hours, we leave his crate out and open and he sleeps in it. Initially we crated him but he still freaked out, even though he loves hanging out in it when we are home.

 

[beagletails]

Have you tried leaving a t.v. or radio for him? I don't know that it would help, but maybe.

Also fill a few kong toys with his kibble/treats and liver paste then freeze it. That will give him something to do for awhile.

I know how tight money is for everyone, but have you considered hiring a neighborhood teen or a real dog walker to come over at some point during the day and take the dog out for a little exercise? That might also help.

Good luck to you. I hope things work out okay.

 

[eagerinsight]

His anxiety is so bad that he will leave his kong alone, even though its full of his favorite liver treats. We leave ESPN on tv when we leave.

We have a dog walker that comes around noon, she says that she gets yelled at when she arrives, they walk he calms down, she leaves he barks?

Its very strange to be yelled at by a dog when you come home, he will bark at us with a totally different type of bark.

 

[randyc]

Our first didn't bark until we had her for two months. And then it was only at a soccer ball in the front yard. She was always quiet. Neighbors (we live in a condo) remarked on how quiet she was for a Beagle.

Once the second came, she barks more. Usually at him because he has the bone she wants. The little guy gets a bit anxious when we leave, but is quite. he will whimper at most. He quiets down quick and crawls into Josies crate with her to nap.

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: Mel14You could try getting a crate for him. I crate my dog when I leave and he settles right down when he goes in it.

It is just my personal opinion but I would NEVER crate a dog for such a long period. Dogs need mental and physical stimulation and they cannot get that being crate for so many hours.

Originally Posted By: eagerinsightWhen we leave, we leave him with a house full of chew toys and rawhide's.

I think he definitely has a dominance issue, no matter how much I assert my alpha status he still believes he's top dog.

There are a lot of training programs you can incorporate every day to combat these issues, including nothing in life is free and triangle of temptation (links below).

I would also consider leaving him with a nice chewy raw bone, such as a marrow bone or something like a raw lamb shank that will take him a while to get through.

http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=nilif.html

http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=tot.html

 

[Murphys Dad]

Oh how I can sympathize with you. Jersey has the exact same problem. Our trainer recommended doing short practice leaves with Jersey. Start out by putting the dog into a sit and stay. Give a treat. Work on increasing the distance he'll stay. Then work on going into another room, then out the house door and right back in. Keep doing that, increasing the increments of time. Eventually, the dog should be able to be left alone for long periods.

Now, did this work for us? Not really. We never really dedicated ourselves to working on the training. Sheer human laziness on our part. So now Jersey goes to doggy day care and spends a day or two a week with my aunt. I did start to see a change for the time we worked on it though, so I'm sure that if we weren't so lax about working on this part of Jersey's training, that we would have made a lot more progress.

 

[Mel14]

Originally Posted By: Smeagle

Originally Posted By: Mel14You could try getting a crate for him. I crate my dog when I leave and he settles right down when he goes in it.

It is just my personal opinion but I would NEVER crate a dog for such a long period. Dogs need mental and physical stimulation and they cannot get that being crate for so many hours.

During the day he is crated for maybe 3 hours at most.

 

[Erin]

We haven't really had this kind of a problem, but for the most part have always had two dogs. When we went to the shelter to adopt a dog, Daisy and Rocky had come in together. We decided that since at some point my husband and I would both be working we should get both of them to keep each other company. We were also in an apartment when we first got them and didn't have too much trouble. I really think they kept each other company. If we take Daisy to the vet and leave Rocky at home he wigs out, barking and howling. But as long as they're together when we leave they're fine. When we moved we decided to rent a house so that we didn't take a chance bothering an apartment neighbor. We were able to rent a house for not much more than the apartment cost. Have you ever seen the Dog Whisperer or the show It's Me or the Dog? They may have some good suggestions to help you. Good luck!

 

[Brien]

First off, I think you're doing a great job eagerinsight! I think you're doing everything we do and I would do in your situation. I read through some of the other suggestions and there are some good ideas there too.

Bodie is also like a shadow. The only time he isn't is if he's in a deep sleep. Otherwise, he'll wake up and follow you into another room or wherever you're going. We're fortunately that we have a house so he can roam around outside a lot of times and give him that freedom he craves.

There are easy fixes for barking and misbehaving when you are home to correct the behavior. But when you're away that's the difficult thing. I recently saw a device in a dog supply catalog that will pickup a dogs bark and then play a high pitch sound that dogs don't like. I know very little about these types of devices but perhaps you can do a little research and see if it would be appropriate. I saw two, one of which looked like a birdhouse and was around $50.

Good luck and post back how things go.

 

[Smeagle]

Originally Posted By: Brien & Bodie
There are easy fixes for barking and misbehaving when you are home to correct the behavior. But when you're away that's the difficult thing. I recently saw a device in a dog supply catalog that will pickup a dogs bark and then play a high pitch sound that dogs don't like. I know very little about these types of devices but perhaps you can do a little research and see if it would be appropriate. I saw two, one of which looked like a birdhouse and was around $50

Corrections are great and useful for the right situation, but are not good for any behaviour that stems from fear or anxiety - I would happily use an anti-bark collar on my beagle when she barks because in her situation, the barking stems from over confidence (i.e. she wants something she can't have and barks because of it). If you use a correctional tool on an anxious or fearful dog, you can run the risk of compounding that fear.