Solution for dog anxiety?

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Feb 27, 2018
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Idaho
I have a year and a half old german shepherd and pit mix and she has severe separation anxiety that we need to get under control.

For example I left her in my room for 10 minutes while I took a shower and she managed to shred half of my memory foam topper.

She has a crate for when we go out shopping and she managed to shred the plastic trays so we replaced it with plywood which she also shredded. Today when I went to the store she broke out of the crate and totally bent the door on it.

She's socialized and everything, she's walked regularly and played with and when I'm home she gets to free roam the house so I don't know why she is doing this.
 
Usually they grow out of it I think. That’s what my dog done when she was a puppy as she got older she has calmed down a lot and just relaxes then I come home and she runs too me so I don’t think hers is very serious anymore like it used to be.
 
Have a husky that went through some serious separation anxiety (we are beyond that now, thankfully!). There is no easy fix, each dog is different. Without getting into a ton of detail, our husky was perfectly crate trained as a puppy. No issue being left alone for months until one day something changed and he was no longer having it. Breaking out, completely stressed out, chewing bars, pooping in crate, etc... Could no longer use the crate without potential for him to hurt himself. When we tried to leave him out of the crate, he went after the doors we would come/go in. It was a battle to say the least. We setup webcams and I was running home a few times a day to stop him from destroying something or trying to escape the house. It was very stressful.

Mind you, we only use a crate during puppyhood. As soon as they can, they have free-roam from then on out. But he was a stubborn one (as Huskies are!).

He just didn't want to be alone. Thankfully, we had help from my mom to stop by and dog sit for a few weeks to reduce his anxiety/stress. Eventually, it led to getting medication from the vet to sedate him while we were gone (Trazodone). Makes him sleepy and groggy and this was a game changer.

So we did that for a few weeks until we could 'retrain' him to be content with being alone by himself. I then weened him off the medication (half to quarter dose), in which he was fine being alone. Of course, along with medication, some positive reinforcement and other types of training in conjunction (leaving for short periods of time so it wasn't always a long time, filling kongs with treats anytime we left, not making a "scene" when coming/going, etc...).

Sometimes, you just have to use medication though. It was the only thing that worked for my dog. He was only on it for a few months, now he is off it completely and content as can be being home alone. Sprawled on the couch, sleeping all day. No issue at all. He just turned 2, for what it's worth. Our battle went on for probably six months or so, it was rough! But thankfully, now he is not a single worry when not home thankfully! We still do have webcams to watch him, just in case. But I think we are in the clear for good now, no issues for about a year now.
 
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Sometimes they grow out of it, other times you need to do the obvious. Give them a choice of what to chew or play with. The bigger the dog the tougher the toys must be. If it's a ball or some other chew toy ,they will opt to be occupied with it, over your shoes. It's not a bad idea to remove anything you don't want chewed up, when your not there. Alot of praise goes a long way, but only when they do something worthy of it. Most dogs want to please you, so you have to remember to reward them for being good. After a while you can cut back on the reward /treats. You need to get them into the habit of getting rewarded with just praise and a good rub. They look to you as the leader of the pack, so you have to make sure you never ease up being the boss.,,,
 
I was watching a dog trainer talk about this. He said the best thing to do is just leave them and not make a big deal about it. He said when you make a big deal about leaving them and assuring them they'll be ok, the dogs hear a dramatic good bye and it causes stress. Same when you come home. Making a big deal when you come home causes the dog stress that they interpret that you had a stressful time out of the house.

I've also heard good things about those cuddle calming sweaters and cannabis stuff.
 
GSD are working dogs and need to be exercised. They also need consistency. I have one. She acts out if she misses her routine. Perhaps; you can spend quality time with her. GSD need discipline and will try to exercise dominance. I bought a book years ago and it affirms aforementioned. Every GSD has it's unique attributes.
 
My old dog from childhood started to get dementia and have separation anxiety and would be up panting by the bed all night. The vet prescribed him Xanax and my mom would go to Walgreens and pickup his RX for Zeus “Dog” Last name on the label. The Xanax worked great and he was a normal dog as long as he was medicated. Well one time my mom was out of pills and the vet office was closed. She begged the person at Walgreens and they gave her a few pills to get her and Zeus thru the weekend. My mom was so grateful and the pharmacy tech really put their job on the line by doing that. The person probably thought my mom was a drug addict. RIP Zeus.
 
We had a GSD that was like that, but not bad enough to shred things.

Our pug was his buddy. He was a racing horse and she was the the calming goat. Our house cat was good friends with him too.
 
We had to put two of our dogs on Prozac over the years. Completely changed them for the better. No more shredding furniture and cushions, no more destruction while we were gone, no more freaking out at fireworks or thunderstorms, etc. I was worried at first, I didn't want to create some drugged up zombie dog that was just... existing. But it really transformed them and I believe made their life better.
 
GSD are working dogs and need to be exercised. They also need consistency. I have one. She acts out if she misses her routine. Perhaps; you can spend quality time with her. GSD need discipline and will try to exercise dominance. I bought a book years ago and it affirms aforementioned. Every GSD has it's unique attributes.

This. They must be exercised every day vigorously.
Working dogs get a little nutty if the get bored and don't get exercised.

They need a job. A dog back pack with water bottles, to take on walks.

Frisbee work, or tennis balls.
 
A good trainer, videos on it, a companion dog.
A companion works out great. Instead of destroying the house they destroy each other and then take a nap. Just joking they are best buds and really chill.
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My old dog from childhood started to get dementia and have separation anxiety and would be up panting by the bed all night. The vet prescribed him Xanax and my mom would go to Walgreens and pickup his RX for Zeus “Dog” Last name on the label. The Xanax worked great and he was a normal dog as long as he was medicated. Well one time my mom was out of pills and the vet office was closed. She begged the person at Walgreens and they gave her a few pills to get her and Zeus thru the weekend. My mom was so grateful and the pharmacy tech really put their job on the line by doing that. The person probably thought my mom was a drug addict. RIP Zeus.

My old German Shepherd will also start panting especially before bed time around 9 PM.

Maybe she is also getting dog dementia ?
 
My old German Shepherd will also start panting especially before bed time around 9 PM.

Maybe she is also getting dog dementia ?

Possibly? I can’t say if the vet called it dementia exactly but it was something with aging and reverting to acting like a puppy. He would pant and pace at night that there was zero chance of sleep. The Xanax worked great. He would gulp down a ton of water and eat all his food when the Xanax kicked in. Otherwise, he would forget to eat or didn’t have an appetite.
 
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