Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 10/24/2008

Question
Hi there, I rescued a cross lab/ staff bull terrier 1 year ago, making her (we think) about 2 years old now, when we first got her she destroyed the furniture when left alone, so we crate trained her, recently after having her nearly 1 year we decided to see if she had grown out of the behaviour,  for nearly 2 weeks she was great, we left her kongs filled with pate, and strong chew bones to chew on, on the 12th day i left her for just over 1 hr and she had torn the leather armchair and pulled the stuffing out.  I hate having to crate her for long spells while im at work, and am seriously thinking of rehoming her as i feel really cruel, i love her to bits and my question is this, will she ever grow out of this and is there anthing else i can do to stop this behaviour as i have tried already all the tips on different toys, repellant sprays etc,?

Thanks for your time
Julie

Answer
Hi, Julie,

Thanks for the question.

Separation anxiety is basically a panic disorder. The dog feels thrown off balance emotionally by your absence and goes into a panic state. She probably also feels real, palpable physical pain. At least it FEELS real to her. (There was a study done at UCLA that shows there's a direct connection in the brain between feelings of social exclusion and feelings of actual physical pain).

Here are the basics:

Don't give her physical affection in lieu of play. Dogs are engineered to reduce tension through their teeth, not through being cuddled and petted. Pit bulls and Labs are both VERY social breeds, and they'll wheedle their way into your heart any way they can. Sometimes, though, we go overboard with the physical affection. It makes US feel good, but it also makes the dog feel good. The problem is, when stress levels rise and you're not there to pet her and comfort her -- BANG -- the panic sets in. So replace as much physical affection as you can with vigorous outdoor activities where your dog gets to bite a toy in play. The more she can bite a toy in play, and the harder she bites it, the more emotionally balanced she'll be.

Go back to using the crate, but have a friend or neighbor come take her for a long walk or play session during the middle part of the day so that she's not left alone for more than 4-5 hrs.

Get a DAP dispenser. They don't always work but it's worth a shot.

Hand feed her outdoors every day using what's called the pushing exercise (see below).

Teach her how to hold a long down/stay as part of a game of tug or fetch. Here are some links that might be helpful:

http://www.tiny.cc/sepanxiety

http://www.tiny.cc/SwimUpstream (pushing exercise)
                  
http://www.tiny.cc/tug (tug, a la Neil Sattin)

http://www.tiny.cc/MythofTug

Finally, don't ever scold her or punish her for anything. She was probably punished physically (i.e., she was hit) when she was a puppy. The trauma of that mistreatment is part of her panic disorder. Anytime she does something wrong, try praising her instead of scolding her.

http://www.tiny.cc/praisetocorrect (using praise as a correction)

She's a good girl, and she loves you with all her heart. If you have any questions, let me know.

I hope this helps!
LCK
http://www.LeeCharlesKelley.com
“Changing the World, One Dog at a Time”