separation anxiety

[molmin 0]

Hi to everyone!!! I have sweet little Shih tzu named Molly, who gets very upsest when I leave the house.

She trembles and hyperventilates and then she gets so upset that she poops, even if she has gone out and pooped before. When she thinks I am leaving, she will not come in the house and just freezes and shakes and I have to pick her up to bring her in. I have used trainers, behaviorists and tried all kinds of things. I even adopted another dog to help. She only does this here, and when she is at someone else's home and I leave, she is fine. Even if they go out she is fine. It is only here and with me that she is so anxious. Someone said I should rehome her and give her a new start..........but I do not know. Anyone else have this problem?

thanks!!!!!!!

[xr4man 7]

i can only share my experience with my rottweiler. she would get super scared when i'd leave the house, even for just 5 minutes, and would poo in the corner. if i left her in her crate she'd be just fine, even for up to 9 hours. once i she ended up in the crate for 14 hours, but that was only once and i felt so bad but she was still fine when i got home and hadn't made a mess or anything.

anyway, long story short, i couldn't leave her out but she had no problems at all being alone in her crate.

my shih-tzu is the exact opposite though. if i crate him, he flips out and poos in his cage and then gets it all over himself. but he is just fine when i leave him out.

so, have you tried getting her used to a crate and leaving her in there when you leave the house?

[molmin 0]

thanks . Yes I have tried the crate and she flips out and has pooped in it. I tried the kitchen and she got so scared that she had a hard time after going through it to go outside. It is funny, because except when I go out, she is the calmest and sweetest little thing.

[ParadiseTzu 11,275]

I'm sorry you are having this problem. I have the same one. When I first got Sassy Mae, she was nice and crate trained and that helped tremendously with housebreaking. It nagged at me tho that crating a dog when I was home was the same as leaving a baby in a bed for hours to entertain itself and I never did my babies that way. Plus we rarely leave Sassy Mae at home anyway, we go alot of places that accept dogs. Soooooooooo, I created my own monster. She does however, seem happy to stay in the back yard so we at least have that option. Then I have to pick the grass out of her for 20 minutes. but hey, that's my fault.

Edited March 22, 2011 by ParadiseTzu

[xr4man 7]

a suggestion that was made to me a while back when i was having issues putting hunter in the crate when i left home was to play opera at a low level all the time so he could get used to it and then play it when i left the house. i didn't get real far with it because i discovered he was ok as long as he wasn't in the crate, but that might be something to try as well.

[mom2Gizmo 24]

Have you thought of using a DAP diffuser? Look them up online. I hear a lot of great things about them.

[FairyTail Josette 14]

Our Maltese, Cody is a nervous little guy. A good friend of mine just recommended this to me this morning. She and another gal swear by it.

http://www.happytailsspa.com/Sleepytime-Tonic

Since the anxious behavior only occurs when you leave, a friend would have to stay behind to see if this sleepy tonic actually works. It is said to be safe.

There's another thread on here about a pup having separation anxiety when they leave home. Read through that, there are a lot of great suggestions to do when you are leaving.

http://shihtzuchattertwo.sunlitesplace.com...showtopic=17321

Edited March 23, 2011 by FairyTail Josette