Separation Anxiety?

[coalchaser]

I am beginning to think my 14 week old BC mix has separation anxiety. She actually is doing alright being left in her crate, but when she is out and about and someone leaves the room, she goes to the door and barks like mad, and will keep it up for a good while. It doesn't matter if the person goes to the bathroom or leaves the house, her reaction is the same. It also doesn't matter if there are other people in the room still, all it takes is one person leaving. I am concerned that she is driving the neighbors (as well as us!) crazy. I am doing my best to never come back into the room while she is still barking, but waiting til she's calm doesn't seem to be clicking for her. Has anyone dealt with separation anxiety before? What's the best way to tackle this?

[Gloria Atwater]

My first instinct would be to tell her to stop it and knock it off. It doesn't sound like separation anxiety if it's randomly when any person (not just you) leaves the room. It sounds more like she's being a little spoiled at not going with them.

Of course, I may be wrong, but that's just my first impluse. Have you tried correcting her and re-directing her to something else, like redirecting to a chew toy or otherwise removing her from the door through which the person left? Possibly even removing her and crating her when she does it?

I'm sure others will have better ideas, but again, if it's not just you but anybody leaving the room, I don't read that as sepration anxiety so much as being a bit of a brat.

~ Gloria

[coalchaser]

Thanks for the input! I have just been ignoring her when she starts barking so that she won't think barking gets her attention, although maybe I should have been correcting her after all? What is the best way to correct for barking? The few times I've tried any sort of correction ("No," shaking a coin can, etc.) she hasn't seemed to care and just keeps barking. Separation anxiety or being a brat - either way I'd like to nip this in the bud!

[Gloria Atwater]

Have you tried putting her in a crate when she goes into one of her barking frenzies? If every time she goes bark-nutty, she gets (quietly and methodically) put in a crate, she might get over it.

Also, perhaps your corrections haven't been emphatic enough. I don't mean terrify your dog! But perhaps she's just not recognizing that you are correcting her. What is your body language? Are you wholly focused on her and what you are doing with her, or are you harried and partly distracted by the whole situation?
What is your tone of voice? If you're shouting at her or using a shrill voice, that may just wind her up. So perhaps try for a deeper, growly voice and a very commanding tone, "NO! Be quiet!" And also step between her and the door to block her fixation, and step into her, demanding she back away.

I'm sure others will have even better ideas, but those are the first things to my mind.

~ Gloria

[GentleLake]

The recommendation I've gotten for demand barking -- and I think that's what this may be rather than separation anxiety -- is to quickly say "Time Out!" and whisk the dog directly into its crate with no further fuss or fanfare. Saying "Time Out!" marks the behavior that leads to loss of freedom. Essentially a clicker, but in this case it's to mark a negative behavior and pair it with a loss of reward, or IOW, a negative punishment (I think that's the right term. I'm sure someone will correct me if it's not.)

 

The dog must be quiet in the crate before it's released for this to work. And it's going to take a number of repetitions before the cause and effect sinks in. How many will depend of the dog's personality, age and ability to grasp the concept.

 

For this to work, though, you have to be committed to doing this each and every time it happens. Slack off and the dog will be self-rewarded for barking, and intermittent reinforcement actually strengthens behavior. So you'll be shooting yourself in the foot if you make mistakes with this by allowing it to happen.