Do you have a dog with separation anxiety? While I have worked with many dogs with separation anxiety (even dogs coming to stay with me to work on it) but I have never OWNED a dog that had separation anxiety, until a couple of months ago. Most of you probably caught my blog entry a couple of weeks ago about adopting my new German Shepherd Dog "Ziva", in that entry, I mentioned that she had separation anxiety and escapism. This week's entry will be about the beginning of our journey together through this issue. But before you read on, if you feel that your dog MAY have separation anxiety, please read my previous blog post about what separation anxiety is here: Separation Anxiety
When I first laid eyes on Ziva, the right side of her face was completely skinned raw from trying to get out of a kennel while she was at her foster home and she had been known to jump a fence or two. Being very familiar with the breed, I was not surprised at all that, without proper training, that she was not comfortable (frantic, even) when left by herself. It has been my experience that many novice dog owners get a German Shepherd thinking that, because of their size, coat, etc., that they MUST be outside dogs. In fact, German Shepherds LIVE to be with their owner, if you are outside they want to be out, if you are inside, they want to be inside. So physically, GSD's look like they are outside dogs but psychologically and emotionally they are inside dogs. I am convinced that this is what happened to Ziva in her previous life. Someone got a GSD thinking they were outside dogs, threw her in the yard by herself and proceeded to teach her how to escape. Okay, there wasn't someone out there literally showing her how to get out and rewarding her, BUT, by leaving her to her own devices, they were in effect, teaching her how to escape.
At my house, my dog's crates are on the back porch so when they are resting they do not get disturbed (I do have a 17 month old son who is VERY active!). But when I brought Ziva home the first thing I did was bring her crate into the room we are in the most. This happens to be the tiny kitchen/dining room so imagine a German Shepherd sized crate in the middle of the room we cook and eat in. My husband is a saint! I wanted to be able to work with her being in the crate, in the same room with us before I ever even considered putting her on the back porch. Also, the crate is a wire crate that is higher guage metal, and has a special door that will not give when she pushes on it. My goal was to take small enough steps that she didn't feel the anxiety and try to escape but it was also important to have her in a kennel she couldn't get out of to break her habit of escaping.
However, even before that, I started by simply teaching her a "kennel" command. My first goal was to get her to go into her crate on command. If every time you were to go into your bedroom, you got shoved in, you might not have a great feeling about your resting spot either. I also need to stress that this needs to be done separate from actually shutting them in the crate and needs to have a great deal of repetition and sessions. It is simply saying the "kennel" command and tossing a treat in the crate, allowing them to go in and get it and come right back out. We worked at this level until she was going into the crate on command without having to throw a treat in to coax her. I believe this process took about 3 days but every dog should be treated as an individual.
The other project we worked on for several days was making sure that EVERYTHING good happened in her crate. Building a positive association with the crate by pairing with good things. She was fed in her crate, got treats in her crate, chew bones in her crate, anything she valued she got in her crate. It is important to point out that she was not shut in the crate during this time. The door was open and she was choosing to be in the crate.
During the first week in her new home, she was with me or my husband 24/7, sleeping in bed with us, laying next to us on the couch, following me into EVERY room. Finally, once she OFFERING me the behavior of going into her crate (when we passed by the crate she went into it without being asked). I knew it was time to start working on crate training. Many people who have a dog with separation anxiety are afraid to crate train them, thinking it will most CERTAINLY emotionally scar the dog. However, crate training can actually HELP communicate to the dog what we are trying to tell them which is "It is OKAY to be alone sometimes". After all, they are den animals. If you have further questions about crate training, check out my previous blog entry : Crate Training Puppy Prison or Pooch Palace?
We began by working on short increments in her crate (by short increments I mean, 10 seconds) rewarding her for good behavior in her crate and addressing bad behavior. Communicating to her that bad behavior did not get her out of her crate but good behavior COULD (good behavior cannot guarantee to be let out but bad behavior NEVER works). The key here is small enough increments that their anxiety does not rise to a level that they are not able to learn what you are trying to teach them, even if that's 2 seconds at a time. Since we did our foundation work about getting her to LOVE her crate, she did really well in this area of her training! She was very soon spending good, quiet, lengths of time in her crate but still in the same room as I was in (probably around 30 minutes at a time). She was still sleeping in bed with us, as I was certain she was not ready to spend the night in her crate.
Ziva's second week, I was ready to conquer a night time routine with her. I moved her enormous crate into the spare room where it could sit right next to the bed and I spent the next week sleeping downstairs. Once again, my husband is a saint! Since we had done our foundation work with making her LOVE her crate and spending short increments of time during the day, once again, this went surprisingly well. (See a pattern developing here? If not, check out my blog entry: Are you spending more time teaching what it IS, or what it ISN'T?). We had a few bouts of whining but for the most part she did well since she was literally right next to me by the bed.
So that's what the first 2 weeks of working with a dog with separation anxiety COULD look like. Every dog is an individual and their progress will depend on their past association with the crate and their personality. I find that the two biggest mistakes most people dealing with separation/crate anxiety are: 1. Underestimating what "small but successful" looks like. It took me a week to even begin shutting her in the crate. It took me 2 weeks to get her to sleep in the crate right next to my bed. Not spend the day in the crate, sleep in the crate.
2 . Only putting the dog in the crate when you are leaving. The dog then builds a negative association with the crate undoing all of the positive association we have been working on. It is tempting to want them to be out with you as much as possible when you are home but I promise letting them spend time in the crate with you there is integral.
Stay tuned to hear about my adventures with working on her staying in the yard (especially during the fireworks 4th of July)!
When I first laid eyes on Ziva, the right side of her face was completely skinned raw from trying to get out of a kennel while she was at her foster home and she had been known to jump a fence or two. Being very familiar with the breed, I was not surprised at all that, without proper training, that she was not comfortable (frantic, even) when left by herself. It has been my experience that many novice dog owners get a German Shepherd thinking that, because of their size, coat, etc., that they MUST be outside dogs. In fact, German Shepherds LIVE to be with their owner, if you are outside they want to be out, if you are inside, they want to be inside. So physically, GSD's look like they are outside dogs but psychologically and emotionally they are inside dogs. I am convinced that this is what happened to Ziva in her previous life. Someone got a GSD thinking they were outside dogs, threw her in the yard by herself and proceeded to teach her how to escape. Okay, there wasn't someone out there literally showing her how to get out and rewarding her, BUT, by leaving her to her own devices, they were in effect, teaching her how to escape.
At my house, my dog's crates are on the back porch so when they are resting they do not get disturbed (I do have a 17 month old son who is VERY active!). But when I brought Ziva home the first thing I did was bring her crate into the room we are in the most. This happens to be the tiny kitchen/dining room so imagine a German Shepherd sized crate in the middle of the room we cook and eat in. My husband is a saint! I wanted to be able to work with her being in the crate, in the same room with us before I ever even considered putting her on the back porch. Also, the crate is a wire crate that is higher guage metal, and has a special door that will not give when she pushes on it. My goal was to take small enough steps that she didn't feel the anxiety and try to escape but it was also important to have her in a kennel she couldn't get out of to break her habit of escaping.
However, even before that, I started by simply teaching her a "kennel" command. My first goal was to get her to go into her crate on command. If every time you were to go into your bedroom, you got shoved in, you might not have a great feeling about your resting spot either. I also need to stress that this needs to be done separate from actually shutting them in the crate and needs to have a great deal of repetition and sessions. It is simply saying the "kennel" command and tossing a treat in the crate, allowing them to go in and get it and come right back out. We worked at this level until she was going into the crate on command without having to throw a treat in to coax her. I believe this process took about 3 days but every dog should be treated as an individual.
The other project we worked on for several days was making sure that EVERYTHING good happened in her crate. Building a positive association with the crate by pairing with good things. She was fed in her crate, got treats in her crate, chew bones in her crate, anything she valued she got in her crate. It is important to point out that she was not shut in the crate during this time. The door was open and she was choosing to be in the crate.
During the first week in her new home, she was with me or my husband 24/7, sleeping in bed with us, laying next to us on the couch, following me into EVERY room. Finally, once she OFFERING me the behavior of going into her crate (when we passed by the crate she went into it without being asked). I knew it was time to start working on crate training. Many people who have a dog with separation anxiety are afraid to crate train them, thinking it will most CERTAINLY emotionally scar the dog. However, crate training can actually HELP communicate to the dog what we are trying to tell them which is "It is OKAY to be alone sometimes". After all, they are den animals. If you have further questions about crate training, check out my previous blog entry : Crate Training Puppy Prison or Pooch Palace?
We began by working on short increments in her crate (by short increments I mean, 10 seconds) rewarding her for good behavior in her crate and addressing bad behavior. Communicating to her that bad behavior did not get her out of her crate but good behavior COULD (good behavior cannot guarantee to be let out but bad behavior NEVER works). The key here is small enough increments that their anxiety does not rise to a level that they are not able to learn what you are trying to teach them, even if that's 2 seconds at a time. Since we did our foundation work about getting her to LOVE her crate, she did really well in this area of her training! She was very soon spending good, quiet, lengths of time in her crate but still in the same room as I was in (probably around 30 minutes at a time). She was still sleeping in bed with us, as I was certain she was not ready to spend the night in her crate.
Ziva's second week, I was ready to conquer a night time routine with her. I moved her enormous crate into the spare room where it could sit right next to the bed and I spent the next week sleeping downstairs. Once again, my husband is a saint! Since we had done our foundation work with making her LOVE her crate and spending short increments of time during the day, once again, this went surprisingly well. (See a pattern developing here? If not, check out my blog entry: Are you spending more time teaching what it IS, or what it ISN'T?). We had a few bouts of whining but for the most part she did well since she was literally right next to me by the bed.
So that's what the first 2 weeks of working with a dog with separation anxiety COULD look like. Every dog is an individual and their progress will depend on their past association with the crate and their personality. I find that the two biggest mistakes most people dealing with separation/crate anxiety are: 1. Underestimating what "small but successful" looks like. It took me a week to even begin shutting her in the crate. It took me 2 weeks to get her to sleep in the crate right next to my bed. Not spend the day in the crate, sleep in the crate.
2 . Only putting the dog in the crate when you are leaving. The dog then builds a negative association with the crate undoing all of the positive association we have been working on. It is tempting to want them to be out with you as much as possible when you are home but I promise letting them spend time in the crate with you there is integral.
Stay tuned to hear about my adventures with working on her staying in the yard (especially during the fireworks 4th of July)!
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