# Away from home- what does your fluff do?



## yeagerbum (Apr 20, 2010)

So! I'm wondering how everyone manages to keep their fluffs occupied and relaxed when you're away from home. 

Whenever I go outside, Yeager always barks up a storm unless someone else is there to hold him or give him a treat. Sometimes I stay at the door and listen for a bit, and he quiets down after a good couple minutes of barking. He sounds so upset when he does that, and I'd like to prevent him from becoming so sad. He gets uneasy the moment he sees me change out of my pajamas haha 

Do you guys crate your fluffs when you're out? Or leave them a kong/chewy treats? I already leave him with a lot of toys to play with, and I walk him in the mornings too. I'm trying to find something that's attractive enough that he'd rather go chase after that instead of trying to hold my leg when I head out. He doesn't try to prevent me from leaving when he sees someone stand there with a treat, he'd rather go beg for the treat, but sometimes no one is there to give him a treat!


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Tyler isn't at all treat driven. I think he barked a little bit when I first got him and left him but I've always said to him "Mommy will be home soon." He's a pretty relaxed kind of guy except when I get his harness and leash out.:chili: He sees me get into my shoes (i wear slippers at home) and he's all happy but when I get inside I say "Mommy will be home soon" and he stops in his tracks and just looks at me. I walk down the hall to the elevator and don't hear anything so I think he rests near the door, plays a little, uses the wee wee pads. He's been pretty good that way since we got him at 8 months. He'll be 17 months old tomorrow -YIKES how'd that happen


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## bailey02 (May 1, 2009)

*The only method that works for me is to bride Bailey with a treat. I leave her favorite treat on the couch for her and the TV on the disneychannel. Needless to say I dont leave her in a crate she is free to roam the living room.Now if some else is staying behind in the house with her she is just fine.*


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

I don't really have any solutions for you. Perhaps someone here has a good method to help your dog with separation anxiety.

I crated Nikki when I went out for the first year I had her. I gave her treats right before I left the house. She didn't fuss at all. Funny thing is, even after I stopped crating her, she would go into her crate when I got ready to leave the house because she felt safe there.


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

I have a babygate for the bathroom door that she is confined behind, with her crate inside and pee pad. She does get a small treat for going there, but since we have moved she sometimes barks for a few minutes after we leave  Kong seems to make no difference. It is usually only a few barks. I have waited down the hall to make sure.


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## Johita (Jul 10, 2009)

The last thing I do before I leave for work in the morning is leave Aolani with his breakfast. I used to also leave a couple of treats hidden for him so that he can put his sense of smell to good use. He always loved that game and one time i had not yet left the house and I noticed that he would start eating his breakfast and stop once he knew I had hidden some treats and go looking for his treats instead. Funny thing is when I went upstairs to see if he had finished his breakfast he ran to his bowl becuase he must have thought I was going to take away his food. He LOVES to eat!


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## drclee (Jul 16, 2008)

I always put a treat ball down for Jack & Jill when I leave. Their focus then becomes the treats and not the fact that I'm leaving.


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Welll I have four dogs, so they have others to hang around with. And before I leave I always just act "matter-of-factly" and tell them that I'll be right back. They don't do anything. 

Now Stan is usually home, and he antagonizes Abbey when he goes out.....sometimes he takes her with him, so when he gets his shoes on she starts bouncing around. He makes it hard on himself by standing there for 10 minutes explaining to her why she can't go with him this time.....:blink:....OMG! I tell him time and time again, just go!!!!! and tell her you'll be right back!!!!!! :smilie_tischkante:

My dogs just usually sleep while I'm gone....or bark at boats going by or the UPS man or people walking down the street. Other then that, they're good.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Here is a great book about separation anxiety
Welcome to Dogwise.com
There are many things you can do to desensitize your dog to being alone. I highly recommend getting the book and working through it! The sooner you start the easier positive change will be.


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## yeagerbum (Apr 20, 2010)

Thank you for the responses!! Now I feel less clueless about this situation, it only started about 2 months ago, before that he used to just sit there and watch me leave without making any fuss. I'm going to try to tell him that I'll be back, and maybe find him something tastier. The problem with me giving him the treat before I leave is that he either gobbles up the treat right away and start barking, or ignore the treat completely *headache*. I feel sorry for the poor thing!


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## yeagerbum (Apr 20, 2010)

The A Team said:


> Welll I have four dogs, so they have others to hang around with. And before I leave I always just act "matter-of-factly" and tell them that I'll be right back. They don't do anything.
> 
> Now Stan is usually home, and he antagonizes Abbey when he goes out.....sometimes he takes her with him, so when he gets his shoes on she starts bouncing around. He makes it hard on himself by standing there for 10 minutes explaining to her why she can't go with him this time.....:blink:....OMG! I tell him time and time again, just go!!!!! and tell her you'll be right back!!!!!! :smilie_tischkante:
> 
> My dogs just usually sleep while I'm gone....or bark at boats going by or the UPS man or people walking down the street. Other then that, they're good.


haha! that's funny! I can understand though, sometimes I just stand there and try to tell Yeager that I'm still coming back!


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## diesel (Oct 21, 2008)

I stuff kongs filled with breakfast for my 3 and also leave their new canine genius treat toys stuffed with zuke's minis. I turn on some soothing music so the street noise isn't so noticeable. Lastly, I have verbal cues to let them know how long I'll be gone and I think they understand it: I'll be right back means I'll be gone for a short time (2 hrs or less) and I'll see you later means I'll be gone for the whole work day. I swear my malt Diesel trots off to the sofa if I say I'll be right back, but looks expectantly for his treat toys if I say I'll see you later. 

I went from puppies that would have anxiety and bark in a stressed tone when I left to dogs that get mad when I'm running late because they want their treats!!:chili:

Oh and here are the links to the canine genius toys I mentioned:

Amazon.com: Mike - Connectable Treat Toy Puzzles: Home & Garden

Amazon.com: Canine Genius - Leo Extra Treat Dispensing Dog Toy:…

If it gets too easy for your dog to get the treats out, you can link a couple of them together to increase the difficulty. You need at least one of each kind to do this. Best of all, they're made in the USA :aktion033:


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## yeagerbum (Apr 20, 2010)

jmm said:


> Here is a great book about separation anxiety
> Welcome to Dogwise.com
> There are many things you can do to desensitize your dog to being alone. I highly recommend getting the book and working through it! The sooner you start the easier positive change will be.


ah the phrase "separation anxiety" gives me such a headache! I wish it didn't exist  I've tried a couple of techniques, such as..walking him to tire him out, ignore him for 30 minutes before I leave, regularly leave him in his confined area, rewarding him when he doesn't follow me outside my room door. Luckily he doesn't chew up furniture or soil the carpet, but I'm sure no one enjoys his super nervous barking so I want to stop that as well. I'll continue studying up on it and try to help him!


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## yeagerbum (Apr 20, 2010)

diesel said:


> I stuff kongs filled with breakfast for my 3 and also leave their new canine genius treat toys stuffed with zuke's minis. I turn on some soothing music so the street noise isn't so noticeable. Lastly, I have verbal cues to let them know how long I'll be gone and I think they understand it: I'll be right back means I'll be gone for a short time (2 hrs or less) and I'll see you later means I'll be gone for the whole work day. I swear my malt Diesel trots off to the sofa if I say I'll be right back, but looks expectantly for his treat toys if I say I'll see you later.
> 
> *I went from puppies that would have anxiety and bark in a stressed tone when I left to dogs that get mad when I'm running late because they want their treats!!:chili:*


wow that's so impressive!! I'm crossing my fingers that Yeager would grow out of this anxiety too. ah, and sucks to know that even multiple dogs can have anxiety together. I thought they could keep each other company and more relaxed. thanks for the links!


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## yeagerbum (Apr 20, 2010)

Johita said:


> The last thing I do before I leave for work in the morning is leave Aolani with his breakfast. I used to also leave a couple of treats hidden for him so that he can put his sense of smell to good use. He always loved that game and one time i had not yet left the house and I noticed that he would start eating his breakfast and stop once he knew I had hidden some treats and go looking for his treats instead. Funny thing is when I went upstairs to see if he had finished his breakfast he ran to his bowl becuase he must have thought I was going to take away his food. He LOVES to eat!


hahaha that's cute!! I love a dog who LOVES to eat! I can't tell if Yeager loves to eat or not, he's pathetic when he licks the floor even after I pick up what I accidentally dropped before, but he's totally passionless about his own food.


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## diesel (Oct 21, 2008)

Sometimes having multiple dogs helps - they definitely look out for each other and comfort each other. But it can backfire as well - One of my dogs was having separation anxiety and got the others to join in with the barking all day long!


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## SugarBob62 (Nov 9, 2009)

yeagerbum said:


> So! I'm wondering how everyone manages to keep their fluffs occupied and relaxed when you're away from home.
> 
> Whenever I go outside, Yeager always barks up a storm unless someone else is there to hold him or give him a treat. Sometimes I stay at the door and listen for a bit, and he quiets down after a good couple minutes of barking. He sounds so upset when he does that, and I'd like to prevent him from becoming so sad. He gets uneasy the moment he sees me change out of my pajamas haha
> 
> Do you guys crate your fluffs when you're out? Or leave them a kong/chewy treats? I already leave him with a lot of toys to play with, and I walk him in the mornings too. I'm trying to find something that's attractive enough that he'd rather go chase after that instead of trying to hold my leg when I head out. He doesn't try to prevent me from leaving when he sees someone stand there with a treat, he'd rather go beg for the treat, but sometimes no one is there to give him a treat!


HAHA wait, are you sure you aren't taling about Nelson???? :HistericalSmiley: He does the same exact stuff when we leave. He knows our shoes. I could just be going downstairs with my work out clothes and shoes on to walk on the treadmill, under the couch he goes!

I feel so bad, he HATES when he's alone. However, we don't want to be prisoners in our home either. We were doing a crate when he was little and still chewing. But now when we go out we lock him in the kitchen with a baby gate. We used to carry his crate in there, however after video taping him numerous times while we were out, and he never goes in it...we stopped. He is so upset when we go out. I've only video taped short periods of time like less than 30 min. But sometimes we do go out for a few hours, so I worry he is just as upset then. I hope at some time he goes to sleep. But when we taped him, he paces, lays down, gets up, fights to close his eyes, walks around, barks, etc etc. All over again...

I think he got used to us being home alot over the winter when we got him, so now its a struggle to go out. We give him the Kong, unfrozen its gone in 8 seconds, frozen its gone in about 1 minute. We leave him biscuits and food he won't eat them. We had to replace the wood gate with a plastic taller one, because he was chewing the wood one up. He isn't destructive in any other waythough, I think he just wants out of the kitchen. I wouldn't say he has seperation anxiety, but he does NOT like it.

I bought him the Through a Dogs Ear CD. I haven't taped him and played it yet. I will have to do that. And I'll have to get some kind of iHome for my iPod, because the CD player only plays for 1 hour and shuts off. The iPod would continually play so... I do play it throughout the day and it does make him sleepy. So I wonder if that would help.

I am also going to be possibly buying those DAP to try, if after video taping him and he still doesn't relax. I feel guilty leaving, but like what are you supposed to do??

And yes he does the same thing when you leave too, tries to like jump up and grab my leg. He is better though than he used to be at first. When we used to lock him in his crate, he'd actually flip out and scratch his water bottle down in the first 10 min of being in there, in like a frenzy...so then he'd bark and pant and have no water to drink, and it would spill all over our living room rug :angry:

So...sorry I have NO suggestions hahahaha, I just feel like I'm on the same boat with you haha.


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## SugarBob62 (Nov 9, 2009)

Nikki's Mom said:


> I crated Nikki when I went out for the first year I had her. I gave her treats right before I left the house. She didn't fuss at all. Funny thing is, even after I stopped crating her, she would go into her crate when I got ready to leave the house because she felt safe there.


My Andy would do the SAME thing!!!! We used his crate, to keep him in there for about a year. Then after that it was like his den. He even slept it downstairs by himself at night. When we'd get ready to go out, he'd just go in there and lay down. He'd even go in there during the day to take naps. We always left it open after he was like 1. 

Nelson however does not have the same feeling for the crate, and it's actually the same exact one Andy used. Sooooo different!


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