Separation anxiety in adopted rescued husky - can anyone help

[Laura980]

Hi husky owners

our family has adopted a 1 year old siberian husky.

We dont know much about her history except she escaped from previous owners home 3 times, we only adopted her from shelter 5 days ago. She is a bit timid and we think she was chained up outside and possiby been abused hit or kicked not 100% sure but very afraid to be cornered or to touched on head she cowers down and bolts around the yard like crazy at times.

the shelter dont know much about her.

We have had a husky before Laska but we had her from a pup 12 weeks so we never had any problems with Laska

The yard is well secured big area with high fences and also we have secured thee perimter fence on the ground.

We have never crated our dogs they have free roam of thee house and their nice beds etc... Currently Kira has come into thee family home and she is the only dog as poor little Laska passed away two months ago.

We Kira could be suffering from separation anxiety. The other day I left the house but dad was home, he called me on the phone when I left saying she Kira went beserk, howling crying, running inside and outside through the doggy door trying to find me, scratching at the doors that were closed off. Running around the perimiter of parents back yard.

This lasted about 20 minutes. Then she calmed down when mum came home and was ok.

The previous day Kira was left alone for a couple of hours but we kept her inside for fear she might escape.

When dad came home she had wet the floor, scratched the doors to get into other rooms luckily no damage really.

Dad was calm, cleaned up the mess and didnt yell at her or anything. Petted her and it calmed her down.

When mum went to go to work the first morning monday Kira cried and wined at the door, then dad called her and she calmed down.

The next morning Kira didnt cry but dad has been home.

I am not always there and dad sometimes has to go out.

I have walked her when I am around so she gets excercise but I dont feed her at night my mother does.

I do talk to her pat her and play with her, I have also been trying to train her a little

What can we do to make her trust us that we will come back so she doesnt fear being alone.

Any suggestions. She is very very affectionate girl and very active girl. We love her but we want her feel this is her home now and doesnt have to fear that anything will happen to her or that we will leave her.

I was in tears when dad told me about behaviour yesterday.

I dont know what do to.

I dont live at home but I visit frequently.

[Osinn11]

Hi Laura! It's going to take time for her to adjust to her new enviroment. A crate might be a good option for her for times when she is left alone. We've had our girl Cj for about 6 months now and she also has seperation anxiety. We adopted her from the animal shelter and I believe we are her 3rd home. We crate her anytime we leave..even if it only for 20 minutes. The best advice I can give is let her get comfortable and have patience. We've had our fair share of ups and downs but we are finally getting to the point where Cj understands that being in her crate is just part of her daily routine. I'm not going to say dealing with seperation anxiety is easy but it can be managed. I know what your going through I've been there. We have a routine we follow every morning and Cj has calmed down alot since day one. We still work with her every day. We have a calming collar we put on her before she goes in her crate. We make sure she has something to keep her busy. (Kong with treats / frozen Cow femur) but most importantly we make sure that she spends time in the crate while we are home. I also must add we never use Cj's crate as a place for to go if she's bad.

I'm sure others will be along with other advice. I hope this helps.

[mydiamond]

I think she only needs a little bit more of time can't suggest anything else since I never deal with SA (separation anxiety), but I've heard about a calming shirt called Thunder-something that had positive reviews

oh and you can put a shirt you often wear inside her crate that way she'd feel like you're right there beside her and that should help calm her down.

[Elyse]

My boy has separation anxiety too, but I've never bothered to fix it because someone is almost always home.

I'd recommend crate training, there's a few good threads on here that give tips on how to crate train.

[Removed #5]

Hi Laura, Welcome to the forum. Actually, from what you describe, she's doing well for only five days. We've had members here who have come home to shredded couches, beds, blinds pulled down, all sort of disaster.

I echo [MENTION=2850]mydiamond[/MENTION], if she's gone from a home, to the shelter, to your parents home - which sounds great for her, btw - it's going to take her at least a couple of weeks to feel "at home".

There are plenty of threads here on how to work with a dog who has separation anxiety, take a look at the search I've done and see if any of them tickle your fancy.

Patience, patience and more patience ......

[Laura980]

Thanks for your advice, I will read some threads on this. After doing some reading yesterday we tried a little training with Kira. I tried keep calm before I left and disappeared for 5 minutes out of the house. Dad said kira started looking for me again walking around the house so after 5 min I came back in calmly no fuss. Then I w aited 15 min inside with her then left again for about 10 minutes not making a fuss or anything. Dad said Kira this time looked for me but did not get all crazy she just sat near the door and then went sat on her mat. I came back in again no fuss coming in either stayed awhile inside longer. Then about 20 min later I really head to go and again I made no fuss left calmly and Kira was just fine. Mind you my dad was there. But what an turn around from previous day when she went beserk. Now we will try getting dad to leave like me a few times then come back while I am there. Gradually we will both leave house for short time and repeat process leaving her totally alone. Coming back and extending the time. I hope that this will work but my gosh its really amazing. I think its the fussing I made when I arrived and when I was leaving that might have made her feel anxious too when I left originally a few days previously. I also left my jacket there last night so maybe that helped to. But she is so intelligent and smart girl.

[mydiamond]

awww isn't she sweet? glad to hear Kira's progressing quickly

[Removed #5]

[MENTION=558]laura[/MENTION]908 - you got the routine down; just make sure that when you are there, not coming in or going out, that you give her all the attention she deserves for being such a good girl. Most dogs are good about staying alone for a while once they reach the understanding that their caregiver is going to come back.

With me, when I was working, I'd leave in the morning with - you girls be good, I'll be back - and when I pulled into the yard after coming back, there was always a certain amount of excitement but I'd give them a quick "welcome, I'm back!" pet and then go about whatever I needed to do.

The hardest part, to me, was keeping a certain degree of cool when I got home so that they didn't go bonkers. It's natural for them to be excited because you've been gone "forever". Remember, dogs really have no sense of time, 10 minutes or an hour, it's pretty much all the same to them.

Keep on with the good work you've been doing and she'll keep you plenty of company!

[Laura980]

Hi everyone thank you all for your posts with some advice. Kira is doing well learning very quickly its amazing she so so smart. She already has learnt several commands in almost two weeks, to stay, come when I call her using hand gestures and repeating. She understand NO and down, she heels really well and doesnt pull, loves going on long walks. As for being alone not the best at the moment. But we have tried to leave her alone with the radio on and second time for about an hour. Dad said she cried and howled when he shut the door and left the house. But one positive was that she wasnt destructive this time.

Maybe the radio helped with noise in background. We still havent risked leaving her out yet while no-one is home. Just trying to get her comfortable with the alone time process. We do have issues with her going in the car, I have read other peoples posts who also have had problems like this. Kira will refuse to go in the car she is scared for some reason we dont know why, we suspect she might have had a bad experience, possibly with dog catchers and putting her in the vans over the last year after her escape attempts. She gets nervous and sits on the backseat floor and doesnt move. I try and calm her with treats and pats and rubs under the neck. I have had to resort to picking her up twice in my arms and putting her in. She totally trusts me when I pick her up and doesnt try to get out of my arms. I have had not choice to do this but when I do pick her up I am calm and say its ok. Its just she wont go in by herself. just fears it terribly. I hope over time with confidence and coaxing with treats she will not fear it so much. Maybe she thinks she is going back to shelter or something else I dont know.

[Laura980]

Yesterday Kira had to be left alone again for a few hours , she had seemed to be doing ok over last few days being left alone a bit here and a bit there. We still keeping her inside when we go out in fear she much jump the fence. She has full roam of house except bedrooms and bathroom.

She was on her own for a couple of hours yesterday and when dad got back home my god a disaster in the kitchen, Kira had managed to jump up onto the kitchen sink that overlooks the back yard there is a large ledge , she knocked over all the plants sitting on the ledge all over the floor destroyed the wooden apple bowl climbed across the stove and the stove cover had been moved. Ofcourse everything was off. She had chewed up one slipper and knocked over her water bowl. Pulled down small wall clock, jumped up on the island setting in kitchen papers splayed all over the floor pens on floor. Luckily no doors were damaged or furniture chewed. She must have had some sort of panic again.

On seeing my dad she was overjoyed happy tail wagging, dad didnt tell her off because from reading up about telling dogs off it said if you catch them doing the wrong thing that is the only time to tell them off no point telling them off two hours later. There must be some serious underlying separation anxiety issues in her. Poor little baby we love her so much and it hurts to think what terrible past she must have had with previous owners, clearly no training, no bonding time with family, also beaten, kicked. Possibly worse we dont know.

We are going to get some help with dog behaviouralist and see what we can do the help Kira over come fear of being alone and her other issues.

Also when my husband went to pat her yesterday on her head, she coward down onto floor ears back in fear of being hit. Then when he gently patted her she realised that it was ok and started wagging her tail and licked his face and her demeaner changed to realising it was ok. She doesnt try and bite or growl just a cower behaviour.

We give Kira lots of love, attention and affection , lots of walks, yummy treats, play time with her, basic training commands which she is learning well. She has a warm soft bed her safe haven, access to in and out of doggy door. I do hope over time and guidance she will learn that we would never abandon her and that we will always be there for her. The shelter people couldnt give us much info on her past except that she escaped, owners didnt want her back, clearly she has been beaten and had issues with other dogs because she fears them to with an agressive reaction when we walk her.