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Posted by JMM on December 1, 2008, 1:18 pm
68.114.135.77
I need some novel suggestions.
I've dealt with separation anxiety before with great success.
I have a 9 month old pup. No separation anxiety at home, traveling to trials (left alone in crate), visiting family (left alone in crate)...he happily hops in the crate and goes to sleep.
We took him to our place in the city a few months back for the weekend. Hung out with him for the day...he seemed unfazed. Left him and he barked the whole time. This is an apartment (45th floor!), so that's really not okay. I didn't think too much because it was a new place and he seemed very relaxed and not upset. He was an obnoxious barker when we got him which is no longer a problem (we used interuption "eh" and redirect/reward for quiet behavior). I chalked it up to being obnoxious and we drug him around with us the rest of the time.
Assuming nuisance barking I tried him with a citronella collar and he responded well to it when set up at home and at the clinic (startled, stopped barking but never let is tail drop and went along with his business minus barking).
So we went for Thanksgiving to the city. We spent a day and a half hanging around, making him comfortable and confident, leaving him in his crate while we were in other parts of the apartment (its pretty big). Set him up to leave him and we hung outside the door to listen - a bark and then nothing. We left for a short time and returned - he was fine. Repeat next time - he barked after we left until the collar was out and escaped his crate. I immediately ceased the collar recognizing he has anxiety.
My issue is - I know how to go through the steps of desensitizing him, BUT we only go up for a few days every few months. And he's fine at home but even if he weren't, he's not going to generalize work at home to a new place. I know he's anxious so I do not want to bring any aversives in (and I recognize the bark collar pushed him over the edge - I honestly thought it was just him being obnoxious because of how he was when we got him).
I can certainly drug him since it is infrequent, but I would really like him to be as comfortable as possible. This is the ONLY place he's done it and we've traveled with him quite a bit. I have a call in to our training guru as well. HELP!!!
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