I have written many times about separation anxiety and I always mention that it is always possible that the dog is not suffering from a separation, but simply a misbehaving dog. Well, I just found another misbehaved dog that was misdiagnosed and I thought I’d tell you how we solved the problem.
This dog was a 9-month-old lab mix that came from a shelter and was then moved a few more times with his new family. The owners were using a wire box (yuck!) For the dog when they were at work. Unfortunately, the dog had learned to escape and did so regularly.
The new family vet suggested medications along with training and behavior modification to help solve the problem.
When I met the dog owners, they had already received complaints from neighbors along with a warning letter from the management of their new apartment.
We started training and the dog seemed to do well with his new exercises, however he was still making noise when they were at work so they decided to let him loose in the apartment while they were gone. That was not good because it became destructive and started a new bad chewing habit.
When I got their phone call asking for help, they told me this was the last chance the dog would have to be repaired or it would go back to a shelter. I hated hearing that, but got it, so I suggested a new plastic box that gives more of a den feel than the old wire box and a bark necklace.
They received my instructions and got the anti-bark collar and an internet camera so they could see what was going on with their dog using an app on their smartphones. The barking continued even with the bark collar snug.
That night they took the final step and bought a plastic dog cage, set it up, and allowed the dog to play a bit to retrieve the treat from the cage games. The next morning, the dog entered the cage when they left for work. The dog barked for less than 5 minutes and then withdrew. Yes, peace for the neighbors at last.
So was separation anxiety, no. That was my diagnosis from the beginning. What solved the anti-bark collar problem? He barked through it with the wire box. Was the new den like a box? I think it helped a lot. Several customers switched from wire to plastic with very similar results.
If you have a barking and whining dog in the wire box, upgrade it to plastic and see if that fixed the problem. Remember that separation anxiety is not always the problem.