[robolundgren]

Hello there, new member here and also a first time Basset owner! I have a 3 month old red and white pup named Paisley, she's absolutely precious and wonderful and I couldn't possibly be happier with her. I've gotten her housebroken within a week, she can sit on command, knows not to mess with my food, etc etc. She's quite intelligent!

However, there is one major concern. I have to move in 2 months and I will be moving into an apartment. When Paisley is around my girlfriend or me she is very well behaved, but the second we are out of sight and unreachable she completely freaks out and will NOT be quiet. It starts with whining and then slowly progresses to full-on barking. This is any time she is not with us, especially when she's in her crate at night. We've done everything "by the books" as far as crate training goes, but she just won't stop making noise. We tried keeping it in our bedroom but that didn't help, we have a Kong food stuffed toy but she ignores it til she tires herself out from barking. We've tried putting a sheet over the crate to make it more "cozy" but nothing is working! If she's still doing this by the time we have to move we're going to have a major problem.. I need some advice, please!

I'm asking all of you because the vast majority of tips and all for the dog have come from here and have been extremely effective. I didn't see anything about this specific issue on here, hence this thread. Thank you all so much!

 

[Annie714]

I am curious to see what answers you get on this as well. My Annie is 5 yrs old and STILL whines and barks and howls. Not so much when she is in her crate for bedtime, but if we put her behind a gate on the side of the house for the gardeners to do their thing she whines to no end and even if she is outside and sees me in the house she immediately starts whining. I have chaulked it up to the breed, but maybe there is something else.

 

[Josie's Dad]

Maybe get them a muzzle? One of the ones that's padded mesh.

 

[Mikey T]

What you are experiencing is not unusual easpecial in highly social breeds like the basset. The technical term is "seperation anxiety" it is one of the reason there are a lot more households with multiple bassets. Depending on the seperation anxiety it can be realively easy to extremely difficult to modify the dogs behavior, however like many dog behaviors if you do nothing it will get worse over time not better. Often times the use of drugs is required to reduce the dogs anxiety level to a point where behavior modification can have an effect. Medication alone does not work, Behavior Modification alone can work depending on the amount of anxiety the dog has but often it requires a combination of both.

Given the nature of the behavior and the need for detailed knowledge of the behavior to make such a determination of the best course of action, it is general best to bring in a professional, In the seperation cases I general prefer a behaviorist that can also prescribe This limits the pool to just Certified Veterinary animal behaviorist find a board-certified Veterinary Behaviorist If there is not one in your area consult with your vet about a behaviorist, it is possible for them to work together to achieve the same results.

International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants

Directory of Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists

Seperation Anxiety

Mild Separation Anxiety​

Reduce the contrast between when you’re gone and when you’re home. Refrain from smothering him with affection (see the "mental work" options above to discover other ways of interacting with your dog). Regularly interrupt his shadowing you around the house continuously when you’re home by baby-gating him into another room for short periods. This is like practicing a "semi-absence." Do many, many extremely brief (1 – 30 seconds) absences with no fanfare on departure or arrival. Increase physical exercise and mental stimulation.



Severe Separation Anxiety

...The hard part for the owner is that, for the duration of this treatment, the dog cannot experience absences in day to day life that are longer than the point he has reached in treatment exercises. This means essentially that, early on in treatment, the dog cannot be left alone. Owners typically employ dog-sitters, vacation time, doggie day-care and bringing the dog to work to manage this during treatment.

Help your dog survive being alone, without destroying your home!

separation anxiety in -dogs: how to treat it

Dog Separation Anxiety is an enormous problem to an estimated 10% of all puppies and older dogs. Somewhat ironically, it is the major cause for dogs ending up in animal shelters. I wish I could say dog separation anxiety is an easy fix, but the truth is it can be a very difficult and time consuming problem to turn around.

seperation Anxiety

DOG WHO LOVED TOO MUCH check out google books begining with chapter 6


While I do believe speperation anxiety is at the root. This can be confirmed with video taping the dog when you leave, if the behavior continues to occur when you are gone then it is likely seperation anxiety, if the behavior occurs only when you are not immeadiately available but still in the area, ie next room, dog down stairs in a crate etc. Then it is more likely just another obnoxious atttention seeking behavior. The common perscription for Attention seeking behaviors is to ignore them. A behavior that is not reward will extinguish over time. Problem is this really is not practical advice. 1 if it where easy to ignore the behavior it never would be used by the dog in the first place. 2. Extinction Burst, if if you do manage to intially ignore the behavior no one is everr prepared for the inevitable extintiction burst. A behavior that has been rewarded in the past but is no longer rewarded doesn't simply fade away. Think of a light switch. Every time you flip the switch the light comes on. What do you do the first time it does not come on. You try it again, faster, slower, longer, harder. before you give up. This is what a dog will do as well. If you find the behavior annoying now image what it would be like when it gets 10 times worse.

no the answer to attention seeking behaviors is pretty simple.
1 be proactive provide the attention at your convienence but before the dog need to ask. Set aside time for mental and physical stimulation.

2. if the dog does ask provide attention immeadiately. once the dog knows it needs will be met in a timely fashion it need not ask as often

see Harmony Programme for more details.

 

[Mikey T]

Maybe get them a muzzle? One of the ones that's padded mesh

can't bedone without putting the dogs health at extreme risk. A muzzle tight enough to prevent barking ( would not prevent whining and other vocalizations) would prevent the dog from panting as well which is absolutely esential to allow the dog to maintain it body temperature. .

Why Dogs Pant

 

[Mikey T]

if we put her behind a gate on the side of the house for the gardeners to do their thing she whines to no end and even if she is outside and sees me in the house she immediately starts whining. I have chaulked it up to the breed, but maybe there is something else.

This is not breed specific nor is it seperation anxiety, it is barrier fustration. This can lead to a number of problem behavior like fence charging, on leash aggression.

Your Dog Barks Out of the Window? That Could Lead to Aggression.

Frustration intolerance

Frustration intolerance occurs when the dog is unable to accomplish something that he desires, or get what he wants, or cannot figure out how to accomplish something that is asked of him, or cannot change environmental factors so that his wants are met.
The amount of frustration might show itself on a simple level as whining or barking but can also escalate to acts of aggression as the level of frustration increases

[URL="http://www.dogsincanada.com/dealing-with-barrier-frustration"]Dealing with barrier frustration [/URL]

Medications that reduce impulsivity also mitigate aggression in response to frustration, suggesting a link between frustration-induced aggression and impulse-control in general. It’s also been found that within a species, individuals will differ in the degree to which they respond to frustration with aggression. This certainly aligns with the observations of dog people. In what appear to be similarly frustrating situations, some dogs display signs of stress but without aggression, some put on impressive aggressive displays and some are utterly phlegmatic.
Dogs also seem to differ with regards to how impulsive they are, i.e., how hair-trigger they are in response to attractive environmental elements: smells, other dogs, people, ice cream on the sidewalk, critters, etc. Intensity and impulsivity are not the same thing. Intensity is partly a function of impulse-control but also of degree of motivation. A dog may be highly motivated by cats and so, in spite of otherwise great impulse-control, lose it when he spots a cat. And a dog that isn’t necessarily off the charts motivationally may lack impulse-control and thus have zero lag between perceiving things and charging up to them.

There are basical two was to deal with the problem 1. is to manage it that is not put the dog in situations that cause the problem, i.e keep the dog inside when gardeners are around.

2. teach the dog impulse control. Fortunately this is one area that i find dogs tend to generalize more than usual so teaching impulse control in one scenario does tend to carry over to others.

impluse Control

Any Dog Can Live Calmly in a House - Even Yours!

The Overstimulated Dog


Lowering Arousal: How to Train Impulse Control

 

[smitte21]

I know the only thing that worked for us was to get another dog. We were nearly evicted from our apartment over Savana's howling and barking due to her severe separation anxiety and we did everything by the book as well.