[keltec9mm]

I was wondering if anyone else has a basset that suffers from this. Shiloh, freaks out if we leave him. I know he doesn't sleep because when we come home from a long trip he is excited for the first 5 minutes that we are home, and than poof he is asleep.

It use to be really severe where he would use the restroom all over the house (Thank God For Tile Floors), now he doesn't do that but I am sure he doesn't sleep and paces, and worries. We leave the TV on for him, and I always throw him an old shirt of mine to try to curb it. Anyhow I was just wondering if this is something that is common, and if he will eventually grow out of it?

 

[tygrrrl]

Anxiety

Our dear, departed Winston had separation anxiety issues. Apparently there was a lot of barking and howling when we were at work every day. If we went away for the weekend and left the dogs home with the neighbors feeding them, Winston would often dig out from under the fence and go off to find us. He was a senior citizen when I met him, and his anxiety only seemed to get worse with time.

I'd advise you to work on it now, as it will more likely worsen than go away.

 

[2hounds]

My boy Gibbs trembles, whines, barks, etc. whenever we leave him. I don't have an answer, but just wanted to share that he does it too. He's a rescue and not sure if that has something to do with it??

~Heather

 

[Mikey T]

He's a rescue and not sure if that has something to do with it??

It is possible but not likely bassets are more socialially oriented than many other breed making them more prone to seperation anxiety. It is one reason why many owner have more than one or at least another companion animal for them so they are not alone, That said many do just fine as single pets as well.

see 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.

Absent this type of treatment often the only alternative if the use of anti-anxiety medication combined with behavior modification, such as prozac or clomicalm so you may want to discuss this with your vet you may be able to suggest a behaviorist as well to work with.

DOG WHO LOVED TOO MUCH
Here is first consumer-oriented discussion of the use and application of medication in the management and treatment of behavioral problems in dogs. Dogs experience the whole range of psychological problems that humans do; depression, anxiety, fear, aggression, and grief. The dog-owning public is seeking solutions to doggie problems which may include the application of human medications. A Professor of Behavioral Pharmacology at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, author Dodman's approach includes an in-depth understanding of behavior, making key changes in diet, exercise, environment, and at times, prescribing state-of-the-art medication. Case histories enhance the understanding of Dodman's theories. Fascinating reading!

 

[gsally]

Is it possible that the dog picks up on the anxiety felt by the owner for having to leave the dog?

I always wondered about that! I was a pretty nervous first time basset owner. Hope do do better this time around.

Our girl experienced separation anxiety. We worked through it, limiting alone time to not more than four hours at a stretch. She got better as she grew older, however, the holiday time when everyone was busy, she resorted to her old methods of acting out and was good for destroying at least one or two Christmas ornaments when she didn't get her "quality" time.

 

[Mikey T]

Is it possible that the dog picks up on the anxiety felt by the owner for having to leave the dog?

It is thought that de-emphysising departures and arrivals goes along way in reducing and alieviating speeration anxiety. So if a anxiety owner when leaving has an extensive and elaborate departure ritual as well as an exuburant greeting ritual upon arrivial will tend to make things worse,

 

[2hounds]

It's interesting Mikey that you mentioned the companion thing. When I first got Lily I had another dog, after Lil'Bit died Lily became very whiney when being left. About 3 1/2 years ago we got Gibbs hoping that he would ease her anxiety...well Lily doesn't seem to mind being left anymore, but Gibbs is another story. Like I stated above he's a mess when we leave him. He was found as a stray so I wonder if that has at least a small part in it. I do know that I'm not good at leaving him because of how he acts and I know it's a cycle. I'm not too worried about it though. It's nothing that's not manageable.

~Heather

 

[keltec9mm]

Thanks for the Replies.

We have recently installed a doggie door so that he can go in and out as he pleases. This helped with the problem a little. He doesn't seem to be as distraut as he use to be about us leaving. We kind of turned it into a game for him. When we get home he sticks his nose through the fence, I will give him a pet on the nose and walk to the door. Before I can make it the 15 steps or so, he is at the door wagging his tail. Than I will walk back to the fence. He will beat me there with his big long snout stuck out. I think the freedom of being able to torment the ducks in the pond, and chasing the squirls has curbed this a lot. And this has only been since I posted last.

 

[murraysmom]

Try giving him a stuffed kong when you have to leave him alone- Kong Dog Toys - Dog.com

I would give it to him only when you leave so he has something to look forward to when you go - it should keep him occupied for hours if you stuff it tightly- some people freeze them with cream cheese added to the treats, so the dog has to work extra hard to get at the food.

I use the large black one for heavy chewers-

 

[Mikey T]

I think the freedom of being able to torment the ducks in the pond, and chasing the squirls has curbed this a lot.

Mental stimulation can go a long way in relieving bordom and stress Here interactive cames can be a big help, but the will have little or no effect on severe seperation anxiety only mild forms or problem behaviors born out of boredom not seperation anxiety.

see below for one of the most diverse collection of ineteractive toys anywhere.
interactive dog toys

 

[rootbeerlove]

Harriet doesn't cry or bark much when we're not home, she plays with her toys and sleeps in her crate. We have a webcam, that's how I know. She barks a little from time to time, but only when the cats tease her from the other side of the baby gate. I do give her a frozen, peanut butter stuffed kong-thing.
However, she's insane if she's ever separated from us WHEN WE'RE HOME. If we need to mop the floor for instance, or take a shower and get dressed, we put her in the kitchen (or living room in the case of floor mopping) with her gates up. She barks and cries and throws a fit.

If it's time for bed, she'll be quiet as a mouse, and go to sleep. When I take her out at 2:30, she's good, usually mostly quiet, the alarm wakes her up. At around 6, she's up again, barking and crying. We have our alarm set for 6:30 to get up and take her for morning walk. It used to be set for 7, but she seemed to be up at 6:45, and want to go out, so we moved it earlier, now so has she.

We've been ignoring her, though it' very hard, when she does this, and only paying attention, or getting her out, when she's quiet.

PLEASE tell me that she'll figure it our eventually, or what I can do to help her do so. We've tried telling her no when she's barking, but it doesn't make a difference. Currently if we're not ready to go let her out, we tell her she's a good dog when she's quiet. HELP!!!!!

 

[Mikey T]

PLEASE tell me that she'll figure it our eventually

Ah but she has, she knows what works and uses it. i.e. At around 6, she's up again, barking and crying. We have our alarm set for 6:30 to get up and take her for morning walk. It used to be set for 7, but she seemed to be up at 6:45, and want to go out, so we moved it earlier, now so has she.

quote]
That is the nature of attention seeking behaviors. They are such that you can't ignore them otherwise they would not be effective, They would then just seek out something more annoying. The much pro-offered advise of ignore the behavior simply does not work. because you cant simply ingnore it. If you do then the phenonenom of extinction burst occurs before the behavior ends which makes it even more impossible to ignore the dog. And if you do succeed you have not change the dogs basic "needs" for attention so it will just come up with and even more annoying behavior that you can't possibly ignore. Sound hopeless.. It not

see Harmony Programme Just a you would not Ignore a crying baby, If you provide timely attention when requested the dog will become less "needy" ove time.

The other solution is training a less obnoxious behavior the dog can use to get your attention. You must train this and consistently reward the behavior with your attention

We've tried telling her no when she's barking, but it doesn't make a difference. Currently if we're not ready to go let her out, we tell her she's a good dog when she's quiet. HELP!!!!!

No has no mean to a dog. it only gains or acquires meaning by outr actions following it. However as used by most people it is not a punisher. At best it is a disruptive stimulus. Much like any load startling noise might be. That is to temporarily stop the behavior which then allow for training a more appropriate behavior. Keep in mind when a dog is overly excited no conscious learn can take place.

No let us look at the other half. Barking madly get attention, Remaining quite gets a verbal "good dog" if you were a dog what would you find more rewarding. What behavior would you continue to engage in. If sitting quitely hoewver go you the same attention and required less effort, maybe you woulod change your ways, If sitting quitely got you a cookie and the same attention you would be much more likely to change. The reward is not what we think the dog should find rewarding but what the dog itself finds rewarding. And the reward must be stronger than competeing rewards as well.

 

[gsally]

My daughter has two "very annoying" dogs, a boxer and an american bull dog. Their ownders are busy young professionals, which should give a clue to the amount of quality time they are able to devote to their pets.

What you describe in previous post, is exactly how they respond to the annoying behaviors. And the annoying behaviors are reinforced.

What's amazing, is when they come to my house (grammy provides free dog sitting) they are much less annoying when their owners aren't around. I've kept them for week stretches and they behave fine for me, as soon as their parents arrive to pick them up, they start up with the annoying behaviors b/c they've been reinforced for so long. When they stay with me, instead of making them wait until I am ready to take them out to walk, feed them, play with them etc. I try to provide those needs on a routine schedule, when they need the attention.

Agree with Mikey T that this is very good advise:
"Just a you would not Ignore a crying baby, If you provide timely attention when requested the dog will become less "needy" over time."


Now the other interesting occurance was when Lucy(our basset) was still with us, she was only annoying if she didn't get her daily walk,which rarely happened. On those rare occasions, she would stalk us until we finally took her for the daily walk no matter what the weather(rain, sleet, snow, etc). By stalk I mean, get so close in following us we'd trip over her, whining, grabbing an item she knew she wasn't supposed to have, etc.; annoyances we couldn't ignore, and then she'd get her walk. But when her dog cousins and their parents (owners) came for visits, she participated in all their annoying behaviors, begging for food, barking etc. As soon as they would leave the house, her behavior returned to normal.

I've also observed that what may be annoying to one dog owner, is not annoying to another. Personally, I am annoyed by barking. Other people obvisouly are not annoyed by barking as there are certain dogs in the neighborhood that get tied out and bark all day!

 

[rootbeerlove]

I think you may have misunderstood my problem. When I'm naked in the shower, I can't take the dog out at her convenience. If she's in the room when I'm cleaning the floors she is exposed to the cleaning chemicals. These are times that I'm home that I CAN'T be with her. Not times that I'm choosing to ignore her. If I do what is seems that you suggest, I wouldn't shower, use the bathroom, clean the catboxes, etc.

I could accept the fact that she has to go to the bathroom at 5, but, not that she should never be left alone.

Mikey T, the harmony program link didn't work, so I don't know if there was something there that relates to this.

If I'm able, I reinforce the "good dog" (when she's quiet) with treats and attention. This does not abate the barking, as soon as I am back to mopping (I know I keep using that as an example, but I've been cleaning a lot of floors since she came home, lots of grass and mud tracked in) she's going at it again.

Our trainer suggested working with her while the separation was not necessary, to have her on lead in the room, but just out of reach, and when she begins to bark, turn our back and ignore her until she stops, then give her attention.

 

[Mikey T]

I don't think what you are experiecing has anything to do with seperation anxiety. and it is not necesarily attention seeking. Though some incidents may be.

You mention mopping does the same thing happen when sweeping/dusting. It may be more of a fear This can also occur with vacuums and other normal household appliances the dog was not prior hibituated to. This is not uncommon. How does the dog react to the mop etc when 1. It is not in your hand, 2. when it is your hand but not moving. Keep in mind dogs have poor eyesight than humans but are more sensitive to movement. Many dogs bark a mopping or sweeping brooms not because they are seperated from their human but because the mop/broom is scary. A counter-conditioning desensitizing program can solve that.

and when she begins to bark, turn our back and ignore her until she stops, then give her attention.

Nothing wrong with this approach provided what it is teach the dog is acceptable to you that is to bark a few times to get your attention then sit quitely, For some this is ideal others not so much It comes down to again training the behavior you want which in the case above is to bark first then remain quite, If you alway want the dog to remain quite then you have to reward the dog when it is being quite with attention and not wait for it to bark first.

not that she should never be left alone.

Again think of the behavior you want is their a time when she is in the house she needs to be alone. Personnal I can not think of an need for when the dog needs to be alone in the house but life styles are different. First of let us take mopping It is not that she needs to be away from you but rather that she need to stay off the wet floor etc. engage is a quite behavior etc. So there are a myriad of solutions that do not involve issolation. Have the dog stay on a spot where she can see into the room you are at do so quitely is one such example. This also works with human meal times as well So I will include a training exercise dealing with this which could equal be applied to the mopping situation. Ofcourse this all comes back to First not addressing what you don't want the dog to do but rather on first determining an appropriate behavior for the dog then training that behavior.

Table Manners This technique works well for any behavior in which you want the dog to remain quitely in a general area but the specific behavior the dog is performing is not of relative consequence. It does involve the throwing of food which does require a degree of acuracy. It is best to practice this first without the presence of the dog . There are some individuals that are not atheletically inclined that consistency in tossing food or the distances involved make it impossible. There are remote training device Link at bottom of the post, which over come this problem.

I keep a tub of "stinkified cheerios" (in a container with stinky treats so they absorb the smell) on my kitchen counter. Brady has a spot across the room on the rug she *must* go to to get treats tossed while I cook. Dogs who walk around the kitchen and sniff underfoot get nada. Dogs on the rug get all kinds of goodies. She figured it out pretty quick all on her own. Sometimes she even gets a taste of what I'm cooking, which makes it really worthwhile! I never bothered putting it on cue - she just sees me step up to the counter and she absolutely *hustles* to her spot. Recently she added a "head down" on her own, so she's not just lying down, she's flattened to the ground! It's cute, and it gets rewarded, so she does it. So you can definitely expect Monty to automatically start going to his spot the second he sees you sit down at the table to eat, if you reward it consistently and make it worth his while!

When I'm naked in the shower

And I thought every showered with their cothes on cut down on the need to do laundry. Another way to deal with unwanted behaviors is to consistently reward the behavior. Again most people are more consistent in rewarding behavior than they are with punishment, just not the reward the dog wants. ie dog barks humann is in the shower dog gets in the shower as well. If the dog does not want to shower well it quick learns to not bark. Nothing wrong with allowing the dog into the bathroom while you are showering though

Insights Into Puppy Mouthing

Something else this makes me think of. I must say I have a different take on the notion of negative punishments. To begin with I don't call them that and think the semantics of them is a problem because of the attitude it creates. I do not want to take anything away from the dog as a punishment so that they will decrease the chance of the behavior happening. I Reward the dog. Just not with the Reward they would prefer

...
If my attitude remains that I am having a great time and even better if I am acting like I think that the Undesired Reward is what the dog wants I am not setting up a conflict. But I am motivating the dog to reexamine its choices. I am encouraging the dog to try and educate me as to the best thing to do. And when the dog figures out that biting and nipping me is the stupidest way to get me to play they will look for a better way. And when they think that the reward I offer is not worth the effort it weakens the probability of that behavior continuing to be offered.
If a good friend wants to get you to go golfing every weekend and you hate golf you could tell them how boring it is and keep debating the point forever.
Or you could enthusiastically head to the course wearing the most outrageous outfit you can put together at Goodwill. Hit the ball in the opposite direction because it is so much fun watching everyone's expression (besides you were never much of a conformist) Talk constantly. Hug them and scream with joy at every stroke they make and express your amazement at their skills. Then tell them what a wonderful time you have golfing with them and can't wait to do it again. I bet your friend won't be available for another round for months.

"You Won the Prize!"

Try the "you won a prize" method. It's basically a time-out, but given so cheerfully that the dog doesn't seem to realize it's in trouble

...
When your dog barks, just say "You won a prize" in the most disgustingly chirpy voice you can muster, then go take her collar and cheerfully and gently put her into a crate or a room that's located in a remote area of the house, where she will spend the next 2 to 5 minutes totally alone. Set a timer so you don't forget her. When it goes off, let her out again immediately, and wait for the next incident. You MUST be totally consistent or this won't work.

...You don't MAKE it a negative thing. It's a happy-happy-joy-joy-honey-sweetie-doggie-dearest, you just won a wonderful prize sort of thing. The dog won't have any negative body language or sounds to associate with having done something "bad". It's a tad confusing to them at first, but I've used it on two dogs now with the same exact effects. (I'm currently using it on Allegra's aunt, who's boarding with us). The dogs quit what they're doing and get all excited to see what their "prize" is going to be this time! It's always the same, a couple minutes of isolation, followed by a quiet, calm release. But they are fooled (or agree to go along with me) every time. There is no need for a treat to make it a not-negative thing, because it's NOT a negative thing. It's neutral!

One must be very consistent in applying the new rule for this to work.


There is never just one solution to any given behavioral issue. An no best solution as well but in general you will have much better success instead of thinging about what negative behavior you want to stop you instead focus on a behavior you want to see the dog perform in that situation and go about training the dog to do so.

remote reward(food) delivering devices

MannersMinder Remote Reward Training System

Ready Treat Remote-controlled Reward System

In this particular instance the Mannerminder is most likely the better device because 1. it is radio ferquency controled not line of sight infer red so it work through wall and it can reward multiple times without refilling. Again not advocating its use just letting you know what some possible alternative are and method to overcome percieve obstacles to rewarding desired behavior.

it looks like the Harmmony site is down the following ebook is avaialble but at the price I have my doubts about the value but not having read the e-book I can not pass judgement
The Harmony Program
E-book review and link to purchase.