Have you tried desensitizing him to your leaving? Start by doing everything you would to leave, then just going out the door and closing it for a second or two before coming back in. You can help distract him during the leaving with a favorite toy or goody of some sort as well. As time progresses take longer and longer trips out, and make sure you don't make it a huge deal when you get back. With my dog the first thing that happens when I come home is he goes outside and gets to do his business while I'm getting my coat off and putting work stuff away. Only after that do I let him in and he gets welcome back cuddles and pettings.

For the chewing on things issue, do you leave him something to chew on while you're gone? Maybe find some toy you can hide treats in and he has to figure out how to get them out or something? A lot of dogs chew on stuff because they are bored, so finding a way to keep them from being so bored could help a lot.

 

Great suggestions. ^^
Desensitizing him to your leaving ritual will help a lot. Noticing your getting ready to leave is a trigger and the anxiousness begins right then and just builds. Love the idea of getting some mental stimulating toys to leave for him. Kongs filled with something yummy and the "game" type toys where they have to work to find/get the treats are awesome.

 

It's not only when I leave the house, he gets stressed when I leave the room i.e. to take a shower.

I've tried leaving chewies but he doesn't touch them, and I'm not able to leave treats/kongs etc because Corona will steal and eat them all lol. I tried a frozen kong for him in the crate, and it worked once.. just once.

 

What about trying to crate Corona when you are gone? I've had to do this before. My Lucky has a bit of seperation anxiety as well. She *hates* to be crated....it totally stresses her out. So, when Duncan was young I would crate him, but leave Lucky out. Worked great for us.

You might have to desensitize you leaving the room. Same way as Payton said...except your just leaving the room.

Just a thought. :smile:

 

I would start feeding him ONLY when you're NOT in the room. This way he has no choice but to focus on eating rather than you being gone. It may take a while but its another way to help combat the SA issue.

We've gotten to the point of leaving Shiloh with a high quality RMB when we take some of the other dogs elsewhere (hike, etc) and she doesn't even look up to say bye.

 

How come you have to leave Shiloh home without the pack? Are people immediately terrified of her gorgeous face?

 

With my dog we would crate her at night. After tons of trial and error we put her pen in the living room. We'd be in there until she fell asleep, and then go to our own beds at night. Anything else led to her being upset. During the day we could practice keeping her in another room, and would only return when she was quiet. Now she just stays in my room while we are away and she just sleeps on my bed. Now that she's trained not to pee in the house she just sleeps on my parents bed at night.

We'd let her wander the house but she is prone to finding the one thing we left out but shouldn't have,