Seperation anxiety?

Hi
I have a 5 month old scottie westie cross. We left her alone in the house for the first time out of her cage the other day. She was allowed free run of the downstairs of the house. When we came back lamps, books, candles etc were all over the floor and she had managed to get to places she had never reached before!!!
Could this be indicative of seperation anxiety or is this normal behaviour? The neighbour said she barked for about 10 minutes after we left then went silent after an alarm went off down the road.
I am a little worried as I badly fractured my ankle jut after we got her and had to have an operation. I have been with her most of the time ever since, so she is used to me being around and occassionally whimpers when i am out of sight. I am starting a phased return to work next week and i am hoping this won't be too difficult for her.

Making a mess is normal for a dog. You have released her from a cage and now she has a whole new playground to explore, sniff, chew, bite.

Whoopee!

SA is overdiagnosed and misdiagnosed.

Dogs bark, chew etc for reasons other than SA

Boredom
Self reinforcement
Fun

Have you taught her to be alone whilst you are there?

Ie have you taught her to be calm in her crate whilst you are in the room, or elsewhere?

Have you prevented her from following you everywhere?

Can she be left alone downstairs whilst you are upstairs asleep?

Having been home constantly and now leaving means the contrast between presence and absence is huge.

this is why it is really important that owners teach their dogs to mature into competent and confident adults so that after mental and physical exercise and emotional connection, they are content to be alone.

Have a look here.

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/te...yhomealone.pdf
http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/separationanxiety.pdf
http://www.apbc.org.uk/system/files/...home_alone.pdf

HTH

Yes she is fine in the house, I can come upstairs and she will stay downstairs on the sofa calmly sleeping, she doesn't feel the need to follow me everywhere unless she wants to go outside or thinks i am preparing food!!!
I think she may find it a little hard a far as seperation is concerned as we only had her 3 days then i disappeared into hospital for 2 weeks, during which time she was backwards and forwards to our house and my parents house so someone was always there to look after her when my partner was at work. Then when i came out of hospital she was going backwards and forwards with me in tow as i was on crutches for a while and couldn't walk or take care of her easily. It is only more recently she has been staying at home for good again since i have been told to try walking in a boot without crutches, only 1 and a half weeks ago!! So really he ha done well not to become more upset than she does about people leaving, she has had such an unsettling time bless her!!
Anyway a far a leaving the house is concerned, I will try some of the techniques in the articles you sent. Thanks very much.

As an owner of 2 dogs with SA, this does not sound like SA to me. With my 2, if you leave them home alone, they will rip at the front door with their claws and cause huge damage. If you shut them in, say, the conservatory, which is very large and stone floored and nice and cool with expansive views over open countryside, they will still rip at the doors in an attempt to find you. If you kennel them in a wire enclosure they will damage their teeth on the wire, ditto if you cage them. In addition to this, they will howl at regular intervals and annoy our neighbours. Our only solution is to make sure they are never home alone, and to take them everywhere with us, which we do. They will tolerate being left in the car for short periods (as long as the weather is cool), but that is the most we can leave them for.

True SA is very difficult to resolve, but the OP's situation sounds to me like normal boredom of a dog left alone, which could easily be resolved with distractions or crating. Little dogs especially seem to love crates, they feel safe and secure and settle down well.

Just read your post Kiara - definitely not SA - if you can go upstairs without the dog following you, definitely not. Our two have to sleep with us - otherwise our doors would be ripped to shreds!

Thanks.......without wishing to sound calous that has put my mind at rest. Good luck with your dogs xx

I also dont think its s/a. Hope the techniques you were sent are of some use and your little girl responds positively.
BTW I had a Rescue Great Dane with S/A and he went through 2 sets of mahoghany and glass french doors - twice!

Firstly can I sympathise about the fractured ankle - I've got one and it's taking ages to get back to walking again!! Good luck for going back to work

I agree that separation related problems are often misdiagnosed, because destruction doesn't always mean the dog is upset at being left.

Some reasons for destruction can be:

Playful behaviours
Lack of exercise and stimulation
Separation anxiety (this can come with hyper attachment to one person, or not)
Noise sensitivity/phobia
Fearful stimuli
Territorial behaviour (being shown at doors or windows)

I experienced it with one of my own dogs some years ago when he became frightened of upstairs noises in the flat above, even though he was fine about them when I was there.

It's not always easy to sort out why the dog behaves as it does.

What you can do is set up a video when you are gone, and watch it to see whether or not there are signs of anxiety and so on... that may put your mind at rest

Wys
x

Thanks, yeah, fractured ankles can be very painful (long term too) Docs told me could take 18 months for me to get back to normal- marvelous!! Think i over did it today i can feel that sort of deep ache back in my bones! Don't you just love it!!!! How did you do yours? All i did was slip on ice and snow back in Feb and that was that! In that split second everything changed!! I fractured my tib, fib and a bone in my heal and also chipped a bone, unbelievable! I now have lot of metal in my ankle- screws and plates- supporting it! I have never felt pain like it, especially after the op! Was yours painful?.......Anyway i digress .
Maybe it was the alarm going off that made her mess everything up then.
Next time i will leave her out her crate for 15 mins or so with a stuffed kong and see what i come back to!!

Gnasher, I'm sorry for your troubles, but was relieved to read that someone else has exactly the same ones as us! I have forgotton what it's like to go anywhere without a dog at my side. My progress is this - I can go out to the dustbin now, if I'm quick...woopeee! And she will stay in the car if she can see the exact shop door we went through. Am grateful for small mercies!