Separation Anxiety when I'm in the house!?

Hello... haven't had much internet time recently and things have been going really well with our first rescue Riley

Until.....

When I go out Riley doesn't appear to be toileting anywhere, he gets extremely over-excited when I get back wagging his entire bum and crying. I tend to not make a fuss of him, trying to show it's no big deal I've been out. We are talking a maximum of two hours he's alone at any given time.

But when I'm in the house and have the living room door closed, mainly because I am playing with a ferret, the backdoor will be open but he goes the toilet in the kitchen. He mostly wee's over bin bags. These bin bans 9/10 times have soiled ferret stuff in as I will be in process of cleaning out. Although if no bin bag he will wee on bin instead which won't have any poop in. My life sounds grim writing it down.

He doesn't whine at the living room door and I am usually in and out so it's never more than 15min really. When I come out I generally throw his ball in the garden for him for a few minutes before going back.

I have never caught him in the act of wee'ing on the bags so have not said anything to him. I just clean it up.

I don't want to lock him in the garden, some ferrets don't try and bite him and I can play with them both giving him lots of attention.

When left he does have toys and chew toys to play with.

Any advice? Suggestions on how to proceed?

Why not leave him with a stuffed kong on these occasions so he gets to realise that it may actually be a good thing ?

He really isn't food motivated so they have little interest to him

Even if his meals are in them.

Perhaps if you were to put something special in the kong that he doesn't normally have ?

Put the bin bags and bin outside and then if he wee's on them it's not such a big deal and doesn't get him accustomed to weeing inside either.

Give him a roast knuckle bone to chew on or somet!?

This has nothing to do with Separation Anxiety.

It has everything to do with how dogs see ferrets.

If you put any animal (especially ferret) waste product around it is highly likely that dogs will want to mark it.

So if you remove the soiled bedding from the interior of your house, I suspect your problem will disappear........

Safety gates so he can still see you?
It may be that he`s been left too long by previous owners so is anxious. Untill he relaxes and understands the routine I would go gently with him.

I forgot to say, the fact that you follow separation with a high arousal activity may be triggering anxiety but not separation anxiety........

So why not follow separation by some calm activities such as teaching the dog to settle rather than raising his adrenaline?

Just a thought.

Thank you, once again very sensible advice And thus far my problems have disappeared.

Do feel I should highlight I don't always have bags for of soiled material inside my house, promise! I just have too many ferrets and not enough hands!

Although, he did do a wee in the bedroom last night - this has never happened before. I'd only just gone to bed and while I'm in and awake the back door is always open, I told him it was bed time so he had time to go the toilet

I don't think I shouted, (I don't really shout) but I guess there was annoyance in my voice because when I realised what had happened I said his name and pointed to the wee and he started shaking and trying to hide under the bed.

Think he may have been told off previously for it, or again the dog outwitted me as I gave him a reassuring stroke and told him he wasn't in trouble.

Or maybe if it happens again should take him to vets to check for any kind of infection?

Also thanks for the advice on the ball throwing, when doing stuff in the garden I have gotten into this horrible habit of throwing his ball for him as he is always dropping it at my feet. Natural reaction now.

Really do feel sometimes I'm doing more harm than good for Riley in the long run