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Location: UK
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 5,551
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Did he come from a rescue, as if so they may be able to help
Other than that, there could be a lot of reasons for his behaviour - these days, the idea is that such behaviours are called "separation related behaviours" as opposed to the old "separation anxiety" because sometimes the dog is actually just bored and almost "having a party" when the owners go out. Not saying this is the case with your mum and boyfriend's dog, though.
I'd suggest firstly they set up a video camere and record it all, and watch it back very carefully. Check times of day, noises, dog reactions, body language, etc.
Dogs who are anxious tend to often defecate, pant, urinate, salivate, at the very high end of the scale, or just "look"anxious and chew at the other end, with lots of things in between.
So to get a true idea of what is going on, do the videoing and see what that brings up.
In many cases, dogs can be "addicted" to chewing on well stufffed kongs, but it's best to get professional help for this really if possible, much better than trying to muddle along, or else being confused bythe info on the net and perhaps messing up a chance to solvethe problems due to something that has been put into place without real understanding.
I tend to use a yellow sticky as a "time out" (in the nicest way) signal, plus getting dog addiced to stuffed kong very carefully (there is a knack to getting this right) and sometimes other things like desensitising and counter conditioning (sorry big words, just means helping the dog feel better).
If you need professional help, try
APBC
or the COAPE behaviour counsellors, the ones with the top diploma.
Wys
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