Separation Anxiety?

Ok, I hate to say it but I've gone wrong somewhere and Takara hates being left, sometimes she's ok, other times she absolutely goes hell for leather at the door.

I read an article in Your Dog this month about someone who was told their dog had SA due to dominance. He was so worried about the rest of the family as he felt the need to protect them so hated not knowing where they were.

Takara is a pretty happy girl, but she does feel the need to protect us. If nobody is in, she is quiet when people come to the door, if we are in, she goes mental, not aggressive but sounds off until she knows who it is.

Thing is, I do a lot of stuff with her to make her know that I'm leader, not her, but it doesn't seem to help this.
She waits until I say 'paid for' before eating, she obeys me, she is not allowed on furniture, she has to sit and wait while I take her lead off and is only allowed to leave her spot when I say 'go on then' and she sits and waits at the door until I've gone through.

Is there anything else I should be doing?! I feel so stuck - do you think it's because she wants to protect us that she is getting so worried? At the moment she's quite happily laid in the kitchen but when I first go she goes mental, opens the kitchen door and cries and scrabbles at the stairgate trying to get to me. If I let her come upstairs with me, she chooses to be downstairs.

I don't think it's always about position in the pack to be honest. She needs to learn that being on her own is a positive thing and that she CAN cope without you. Have you got a kong??? How about having a specific kong for when you leave her, fill it up with tarty treats and only let her have it when you are not there. The first couple of times you give it to her make sure you return before she finishes it...just an idea, hope it helps in some way.
ps. don't think you've done anyhting wrong Lottie soem dogs are just like this.

i can only quote from my experience with this and it might not work for you, my old lady had severe seperation anxiety to the extent that when i got her aged four she was messing in the house being destructive and self harming - she would chase her tail and done it to the extent that her tail had broken and re-healed in a bent position and all of her front top teeth were missing, i to tried demoting her within the pack but she was very sensitive and it didn't suit her - she just didn't know what she'd done wrong. The thing that worked for me was that i spent a period (approx four weeks) of time with her at my side all the time for all the boring stuff and did nothing with her except keep her with me, this was in the winter so i was able to leave her in the car (which she wasn't bothered about cos i always came back), at the end of this time i would just leave her in the house for brief periods whilst working in the garden and so the time alone increased gradually until eventuall i was able to leave her.

She was an extreme case and i never felt i was able to bring our relationship back to a loving state and always felt that over cuddling would bring back an overdependence on me

I hope you can find to help for your girlie that suits you both