Hi

Great advice given by the above posters. I'd just like to mention how I cured my dog from this behaviour. If you've tried the above and dont have any success like I never. I tried crating my dog and he just burst his way out and cut his mouth from chewing the bars (There are more details of his behaviour on my post on bitkins thread) My dog just started behaving like this completely out of the blue, Ive had him since he was 8 weeks old, he's always been a handful and a bit "strange" But his behaviour got worse and worse and he started to do it at night, chew the doors and continuous barking, excessively drooling everywhere, I also have another dog and she's fine, she just used to lie and watch him like he was mad!

Anyway, I was at my wits end, I took him to the vet and she could find nothing physically wrong with him. She said he was suffering from stress and anxiety (though she couldn't tell me why) and I didnt have a clue. She prescribed a DAP diffuser and 2 weeks worth of tablets, which cost me £95.00 and had absolutely NO effect on him whatsoever. He had to be on the tablets for 6/8 weeks for them to start having an effect and wanted to refer him to a behaviourist who was a three hour car journey away. I then discovered that my Pet Insurance wouldn't cover behaviour problems......... Good old E&L.

I ended up having to lay on the settee every night, which didn't sit too well with my boyfriend as I was exhausted (I didn't get a wink of sleep in three nights) and having two kids, another dog and a job to contend with I made the heartbreaking decision to have him rehomed. I sat crying my eyes out and compiled an email to Bernese Rescue, I took him down the beach one last time and guess what............? I couldn't go through with it, I just couldn't do it

So, I googled his symptoms and came across a website with a training programme on it called NILIF, its all about making the dog work for everything. My dog was quite bossy and I babyed him, and probably let him get away with a bit too much for his character, if you know what I mean! I made my dog lie down and wait every time he wanted something from me, his breakfast, his tea, go in or out of a room, putting on his lead, going out for a walk - everything. I stopped letting him demand attention, I let the kids feed him, and make him lie and wait until they say he can move. It's quite a strict way to be with your dog, but within 10 days, my dogs crazy behaviour was "cured"
Honestly, my family and friends were absolutely gobsmacked with the turnaround in his behaviour and I cant praise this training method enough (obviously for the right dog)

Its been about 18 months since we started the NILIF programme and after about 6 months, we slipped from the routine and he started with the crazy behaviour again so we do it ALL the time and his behaviour is great!! It's just like 2nd nature to us now, I sometimes have to remind the kids not to let him barge them out the way or push through a door infront of them.

Sorry this is such a long post but I had to explain everything properly!!! Good luck with your dog, I hope at least something on here works for you! xx

Good post.........even if it does not work for every dog, it certainly will do no harm and is worth a try.

Pinkgunner, thank you very much for your post, it really makes sense to me. I realised from the start that Lana is a much stronger character than my previous dog. With moving house recently I think I've been doing everything to suit her instead of myself and have realised she is not as obedient as before and seems to decide to do as I want only when it suits her.

I can see it wouldn't suit every dog and it might not stop the seperation anxiety if it is that but I can see it might very well solve a lot of the other problems I've been having with her lately. It's funny because today was the first day I wondered if it wasn't seperation anxiety but annoyance that I left the house without her as she had been fine the first few times I left her here. I'm certainly going to give it a try as I do think she's wanting and succeeding in taking charge.

I'll still do all the other things re the seperation anxiety as that might be a seperate issue but I do think I have to be stricter with her, little booger that she is

Thanks Bitkin, good luck with Jimmi x

Well I hope it works for you. I guess some dogs just have stronger/dominant characters than others! After all this time, Floyd still has to be reminded that he has to lie down if he wants something, I honestly dont think he's that stupid OR forgetful, just defiant and I swear, when he goes to the door to be let out in the garden and I tell him to lie down, he looks at me as if to say "make me" ! After all this time he still has to be told 2 or 3 times before he'll do it but we have all, as a family, persevered.

If you have a read about NILIF on the internet, it does say (and this seemed like Floyd all over) that the dog has assumed the role of being in charge but they don't really want to be, which causes the anxiety and them to panic when you go out unsupervised Well, whatever it is, I cant praise the methods highly enough and the change in Floyd is truly remarkable.


Best of luck to both you and Bitkin with your dogs, don't forget to post updates with their progress, I'd love to know how you are getting on xx

I'll definitely let you know how it goes. I can see that it would work well with Lana as she has become pretty defiant lately and I've let her away with it especially because of moving house.

Agree with pinkgunner ,we recently fostered a 7 year old dog ,given up twice because she was driving her owners mad with seperation anxiety,With that knowledge before we got her i read up and went about trying to sort her out,Only giving her attention when i wanted to as she was a follower and would push herself on you for affection she whined a bit the first day if i went out of sight but soon got used to the fact i was coming back,I did the pretending to go out and then coming back about 10 times on the first few days lenghthening the time gradually and ignoring her as i went out and came back in for a few minutes.She went in a crate no problems, although she had been sleeping on the bed in her other home because she cried in her crate ,so i thought we may have problems.I think having other dogs helped as well,this may not help all dogs though She is in a new home now and touch wood they have had no major problems and they can't believe anyone could of given her up Start laying down the law in kind way and hopefully she will improve soon.GOOD LUCK.

I don`t see how any dog can be in charge. Dogs react to situations, they don`t have an agenda. I think giving dogs `human` motives can cause real problems.
The dog panics when left alone. There is no need to try to imagine why or attribute some forward planning to the dog. All you have to do is help the dog not feel bad when left alone. With-holding food, demanding obedience, controlling his every action.. all these won`t help the dog feel good when left alone.
Dogs really aren`t trying to take over your world or challenging their owners for the job of Great Leader. NILIF can be useful if used in moderation. if used to excess it can be damaging.
This dog needs to learn to trust you. This takes time, and love.

Well, sorry but it worked a treat for me AND my dog. If I go out, nothing has been destroyed when I come back, he hasn't jumped through any more windows and he greets me in a calm, friendly way with a waggy tail and a happy face instead of wild eyed, a chest sopping with drool and looking like he's going to have a heart attack. So it HAS made him feel good when he's left alone.

I can go out knowing that he's fine, I can also get a fab nights sleep with no barking and hearing my house getting trashed downstairs while I'm in my bed. I do use NILIF to excess and it hasn't broken his spirit, changed his personality or made him sad, it's just made him happy and calm

I think that this highlights the fact that you can never generalise with dogs because each one is an individual. What may work for one, perhaps will be no good for another.

If something is a success for a particular dog then that's fantastic news.

My lurcher Jenny had dreadful separation anxiety. She urinated and fouled in the house and chewed terribly. We used crate training and it worked a treat. We started with the crate outside the living room and her in the crate with our other lurcher in full view of us. We also gave her treats every time she went in there so she knew it wasn't a punishment.
Gradually we left her from 5 mins to 30 mins to 2 hours and so forth until she could go a a few hours without us. Also we ignored her when we came in and she was howling and when she quietened down we brought her out with no eye contact and ignored her for a further 10 mins and then greeted her.
Now my little fur baby doesn't need a crate and is perfectly happy when we go out.
That said I have 4 other dogs to keep her company so I hope you get it sorted soon. xx