Rescue puppy with separation anxiety

Hi there,

My rescue puppy (6 month old Jack Russell) seems to be suffering from separation anxiety. I believe he was in a kennel for a while so it's understandable.

He follows me around everywhere. If he's sleeping and I walk out of the room, straight away he's up and following me. I have a baby gate in the kitchen which I lock him in whilst I'm in there to get him used not following me, but as soon as he can't see me he starts barking and urinating within seconds. I keep opening the front door pretending to leave the house for a few seconds during the day and ignore him when I enter the room...

I've tried leaving him with treats and exercising him too, but the poor little thing is still stressed out and I worry about his well being.

We have another dog and leave him in the gate too but I don't think I trust them enough to be alone without my supervision yet as I've read they shouldn't be alone at first.

Any advice will be greatly appriciated, I am spending a lot of time with him and he is very bad a toileting too.. I'm willing to spend the time to help him out, but want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

Many thanks.

Check out "Please don't leave me" by Nicole Wilde - good, detailed read on separation issues

Thanks I will do that

Don't try to run before you can walk. Can you leave him "alone" whilst you are in the same room ie when he is in a crate?

If you cannot, then leaving the room is too difficult for him let alone the house.

http://www.apbc.org.uk/system/files/...home_alone.pdf

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/separationanxiety.pdf

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/te...yhomealone.pdf

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002/sa.htm

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00314.htm

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1556

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3291

http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/Homealone_000.pdf


I'll Be Home Soon y by Patricial McConell
Don’t Leave Me, by Nicola Wilde

You don`t say how long you`ve had him.
If you haven`t had him long, remember it will take a while for him to understand that he is staying, and get more confident.
If so, the best thing to do is to remain neutral (don`t react when he gets anxious) and carry on doing what you do. He will learn the routine and gradually accept what is `normal` for this house.