Out of the blue separation anxiety

My dog has developed a real fear of being alone - to such an extent that she has ruined two doors, doorframes and tried to chew through metal (breaking a tooth in the process and making her face red raw). Tried DAP (collar and plug in) plus herbal tablets. After the chewing through metal incident, because she had been in such a frenzy and for her own wellbeing we had to get a short course of valium. I hope this will work and click her out of the anxiety.

She is 8 years old and has always been a bit skitty but nothing like this. Has this happened to anyone else and, if so, what things helped?

if this has just started recently (???) it could be medical age related?
age related deterioration of faculties?
ie, mental awareness, hearing, sight?

Had her checked out at vet - no other problems. She is fine when we are there.

I know it's not suitable for all but the best thing to do is get another dog or even a cat, anything to keep them company.

There are some good ideas for resolving SA, that will work is some cases, but nothing beats another pet in my experience.

I'm wondering if a DAP collar can miss-function?

Hi, did you also get a behavioural programme to work on at the same time as using the valium? The reason I ask is because the dog needs to learn new things (ie how to relax and be alone) rather than just be more sedated, if you see what I mean.

Valium, or diazepam, tends to suppress behaviour via neural inhibition and sedation but doesn't allow for learning. However, if there was no behaviour programme involved then the dog wouldn't learn anything new anyway

If a behaviour counsellor was not involved I'd suggest getting one involved to be honest, try here:

www.apbc.org.uk (don't just look in the local paper for one, whatever you do ).

The most usual "drug" given with SA tends to be Clomicalm but there are studies which show that behaviour programmes either with or without Clomicalm, can help a lot. There may be several weeks before the effect of the drug kicks in though in which case I believe I am correct in saying that sometimes a vet will also prescribe a drug such as diazepam to help the dog along at the beginning.

Another point is that the term "separation anxiety" may or may not be quite correct, because sometimes dogs who exhibit this behaviour are not so much missing their owners as (for example) afraid of noises and they of course feel safer when the owner is there. So the problem does need someone to unravel the reason for the distress.

If you say it's out of the blue then it may also be due to some medical problem (which is not always apparent) or else something that has "happened" to scare her (ie, a loud noise). If this is the case then it may be possible to desensitise the dog to the noise, if it can be discovered what it is. As you say she's been checked over it may not be medical but to be really sure the vet would need to take tests etc.

Hth
Wys
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was her eyesight, hearing, and mental capacity checked/tested?

*if* she was effected by any of these, they could cause her to be frightened, in turn causing her to panic if members of her family werent at home to make her feel secure.

how long have you had her and how long has this been going on?

Hi Tartan did the vet do a full health check, as Kruse says when an older dog suddenly develops this behaviour medical conditions should be checked for and ruled out.

When a dog starts to loose hearing, noises that are familiar with may sound different and can be scary.
There is also a condition called CCD (canine cognitive dysfunction ) affecting older dogs and can cause changes in behaviour. It is treatable with medication.

I would also look very carefully at the routine and see if anything has changed. How often is the dog left,for how long and what do you do before leaving it .