# Super excessive barking



## Sav (Dec 26, 2011)

My 7 month viz has a real problem with what I guess is separation anxiety.
He is crated for 4 hours during the day in which he seems to continually bark and has managed to draw blood on his nose by banging against the crate.
We set up a recording app to see how long he actually barked whilst we were not there and out of the 4 hours he barked non stop for 3 hours 40 mins.
We only have to leave him twice a week but really are concerned that he is acting this way, does anyone out there have any advise? 
Thanks


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## polkan (Dec 29, 2011)

I would recommend developing a plan on how to deal with it, because I doubt that any singular step will solve separation anxiety. If there is a way to have a temporary arrangement where the dog isn't locked up alone until the plan has been put to action, it's the best. 

Things that usually work, depending on the situation, and can be combined:

- changing the behavior when leaving, to counter-condition the dog that picking up keys, locking him up, saying excessive good-byes mean you're leaving; which all combine to amplify anxiety

- leaving a stuffed chew toy in the crate (and not using it otherwise). When a dog chews, he physically cannot bark and he's focused on something else.

- leaving radio on with classical or "soft" music, to block any background noise that acts as a stimulus

- tension jackets (can't recall if that's the right term)

- crate training when you're home (and walk out of the room for short periods of time), to teach the dog you're always coming back. Tying that special chew toy inside the crate is also a good idea to help make it a more pleasant experience

- plenty of exercise before you leave, ending it about an hour before you leave and letting the dog settle about half hour before you leave


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Yep, what Polkan says!  I will add, taking baby steps works well. So try putting him in the crate and leaving for a short period and reward if good. then increase the time in the crate slowly. 

If none of this works, just do what I did and get another dog!


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Polkan listed most of my tips, too. I will add one more, though. 

Savannah needs to practice alone time EVERY SINGLE DAY. If our schedule doesn't allow alone time on a given day, I definitely notice the difference the next day when she is alone. For us, her being left alone twice a week is nowhere near enough practice for such a difficult skill.


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## Sav (Dec 26, 2011)

If i have to work every day I need to leave him for a period of time in this case 4 hours. how can i build up to leaving him when I have to start at 4 Hours??????


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Our Riley will bark and bark if she feels like she is alone (and is not exhausted from exercise). We found that playing a TV show (sitcom that has a lot of talking, like "How I Met Your Mother") or a talk radio station really helps to calm her. As long as she thinks someone is in the house with her, she's happy as a clam in her crate. Also, if we give her a kong stuffed with treats and peanut butter it takes her at least 30 minutes to work through it and it takes her mind off being left alone.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Sav said:


> If i have to work every day I need to leave him for a period of time in this case 4 hours. how can i build up to leaving him when I have to start at 4 Hours??????


OK...think this one through logically........if you can't do it when you are at work....when could you do it? There in lays the answer. 

To be less cryptic, practice it while you ARE home. If you are at work for 4 hours, then you have 20 remaining to play with each day. Does that help?


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## polkan (Dec 29, 2011)

To add to Ozkar's suggestion, I would also recommend looking at day care until you have a handle on what kind of plan you're going to use. 

Some of the things from the list are easy to do every day (changing excessive parting/greeting when leaving/returning; adding chew toys, background noise, jackets) but if a dog cannot settle down and continues to be agitated for that amount of time, I would consider this a very serious problem.

Also - I forgot to add one more thing yesterday. I remember reading about a research that was done on separation anxiety several years ago. They tested the amount of vocalization with puppies that were locked in a crate and puppies that were in an open crate but inside a playpen. The latter group settled down much faster, presumably because they didn't feel _both_ isolated and restrained at the same time. So you might consider that too, if you want to try everything possible to help your dog.


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

Sav said:


> If i have to work every day I need to leave him for a period of time in this case 4 hours. how can i build up to leaving him when I have to start at 4 Hours??????


Your posts are contradicting. What have you been doing about crate training the last 5 months?? The dog doesn't want to be crated and you haven't acclimated him to the crate. Have you properly crate trained him? The answer is no. So, that is where you need to start and do some reading. Change your thinking -> Why not use the other 20 hours in the day to train him? After all, you're the parent and he is the child. Just think of it that way. You teach and he learns. Teach him all kinds of things; leave it, be quite, down, kennel up etc.... Do some reading on these, and spend the time and effort daily, and he will improve every day. Pups should be trained every day for 3 hours in ten minute intervals. Play time IS training time.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Training is better if it is fun for you too. I like to use unique words to train my dogs. Not the standard commands that everyone uses. I learnt this method off a friend. He took it to an extreme which I will partially share with you. An example. When it was dinner time, my friend would ask the dog if it wanted a shag (He used a more direct word). The dog knew this meant dinner and would get incredibly excited. It was a great trick for new house guests. A walk was doing something obscene to the cat. Sit was initially scratch your arse, but eventually shortened to arse for convenience. There were several other strange words he used for different things. But, what it did was made it fun for him to train the dog. So he did train the dog. Almost every week he would have something else he had taught him. I can't for the life of me remember the dog's name, but I do remember the cat's name. The cat was called "blind dog". So it kinda hints at the sense of humour this guy had. 

But anyways, the point is try and make the training fun for you and the dog will enjoy it also.

Polkan's suggestion of doggy day care is well worth serious consideration if you are struggling for time with your other 20 daily hours. I know a lot of people have busy schedules even though work life isn't overly hectic, so it's not criticism of your ability to spend time training etc., just more a suggestion as to how it may help your pup immediately. 

My Astro boy would go ballistic if he were left alone for more than 20 minutes alone outside. What I mean is without his sister and not having access to his house. He would howl the neighbourhood down. So I can empathise with your situation. I hope it all works out for you. But try the small steps method while you are at home. The repetition alone will help with embedding the fact that you will come home.


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

I see what you mean about having to start at 4 hours. I liked Polkan's idea about doggie day care while you work up to 4 hours. If you can't do that, pet stores sell Thunder shirts and other jackets to help manage dog anxiety. They also sell pheromones and mild sedatives. If you have a pet store you trust, see what they recommend. If you really think your V is unsafe for 4 hours, you may want to ask your vet about options.

I think I would try one other thing, though. You might try popping an old bath towel (it will probably get shredded) into the dryer for a few minutes before you leave to make it warm (not hot!!!), and put that in the crate. Be careful!!! Ball it up at one end of the crate so if your V doesn't like the warmth, he can move away from it. If it works, you probably only have 2-3 times of using a warm towel before he figures out what you are doing, but it might be long enough to try the rest of the deconditioning folks have recommended here.

Good luck!


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