# She freaks out when I leave the room



## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

My 15 week old V is getting upset when I leave the room. We have pet gates up and she is still confined to 2 rooms. As soon as I go through the pet gate to go in another room not even for a second, she screams, jumps and throws a temper tantrum. I work from home so she is with me all day except for a few hours a day in the crate when I need a break and of course sleeps all night in the crate.

Our trainer has mentioned to go small distances away from her at first and correct her when she whines. This is not working. Should I just ignore the behavior or try another form of correcting? I am concerned her being with me all of the time will cause separation anxiety in the future.


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## Jinx (Apr 6, 2011)

RubyRoo said:


> Our trainer has mentioned to go small distances away from her at first and correct her when she whines.


HUH?!


RubyRoo said:


> This is not working.


Darn right it's not.....

I don't know where the trainer came up with that but in my experiece even bad attention is better than no attention for a vizsla. They'll gladly take the correction vs. being alone if they have separation anxiety.

I think you'd be right to ignore, no matter how annoying it gets, but do make sure she has some toys to keep her occupied and you could leave a radio or tv on in the room with her.

My V used to do this too and it took A LOT of ignoring but eventually he stopped. The only time he does it now is if I crate him and then go outside and he can hear me out there. If I'm in the house he's as quiet as a mouse. Guess he's just jealous I'm outside and he's not. 

One thing you could try that I haven't is to leave the room for short periods and come back BEFORE any whining happens.... then gradually increase the periods of time but never coming back during the whining. Hopefully she will put two and two together to realize the more she whines the less likely you are to come back.


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## Bellababy (Mar 31, 2010)

My dog was like this from the minute we brought her home at 8 weeks. These dogs are big babies and very clingy. She was especially bad for the first month and then gradually got better, in fact she still throws herself at me if I try to keep her out of a room I am going in and don't want her following (usually the bathroom and she ends up coming in anyway) and she is 20 months. I do have to leave for approx 5 hours 3 days a week when I work, and I have to say she accepts this pretty well, she goes in her bed and gets a treat and I walk out without a word or a fuss, and she seems resigned to this. If we go out for a few hours for shopping or a meal, she also accepts this quite well, no crying or barking. The thing she does kick up a fuss about, is if we are in the house and she can't be in the same room, like last week for example when we were painting and she had to stay in the kitchen. 
My advice would be leave her little and often, but actually go out, don't just go in another room because they know! Also before you leave her make sure she is well exercised, therefore tired. I get up at 6.30 am to walk Bella before I go to work, I would never leave her for any amount of time unless she has had a good walk. I appreciate at 15 weeks you can't walk her as far, but you get my gist. Also a thing that has worked for us is before we go out we always say "go to your bed good girl" and then when she is in the bed she gets a treat, usually a chew bar or something a bit more substantial than a small biscuit, so while she is chewing that we just walk out without a word. Because she ids food driven, this works for us, she doesn't like the fact we have left her, but the edge is taken off because she knows every time we leave her she is getting somthing yummy. I'm sure this is against all training rules, but what the **** it worked for us, and I would even say we have a very clingy Vizsla and we are not trapped in the house with her, we can get out now and again! 
So keep going you will get there, she is still very young, and remember little and often.
PS Don't make a fuss when you come back in either, in fact you should ignore her for about 10 minutes.


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## Bellababy (Mar 31, 2010)

Sorry just re-read your post and realised you are trying to get her to stay in her own space while you are in the house! I think this is very difficult with a Vizsla, but again we have recently been leaving Bella in the kitchen (her bed is in there and we have a gate up, no door) after walks, because she has been wet and muddy and needed to dry off. She has took to this pretty well, but obviously she doesn't like it much! Again I would try the tiring her out and then offering her a treat for going in her bed, and then just ignore any whining as long as you can. 
Good luck!


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## MaggieD (Jan 28, 2011)

My 11 week old is the exact same everytime I leave him in his confined space even just to go grab the phone.. He freaks out.. I dont come back until he is quiet but everytime i even go near the baby gate to leave for a sec he stops what he is doing to make sure im not leaving him. I am ignoring him when he whines but its going to take a longgg time til he stops!


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## RubyRoo (Feb 1, 2011)

Thanks for all of the replies. I am just concerned by being with Ruby so much I will cause separation anxiety. When i put her in her crate she is fine though and I don't want to put her in it every time I walk out of the room. Eventually I will open up the rest of the house to her but I have cats and we are still working on her to stop chasing them. 

I will just ignore her and leave the room. It is funny, the last few times I have left the room she throws her fit and then goes and lays on the couch at stays quiet. She is not allowed on the couch. She just wants to be a little rebel  Gotta love V's personalities!


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## Emily1970 (Apr 21, 2011)

I'm in the same boat as you except our 12 week old Vizsla is attached to my daughter. He is always looking for her if she leaves the room, freaks out, whining, gets destructive, everything until she gets back. If she is taking one of our other dogs out to use the bathroom, he can see her but freaks and scratches frantically at the door until she comes back. You can correct him, everything and he doesn't care.


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

Emily1970 said:


> I'm in the same boat as you except our 12 week old Vizsla is attached to my daughter. He is always looking for her if she leaves the room, freaks out, whining, gets destructive, everything until she gets back. If she is taking one of our other dogs out to use the bathroom, he can see her but freaks and scratches frantically at the door until she comes back. You can correct him, everything and he doesn't care.


Sounds like the dog is stubburn. Some of these guys deserve an academy award.  Just keep at it and don't give in. Let the dog flip out in the crate. Off course after a slow introduction as described in other posts.


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## Emily1970 (Apr 21, 2011)

Oh he definitely puts on a show. It's not like we leave him in a crate for large amounts of time. He is in his crate 2 hours each on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That's it. I tried the frozen peanut butter kong, everything. He pees on them.


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## Kobi (Oct 26, 2010)

First time I tried the frozen peanut butter Kong, it lasted him 10 minutes. He melted the ice with his furious licking. Haven't bothered since :


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