Spooky Bullie - Separation Anxiety?
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Spooky Bullie - Separation Anxiety?
Submitted by admin on April 20, 2010 - 5:26pm
Sometimes when we are about to leave the house, and we take our Bullie outside to go potty , she won;t come back inside. She acts sort of freaked out, skittish. As soon as we get her inside she runs straight underneath the kitchen table, to get her out from there, we put a treat in her crate. Then she hides in there. Sometimes its worse than others.
Yesterday she only spend 3 hours by herself and no freaking. Today (when she did this ) she had been alone except for my husband spending lunchtime with her. Any thoughts?
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Katie,
Change your routine when leaving. She obviously has it memorized. Instead of bringing her in and immediately leaving, play with her, work on commands. She may be associating coming into the house with you leaving and it is stressing her. A few fun minutes set up between coming in and being left alone should help. Also, Ineke is right, dogs do experience fear periods. No coddling and time, they pass through it with no effects.
Good luck
Lynn K
Re: How old is she?
Thank you for the advice , it sounds reasonable. She is 10 months old. She is ready for obedience school. We are going to a Bully Fest in 2 weeks and are anxious to network and find out answers to alot of our question including a good obedience school.
How old is she?
Because it is not uncommon for dogs to have periods in which they show more fear than before. This comes and goes up to the second year.
It is best to ignore it. Just keep her on leash, praise her for doing what you ask her, and DONT try to comfort her, because she'll think that it is allright to be afraid.
Talk to a behaviourist if it doesn't improve, and join obedienceclass. When you give her clear directions, and act like a true leader (alpha), this will give her certainty she needs.