Dr. Walt's happy tails: February 2004

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Dear Dr. Walt: I inherited a friend's one-year old black lab puppy, when they left the country. She is a lovely dog with a great temperment and very rarely barks, but if she is left alone in the house she starts barking and bouncing off furniture. This is also the time that she chews blinds if they obstruct her view, and urinates on the carpet. I have tried leaving the house for short periods and returning, I don't make a fuss when I leave or return, but we've only made it to about 10 minutes before the 'panic' starts. She has had a change in owner and location, so I guess she is nervous about being left permanently, but is there anything I can do to reduce her stress levels (and mine)?!

I can appreciate how stress levels are rising on both accounts! First and foremost, and based on the age of your new family member, one course of action that will help regardless of underlying etiology is exercise. A critical component to addressing many behavioural problems is exercise, exercise, and more exercise. Many dogs will be much more accepting of time alone if they have had an outlet for their energy and are ready for a nap.

What you describe is a condition that is commonly referred to as separation-anxiety. There are a variety of reasons for this behaviour to manifest itself, from underlying medical conditions to having inadvertently trained the behaviour. Needless to say, the actual treatment employed will vary on the underlying diagnosis. I would recommend taking her into the veterinarian for a diagnostic evaluation, including a thorough history and physical examination, and supplemented by laboratory evaluation as deemed appropriate by your veterinarian. If an underlying illness can be eliminated as a cause, behaviour-related separation-anxiety becomes the most likely diagnosis. In this scenario, treatment is often a combination of behaviour modification and the use of anti-anxiety medications. Neither cure the problem alone, hence the dual therapeutic approach.

To safeguard both your sanity and your home, the first step is getting your pet acclimatized to a crate environment so that during your absence, she has a comfortable and secure area to lie where she cannot harm either herself or your home.

Subsequently, behaviour modification is attempted and generally follows protocols based on desensitization and counter-conditioning whereby animals are exposed to the anxiety causing stimuli and rewarded for calm behaviour. Over time, the exposure to the stimulus is intensified and prolonged. If anxious behaviour occurs, a step back to the previous degree of stimulus exposure (one that did not cause anxiety) is taken and gthe process repeated; punishment is never given as this heightens the anxiety for the pet involved. You are already pursuing this form of therapy and your efforts may be aided with the input of a veterinary behaviourist and/or the use of medication that modifies an animal's response to the stimulus that causes anxiety. For the former, ask you veterinarian for a referral to a veterinary specialist in your region. For the latter, one drug has that been very successful for treating anxiety-related disorders in dogs is clomipramine, which is sold through veterinary clinics by prescription under the trade name Clomiclam.

Regardless, treating this condition requires patience and perseverance - two characteristics you are already clearly demonstrating. My best wishes on a successful outcome!