Isolation distress

[HannahGerk]

Our beagle Bubba is 8 years old. He has always went in his kennel when we are gone and in general did well with that. We are usually gone 4 days a week for 8 hours with someone stopping home for lunch. About 1 year ago we had remodeling done and I think he didn’t like being in his kennel while workers came and went throughout the day. Since then we have not been able to get him used to his kennel again. He scratches at it, barks, and drools. We started to leave him free in the house while we’re gone for short periods of time and it seemed ok and continued to kennel him if we were gone for more than a couple hours. He has not been in his kennel for over a month due to me not working due to covid 19 closures. We thought it could be a good time to work on getting him used to just being free in the house.  We got a camera recently and now know that he goes from chair to couch to end table to floor to door etc and barks, whines, howls. The howl is something we’ve never actually seen him do in person— a full out head to the ceiling and it sounds so sad. He will sit or lay quietly for brief periods of time but definitely is making a form of noise the majority of the time (maybe 75% of the time). He also goes to the door and scratches at it. I never saw him do this when I would look at the video (so it’s not the whole time we’re gone) but the paint on the door was quite scratched and a puddle of drool.  We are working on brain training.  I have read about counterconditioning and desensitizing. I think it is more isolation distress as I know he is fine home as long as a person is in the house-doesn’t matter who. He does like to be in the same room as a person but there are also plenty of times he stays sleeping in a room that no one is in. If there is no person in the house but we are in the yard working he seems fine with that. He will eat a treat/Kong when left alone. Very food motivated. We have used calm music and diffusing—not sure if they help but it’s easy to do. We’ve tried calming chews from the vet that don’t seem to change anything. Is it best to work on getting him used to being closed into a bedroom (the bedroom we sleep in and he sleeps in with us), the whole house like we’ve been doing, or work on getting him used to his kennel again? If we do the bedroom does it matter if we close the door or get a see through baby gate? I had the thought if we used the see through gate he might get used to being in there while I’m in other parts of the house. We definitely make our arrivals super exciting so we need to work on changing that. 

[Adrienne]

Hi Hanna,

Welcome to the forums!

Just wanted to let you know I just saw your post here and will be working shortly on providing some tips and troubleshooting ideas based on the information you have provided. Please stand by. 

[Adrienne]

OK, I am back. Please see your questions in bold and my observations under. 

Is it best to work on getting him used to being closed into a bedroom (the bedroom we sleep in and he sleeps in with us), the whole house like we’ve been doing, or work on getting him used to his kennel again?

Being that the crate has assumed negative connotations, apparently not due entirely to the isolation distress (since you mention he generally did well with being crated before),  but due to perhaps feeling trapped with no way out when there were strangers in the home, carrying tools and making noise, we may want to leave that out of the equation for now so to not add further insult to injury. In general, as a rule of thumb, we should only leave a dog in the crate when 100 percent sure the dog can handle it. We can always work on re-creating positive associations in the crate later on, considering as well that many dogs with isolation distress/separation anxiety have a hard time coping with crates in the first place. 

However, I would still use the crate when you are around with the door open and placing inviting things in it and favorite toys. Just for the sake of hopefully un-doing some of the negative associations and in case a day you have to re-use it. Here you can find some exercises to help a dog love the crate, but it's much easier to do when a dog starts "fresh" with the crate not having much significance than with it un-doing negative associations. Doesn't hurt though to these exercises with the crate open for now without putting any pressure on him. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/

Now, as to whether keeping him closed in the bedroom or the whole house, it ultimately boils down to keeping your dog where he feels safest and most comfortable while you are gone. Since you have a camera this offers you the advantage of gauging how things go, possibly trying in different locations. However, with dogs suffering from separation anxiety/isolation distress you need to go very slooowly with the process. 

This is where desensitization and counterconditioning comes into place. Desensitization means simply taking baby steps, basically exposing dogs to stimuli or situations in a gradual manner so to ensure the dogs are not overwhelmed and over threshold. The slower you go, the better. In a case of separation anxiety, we therefore want to take baby steps in gradually leaving dogs alone first for just a seconds, then minutes and then hours. The goal is to get the dog bored about our leaving-the-home routine. This means opening the door lots of times a day without leaving. Grabbing the car keys and then sitting on the couch. Going out the door and returning in a second. All of this done repeatedly over the course of several days until the doesn't blink an eye anymore. Then we progress in increasing the time of our departures. 

Counter-conditioning, on the other hand, simply means creating positive associations, in this case we work on creating positive associations with our departures. With some Velcro-like clingy dogs it means leaving them goodies while we work in another room, with others it means leaving goodies as we exit the door for just a few seconds. 

Here are some reads covering these behavior modification techniques along with how to evaluate a dog's threshold levels:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

Here are some threads covering behavior modification for separation anxiety/isolation distress along with how to desensitize to pre-departure cues:

Working on dogs with anxiety when left alone takes time. Many dogs require months of work. Some severe cases require medications for separation anxiety by the vet (Clomicalm, Reconcile) along with behavior modification. The good thing though is that dogs with isolation distress is that they can be taken to day-care or watched by a pet sitter, dog walker or friend to ease their anxiety of being left alone. 

Howling is what dogs in general do when they are separated from their social group (in this case, us, their family). It's is not pathognomonic of separation anxiety, as it can be seen in dogs without it. Both my dogs always howled for a handful of minutes upon hearing us close the gate and leave with the car, yet afterward, would settle and sleep until our return(according to our recordings). However, howling along with frequent vocalizations, drooling and being unable to relax are signs of distress and so is scratching and pawing at the barriers that separate them from us. 

 If we do the bedroom does it matter if we close the door or get a see through baby gate? I had the thought if we used the see through gate he might get used to being in there while I’m in other parts of the house. We definitely make our arrivals super exciting so we need to work on changing that. 

Yes, I agree that with a see-through baby gate you can work on coming and going with your dog feeling reassured that he can see and hear you. I think it plays a valuable role in the behavior modification process. 

I hope this helps,

Let me know if you have other questions. 

Best,

Adrienne

[HannahGerk]

Thank you for the info and tips! I’ve read a lot of the threads and have gotten great tips from them. Today I’ve left the house 5 times and just walk out (don’t tell him bye, he’s sleeping so I haven’t left him treats or anything). The first time he ended up getting up and going to the door at close to 10 minutes. He barked once. I actually talked to him through it and he stayed calm after that but also stayed by the door (didn’t go lay down). I Then waited to return inside Until he had stayed calm a few minutes.  After that I shortened it to the 4-8 minutes and he has stayed in his bed. He watches me leave without getting up and then even stays in his bed/where he’s laying but does become alert and stares towards the door the whole time. I’ve returned at 4-8 minutes and giving him no attention upon returning

1) any tips to the above?

2) is it ok to talk to them through the camera?

2) does he know I’m just sitting outside in the garage as opposed to actually leaving? I did open/close garage door to make it seem more like I left. 
 

[Adrienne]

I think your dog is doing pretty well so far being that you are leaving the house and walking out. It doesn't seem like your dog is panting or acting restless and while looking at the door can be a sign of anxiety, it is a pretty common behavior even in dogs without isolation distress so to sum it up it doesn't sound like you're pushing him too much. It's also good that he remained napping until the 10 minute mark. However, I think we are missing some elements of true departures such as you grabbing the keys, putting a jacket on and other things that get dogs with isolation distress panting and pacing. Has your beagle in the past ever started acting anxious towards any of your pre-departure cues? If so, which ones? Those could be good starting points to work on since dogs tend to chain these elements together culminating then with us leaving with the car. 

Do you ever go outside to just do brief things such as water the plants or get the mail? Do you ever go into the garage to fix something or grab something? It could very well be he that he knows that these are not real departures due to missing pre-departure elements and perhaps the car leaving is what really triggers his anxiety. 

I find that talking through the camera works best for cases of dogs who are not really suffering from isolation distress but boredom when left alone (which is often confused with separation anxiety among several other differentials). In these cases, the owner can re-direct them by saying things such as "leave it" and praising them for being good or making good choices.

However, in dogs with true isolation distress and separation anxiety talking to them can raise their anxiety rather than reassure them. Sort of the same dynamic why dog boarding facilities do not encourage people to do Skype sessions with their dogs or talk to them over the speaker phone. These dogs may have been coping great in their owner's absence and then they hear their owners' voice and start looking for them and getting frustrated because they hear them but cannot see them or smell them. So while we may want to talk to them to reassure them, we may have the opposite effect because dogs will likely get all excited only to figure out once again that they are home alone.  I like the Furbo camera though for the fact that it allows owners to toss treats to their dogs during their absence which can help keep the dog busy and can help with counterconditioning.