The one who took all my resources and ran with them. I have had several intense dogs with separation anxiety but, never like Kylo. Kylo suffered from it really bad.
Let me give you a back story. I want you to really soak in what I am saying. Kylo has been loved all of his life. Of course we all love our dogs but, when things happen we ask ourselves why? Kylo was a great puppy. He was labeled as “chill” and quiet. Kylo as he grew into his “adolescent” stages he began to show “non chill” behaviors. Kylo was receiving affection and lap time. Kylo was allowed privileges and allowed a lot of real estate in his home. Kylo was “free”. Kylo really wasn’t free or comfortable in his own skin.
Why is this such a problem? Why is love and affection feeding into our dog’s separation anxiety and why are new puppy owners not being made aware? They don’t tell you this at the pet store. A breeder may or may not mention it.
Separation anxiety starts early on as we hover over and drain all of our emotional stress on our dogs. We are a society of humans so we see nothing wrong with loving, snuggling and caressing our dogs ALL OF THE TIME. The problem is our dogs do. They become dependent and addicted to it. The dependency can create a dog who can’t be left alone and displaying symptoms like Kylo’s. Symptoms like crate soiling, eating feces, crate breaking, chewing on itself, chewing up items or bedding, whining, barking, crying and screaming. The symptoms can lead to destruction of the dog and the dog human relationship. Dogs are given up and killed because owners never figured out how to stop separation anxiety or prevent it in the first place.
The human feeds the separation anxiety.
HOW DID WE FIX IT?
Well did we fix it? Or did we fix us? You guessed it. We fixed us! We adjusted his way of viewing us and vice versa. Kylo came to stay with us for a 3 week board and train. Kylo’s owner was ready to fight the addiction that sometimes comes with this breed. Yes, I said it breed related. This isn’t the first time I read a plea from an owner who just can’t take their Yorkie any longer. We set up structure. We taught him obedience. We taught him to be calm. The main thing here is we taught him to be calm. The place command and crate drills was a big factor in teaching Kylo that being calm was the ONLY thing that got him ANY attention. He was not the first priority when someone walked into the door. Screaming crying and barking got him nothing. That was only the beginning. Confidence building exercises and holding him accountable for everything was a must. Kylo was so bad that he would embarrass his owner in public by screaming when she simply walked away from his immediate side. This was an occurrence inside and outside the house. All noises would cause him to behave with the above mention crying and screaming. After 3 weeks this was way more manageable and Kylo was letting people live in peace and quiet. Kylo did really good at home for a while until a family member came to visit and some of his associations returned. No surprise there.
Update on 03/28/17 Kylo has been well. We get pictures and comments all the time that he still be managed and he has his good days and bad days. I write this so people can understand the severity of this “stuff” called separation anxiety.
Just like we can’t “fix” depression in us humans on a drop of a dime, we can’t fix emotional issues in these dogs when they have been embedded for a long time.
