After watching the secret life of dogs I videoed my dogs yesterday. Within 2 mins of the video being on 2 had curled up on the sofa and went to sleep, my youngest wondered around for about 6 mins then got on the sofa and went to sleep, i didn't see the other 2 at all so I assume they went to sleep off camera. Non of them made any noise whatsoever. The video turned itself off after an hour or so but they were all still sleeping at that point. I'm happy enough that my dogs aren't stressed when left!

Anyone else recorded theirs?

Not video but sound - a while back my neighbour caught me on the way in to tell me some of the dogs had been barking for half an hour and woken them up while I was walking the others.  Can't say I had much sympathy (considering this happened at the ungodly hour of 7.50am and more noise comes out of that house than the entire street!), but in consideration for my other neighbours I set about recording everyone to find out what was going on.

Turns out Opi has maintained her howling habit this time since Tia died - she did it when they grew up together but stopped when I moved away and Tia stayed with my brother.  But it started again when Tia moved in with me!

It's not stress though - what I discovered is Linc barking at her until she starts howling, then others joining in.  All for fun - I've seen him and Tia do it when I'm in the room before.  Or River, winding the boys up until they play.  Or Phoebe, barking at random stuff as she does.

I now split them four ways when I go out and no more noise :-)

I think I'll try it with Daisy, my neighbours are far enough away that nobody can hear anything, even when I had Spud and Louie, who did some beautiful harmonies together, they couldn't hear them.
Daisy does have some low grade seperation anxiety, but I have no idea if she howls , she sits in the front window if I go out, and she's still there when I get back, what she does in between, is a mystery.

>what I discovered is Linc barking at her until she starts howling, then others joining in.

I only have to go upstairs to make the bed and mine start to do this within minutes of me leaving the room.  My Border Collie is the quietest dog I've ever owned, yet one of the Chihuahuas barks in his face and he takes it for some time before he starts to howl.  Small dogs can be wind up merchants.

I have to go back downstairs and hammer on the kitchen door, and all goes quiet.  I don't even open the door.  I've often wondered if they do it because they think I've left home. 

Yes, I've filmed my girl and she is sooooo..... boring, she just goes to sleep, nothing! Watching paint dry would have been more fun. :-D

We once filmed my mothers dogs and a different story, her alpha male does not relax until she is home, (we also filmed him at mine and he is the same there) at my mum's he sits on the sofa arm watching out of the window for her return and his ears are up at every sound, he was joined on occasion by the lowest ranking female also sitting next to him looking out of the window, her other males and females sleep and relax. No barking, just watching and waiting, bless.

Filmed her ages ago but did it again yesterday when I left for work. The budgie the the more active of the two lol. My girl sat and watched out the window for a few minits then had a quick wander then layed down on her spot for 10 mins, moved to laying on the other sofa for 6 mins then back to laying on her spot again untill the camera turned its self off. The same as last time I filmed her.

We've got a webcam and they are usually fast asleep when I check in.

I recorded mine as well. I used Sleep Recorder App on my tablet, I had to calibrate it so it would pick up any noise - easy to do, I asked one dog to bark on command in the living room (told him the postman was coming, lol) and made sure the app picked it up in the next room.

Not a squeak out of them at all. The oldie rescue did a bit of pacing (click click click on the laminate floor) but settled down.

Same here webcam and they are usually asleep when I check in - very boring tbh - but very timewasting when I first got it!  I get an email if it senses any motion - sometimes that is a spider that has crawled near the camera - so its a picture of sleeping dogs!!!

We got ours when we had puppies - they were old enough to leave, but young enough that I just liked to keep half an eye on them, mostly to see how much clearing up was going to be waiting for me... :-D

I didn't see the whole program, but the dogs that were showing varying SA or stressed, were these all lone dogs?

Dogs are social creatures, and are probably best kept as two or more if the owner cannot spend most of their day with them.

I agree with that Barbara.
However, sometimes people with a SA dog decide to get another "to keep it company" and then end up with two SA dogs!

It can work.... if the existing dog doesn't suffer from SA and most of all, the second dog trusts and cues from the first.

My rescue girl lived with my sister for some time before she came here permanently. At my sister's she did have SA to quite a degree, pacing a lot and occasional defecation/weeing. Mainly because although there was someone at home most of the time, they weren't directly interacting with her and she was left on her own downstairs.

Within just a few months of coming here her pacing stopped, and she could be left comfortably for up to 4 hrs (wouldn't leave them longer unless unusual circunstances).

Although she doesn't interact a great deal with my other dog, it seems just having him around and tuning into him (he is content and comfortable when left) made a huge difference. I posted above about recording them and I only heard a little bit of clicky-nails pacing from her, then chilled silence. Within a few weeks of her being here I cut her food down to half because she wasn't expending so much energy on pacing and stressing, and was getting a bit porky!

I didn't see the whole program, but the dogs that were showing varying SA or stressed, were these all lone dogs?

No, in some cases there were two. Most interestingly, there was a pair of Cockers where one was stressed and the other not!

I would never advise anyone having a second dog unless the first was happy and settled.  Ditto not getting a puppy until first can seta good example.

Strictly speaking would you say a dog which ahs company is really suffering from SA, rather than A POOR NEUROTIC TEMPERAMENT.

What I am saying badly si that any dog no matter how good a temperament will not be happy spending too much time alone as they are a social species.  Dogs with poor/weak temperament will show more outward signs.

Just a comment on batteries. I dont know who does what  with pocket cam vids buy I shoot totally at random most times & usually 2 or 3 times a week I take a cam with me and do just that, random shots of her, unhindered, doing whatever she does, Ive been doing it since 2008 so I have a diary of 'her' life as she has lived it.I found out long ago the best way is to use re-chargeable, reputable, batteries. I used 'energizer extreme' AA, which are 2300mAh (asda) £10. Recently I bought duracel 2400mAh rechargeable, tesco £15, you need a battery charger for them but thats the end of needing new batteries for maybe 4 years of everyday use.
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I put up cctv a few years ago and the first day came home and went to see what the dogs got up to in theur run. They watched the gate after I left for 5 minutes and then slept for the rest if the time. Half an hour before I was due home, they all came to life and sat watching the gate until I came home:-)