I have this "conversation" going in another thread, but I'd like even *more* opinions!

Right now I'm trying to decide whether or not to adopt a particular toy poodle. She is seven months old, almost 7 lbs, and black. I've seen her a few times now, and each time she's more friendly, but the first visit is what I'll concentrate on. She's a beautiful pup. She was very curious when I first came in and then after a quick sniff, very friendly. She let me pick her up, roll her over, play with her feet and ears and muzzle. Of course I wasn't being "aggressive" but I can imagine it would be very annoying to be manhandled like that; she took it all with a sniff and a wag! She's beautifully behaved for her age, fairly mellow for her age, and pretty much housebroken. She can be a bit nervous around bigger dogs, but who can blame her?! And she warms up after the second or third visit with them and they haven't tried to eat her. Of course she has - and will have more - behavioral "issues" that come with the whole doggy package. I know that, and dare to say that I look forward to them!

She seems like a great dog!

But
she has seperation anxiety. The owner told me this upfront. She hasn't worked on fixing it. She says she doesn't get very destructive, just vocal. I'll be moving into an apartment in a year or two, and this just won't do (not to mention that it can't be healthy for the dog!).

I have never dealt with seperation anxiety in a dog before. I'm willing to work on this if it can be fixed (and the websites I've been looking at say it can?). In every other respect, this dog has a LOT of what I was looking for, and the fact that she's bothered by seperation anxiety is killing me. I'm falling in love with her, to be sure! I've half made up my mind, but I don't want to get in over my head.

Some opinions I've gotten so far (reworded to how I remember them) are as follows:
The age; she's growing up. It will get better with time.
Something happened. She's traumatized. It'll be SO much work.
Bad breeding; messed up genes. Forget about it.
She's a companion animal. She needs companionship. Get another dog and it will stop.
It's just a bad habit. You can fix it.
She's just not used to being left alone. Teach her that it's not a bad thing, and she'll get over it.

I doubt it's the breeding. And it doesn't seem like anything has happened to her. She's very happy, and the owner has been very polite and seems to be honest; I have been given no reason to doubt her. She told me she had no idea why she does it, but she was so rarely left alone, that she hasn't worried about it. Another dog is not an option. 2 or 3 months before I move into an apartment, I'll be getting a cat (she's great with cats!) and getting them buddy/buddy, but that won't be for at least another year, and Grandmother will not have a cat in her house until then.

So... That's the situation, or as much as I can think of! What do you think?

Hi,
Personally, but without having seent he dog and how she behaves when left alone, I would think the last alternative is the right one: she's not used to being left alone, and careful training to show her that it is okay will cure the problem. As you say you have a year or two to train her in this, so go carefully and it should be fine. Other dogs are successfully cured of this, so I don't see why she should be any different.
Good luck.
:)

Hudson has separation anxiety and was very vocal. He still has it if he goes into kennles whilst we are away , but the kennel owner knows what he is like. At home we managed to overcome it by popping out of the house for a minute or two and then straight back in and giving him a treat for being quiet. This time was gradually increased and we can now leave him with no noise :)

We didn't tell him off , just praised him when he was quiet. He still looks for a treat now when we come home and I always make sure I have a bit of something for him and we tell him how good he is.

We were lucky , we had a very understanding neighbour ...he made an awful lot of noise :rolleyes: :)