Hi all

We are having problems when leaving Dutch alone in the house (he's a 15month old male Shar Pei).  Dutch has always had Bailey to keep him company but now that Bailey has left us (god I miss him so damn much) Dutch has had to get used to being alone.  I am at home all day on maternity leave and will return in Dec part time.  When we leave Dutch alone he is destroying our back door and he howls.  Its very destressing for him and us.  I have tried leaving him for short amounts each day with a tv on, a chew and a kong and he will not take any interest in them at all.  This has been going on now for around 6 weeks and he is actually getting worse rather than better.

During the day he often goes and sleeps in his bed so he doesn't want to be with us the whole time and he sleeps alone downstairs and seems perfectly happy with his own company.  We have always had 2 dogs at a time so haven't really had this problem before.  can anyone offer any advice or is the only thing for him to have company in the form of another dog?

Thanks

I would suggest you begin by crate training Dutch now and beginning to alone train him also.  It's really good that you can be home with him during the training process because that's important, so you have until December to sort this.

Here are some links - firstly I would suggest you don't leave Dutch alone for longer than the amount you have "trained up to" if at all possible, because you don't want him to "practise" being distressed when you leave - the more a dog behaves in a certain way, the more he will behave that way in future.  So take him with you if possible or get a neighbour or friend to stay with him. 

To begin with, you'll need to follow the crate training link to get him used to a crate (which will help save your back door).

Then you'll need to follow the Separation Anxiety link - ignore the drug treatment suggestions - if you follow the behavioural suggestions it should be enough.

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/crate-train.pdf

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002/sa.htm

Try Ignatia. This a homepathic remedy for pining and stress. Can be ordered from Ainsworths Homeopathic site. 30c is the normal strength. Hope this helps.