severe separation anxiety!

[niki braman]

We have a one year old F1B goldendoodle named Oli who is a model dog.  He trained quickly, he loves everyone and is a joy for both me and my fiance.  Unfortunately, we have struggled with separation anxiety for most of oli's life.  We've worked with a few trainers and have had months of good luck- even had it under control so that if I leave our apt and its just him he settles under "his" table and does fine.  BUT we recently tried his first boarding experience after meeting the in home boarder and letting him play twice we snuck out. she called 45 minutes later explaining that she couldn't handle the howling and barking and wouldn't accept Oli.  ahh! we're leaving for a wedding soon and this was supposed to be our trial run for that weekend...  He is super socialized, goes to the doggy park every day and has been to tons of doggy daycares where they joked that it was me with the separation anxiety.

 

I am at a loss. Our trainer is out of town for the next two weeks and we really need him to settle into his new boarder so that we are not stuck at home for the rest of our lives! any advice is appreciated because my star puppy is causing me some real heartache.  I don't want him to be stressed and misserable, he has to be okay staying with my parents (we were home for two months and he had a panic attack when i'd even leave the room) or with a boarder that we have eased him into.

 

thank you!

Niki

[Christine & Camus]

Hi Niki,  I had a wonderful doodle with extreme separation anxiety.  He could not be left alone and crating was out of the question - in either circumstance the results were disastrous.  What did work for him was a puppy sitter, someone who would be present for the entire time he was in their care.  I was lucky because I had a small network friends that were willing to puppy sit.  On one occasion when no one was available, I hired a neighbor who came to my apartment to be with him for a few hours.  Obviously, you will need to continue working with your trainer, but for the weekend you were planning to be away a friend or family member might be your best option, as long as they would be willing to commit being with him the entire time you are away.  I'm in San Diego otherwise I would offer to watch him for a weekend. 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Niki, how has Oli been doing at home since he had the bad episode with the boarder? Is he still calm at home? You didn't say what methods the trainers gave you that were working at home but could those methods be transferred into any new setting? Sorry, I haven't had to deal with the problem and I don't know a lot about it.

Do you give him a lot of exercise before you leave him? When in a strange location do you leave anything with him that has your scent on it? Just some thoughts...

I would suggest that you cross post or repost your questions into the Main Forum on the front page where more people will see it too.