Hey everyone! I am new to the group and having some trouble with my dog, Lebron. I adopted him in June and he is now 8 months old. I know he has separation anxiety, but has developed a routine with me and his crate. He doesn't bark anymore, and voluntarily goes into his crate. But in the past month, he gets too sad to eat or potty before I leave for work and started having accidents in this crate. He is only alone for 4 hours, and has held it for 6. He pees about once a week in his crate in the past month. Today, he pooped in the morning, then peed in his crate during a 15 minute walmart run. It's really frustrating because we never had this issue before. I highly doubt its a UTI because its inconsistent and not frequent enough. I do not know if his separation anxiety is getting worse or if he just doesn't have anything better to do.
Hi @Stephanie Pilkenton I think we need more information. How do you know your dog suffers from separation anxiety issues? If so, what steps have you taken to mitigate it? Do you have the problem re the crate and toiletting when you don't leave for work? When he is too sad and doesn't toilet and you place him in the crate, how many hours will he be expected to hold himself before you return? Did you put defecation and urination on a cue? Are you in a position for a dog minder to come to your place?
Welcome Stephanie, I imagine this is worrying for you but it might be something simple. I don’t feel you can rule out a UTI and this very well could be the case. So it might be worth getting that checked out. Perhaps make feeding and toilet time more rewarding/fun. Rather than it just being routine. Mix things up for him so he doesn’t associate certain things with you going to work. I do agree that if somebody could nip in and toilet/walk him would break the day up and increase his confidence and social skills.
If you are only getting accidents when he is in the crate (and not at other times around the house) it is highly unlikely to be a UTI. I would suggest setting a camera up to see how the dog is behaving whilst you are gone... But from your description of his behaviour before going in the crate, that's what it sounds like. Who did you rescue him from? A rescue would be silly to place a dog with SA in a household where he will be left 4 hours.... If your dog has separation anxiety, the 'bad' news is that you need to never leave the dog for longer than you have trained the dog to be ok, being left - during the training process. That means you are probably going to need to look into daycare etc, or a relative who can have him dropped off at their house etc etc at least whilst you train the dog to be comfortable being left. If the dog is distressed after 15 minutes, then you really can't leave him at all yet. It simply isn't possible to fix genuine separation anxiety without this being achieved first, because on the one hand you are trying to teach him that being left is bearable and you are not gone longer than he can tolerate - whilst then leaving him for hours at other times. Think about how much fear or terror you would be experiencing to mess in your own bed or house and not in a toilet. That's how much he's feeling... It's not ethical for him to be exposed to this level of fear and anxiety on a daily basis so hopefully you can arrange some way to avoid him being left alone. Sometimes it is possible to brings dogs to work and leave them in your vehicle if it's in a secure area which is under cover. And often dogs with SA are fine being left in the car - because they don't associate it with being left for ages. So you could experiment with this. Sometimes it is then possible to visit the dog during breaks or at lunch as well... The best book or resource about SA is, IMO, this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Treating-S...ords=de+martini-price+separation+anxiety+dogs
