We adopted a beautiful 2 year old Beagle/ Italian Greyhound Mix this weekend. She is housebroken and very sweet, but when we leave for work she will whine and yelp the entire time we are gone. Anybody have any training tips or ideas that we might try to help her feel more comfortable with being left alone. It is becoming a serious problem with our neighbors, and we have to work. Thanks a million for any help!! JoeL

Hello... this weekend we adopted a beautiful italian greyhound/ beagle mix girl named Daisy. She is about two years old and fully housebroken, but does show signs of possible abuse in the past. When we leave the house for work she whines and cries for an excessive amount of time. For the last two days she was crying when I got home from work. This is really breaking our hearts and we'd love some exercises or tips to do with her to help her feel more comfortable being left alone. This is becoming a serious issue with our neighbors too, and we have to work. Any help is GREATLY appreciated!! JoeL

This sounds more like separation anxiety,did they have her with another dog at the shelter or was another dog brought in with her?Ask the people at the shelter if they could contact her previous owners for you to find out if she had this problem with them and if someone was usually home with her.. then go from there..

I hope you aren't leaving her alone all dog. That is just too long without a break. If neither of you can make it back for a break, can you have a neighbor or a professional dog walker? Another option is doggy day care.

There are some things you can do. Try the peanut butter in the Kong trick. You can freeze it to make it last even longer. You can discuss medication with your vet.

Getting back with the rescue is a good idea. They may have more experience with this than I do. RubyPitbull may have some good ideas too.

She was found on the highway near our apartment in Gainesville. The humane society doesn't know too much about her past, and only could relay their experience with her over the last 6 weeks. I really don't want to give her medication if at all possible, simply cause I don't believe in drugging her to solve a whining problem. I discussed this with the vet yesterday, and she said just to keep doing what I'm doing. I can't afford a pet sitter or anything like that to be honest with you. We aren't very wealthy, but we have a lot more love to give her than the hard cage that she was living in. There must be other options that don't involve hiring all sorts of so called "professionals" to help us get the whining under control. I'll keep posting on any improvements. Thanks so much for your replies to my question. It is great to find some support out there!! JoeL

Try leaving on a t.v. or a radio on,maybe it will help reduce the stress if she can hear voices. If she doesn't tear things up leave her a blankie with your smell on it.
Trying walking her before you leave or playing a game of fetch, in other words wear her out,maybe she will be more apt to sleep. Just make sure the excerise is not right after eating or drinking.

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Originally Posted by bushg

Try leaving on a t.v. or a radio on,maybe it will help reduce the stress if she can hear voices. If she doesn't tear things up leave her a blankie with your smell on it.
Trying walking her before you leave or playing a game of fetch, in other words wear her out,maybe she will be more apt to sleep. Just make sure the excerise is not right after eating or drinking.

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These are great ideas,when I have to leave my dog home I leave the TV on CMT she loves country music,maybe you could get her a playmate if that's possible,then she would'nt be lonely.. :)

I responded to this question under another post. Evidently you posted your question twice dognutz and Administration put your two questions together. I am not going to change much of my answer.

A rehoused dog can be a challenge. Dogs are creatures of habit, they find comfort in routine. A rehomed dog doesn't understand why they are in a new environment, they are fearful, confused, and needy. Your dog came home with you over the weekend, and Monday she was left alone. She doesn't understand what is happening, only that she is being left alone in a strange place. The problem you have is two fold and together they create a compounded and complex issue. One: she is very new to your household and requires an adjustment period. Two: she is being left alone all day. There is nothing you can do about the adjustment period. A lot of attention, exercise, training, and time will resolve that issue.

Being left alone all day is the bigger issue. You can try bushg's suggestions and the kong as Labman suggested, but I am afraid that really won't be enough for any length of time. Since you need to work, you do need to have someone exercise her and give her some attention. At her age she has a lot of energy that needs to be expelled, and the whining and yelping will eventually turn in to destruction if she doesn't have something to keep her occupied and challenged while you are gone all day. I strongly advise you to hire a dog walking service or doggy daycare in your area for at least a short period until she adjusts to your home and your routine. If you really are too strapped for cash, you might want to ask your friends and neighbors if they know of an elderly person in your area that is trustworthy who can come in and spend a couple of hours a day with the dog, walking, exercising, and playing with her for a nominal fee. Or, you could call your vet and ask if they know of anyone that has posted their services for this kind of work in their office.

P.S. Cute dog in your avitar there. If that is a picture of her, I would love to see a bigger shot posted here. She doesn't look like a beagle/greyhound mix to me. Frankly, from what I can see she looks like she may have some pitbull in her, but hard to tell from the little photo.

It is unfortunate RubyPitbull answered your second thread without reading your response to my answer in the first. Once she does, she may be able to dig deeper in her bag of tricks rather than suggest about the same as I did. Any additional help you get here is likely to come from her. The Kong should help. I wouldn't count on the radio doing much good. I don't like drugging the dog either, but some dogs don't adjust well to being left all day by themselves.

I merged the 2 threads to avoid having people suggest things you have already rejected.

Yes, I didn't see the second thread until after I posted. I edited my response labman.

I agree with the no medication. At this point in time, that would be a big mistake In my opinion. I also don't think a second dog is the answer. Then Dognutz will be stuck with two dogs having trouble making an adjustment. Dogs don't necessarily need a companion dog. With the fosters and rescues that trample through my home, my permanent dog is very happy to be the only dog in the household. After a couple of hours, the novelty wears off for her. LOL.

There is a very limited range of options for a fundamental problem of leaving the dog alone all day. I am afraid you won't get a better answer.

Is the dog being crated? And is it possible for you to check in at lunch?

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Originally Posted by RubyPitbull

Yes, I didn't see the second thread until after I posted. I edited my response labman.

I agree with the no medication. At this point in time, that would be a big mistake IMHO. I also don't think a second dog is the answer. Then Dognutz will be stuck with two dogs having trouble making an adjustment. Dogs don't necessarily need a companion dog. With the fosters and rescues that trample through my home, my permanent dog is very happy to be the only dog in the household. After a couple of hours, the novelty wears off for her. LOL.

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Ruby,the reason I suggested possibly another dog is because she was at the shelter for 6 weeks and that she had gotten use to being around other dogs and so she did'nt feel alone.I adopted out numerous dogs at my shelter that did better in homes with other dogs as opposed to being the only dog.My dog Cocoa is still grieving over the loss of my other Min.Pin.and he has been gone nearly 2 years.Dogs are pack animals,just like wolves and while some may be content to be a lone wolf,others need companionship.

I understand your reasoning brenda. Please don't think I was picking at you. I really wasn't. I was simply making the statement that right now, dognutz would be stuck with two dogs having trouble adjusting to a new home.

In my experience, if the dogs have been rescued and brought in together into a shelter, and it is obvious they are attached to each other, rescues will try to place them in a home together. But, when they aren't attached to another dog, a dog needs time to adjust to their new home and given the opportunity to bond with their new owners. Working with two dogs who are confused and needy, when an adopter may not have enough experience with dogs or is having trouble dealing with a particular situation, can cause a great deal of anxiety for the owner. I have seen this happen and the result usually is one dog gets returned to the shelter. There is nothing to keep her from adopting a second dog at a later date in time, when she can get the situation under control, if she so chooses.

Ruby and Brenda I can understand where you both are coming from.
In my case the dog that I rescued did do better because I had another dog, as he was used to being with another dog. My first dog had already been adopted for a couple of months and was already settled in. She did not suffer from separation issues, However the 2nd one that I brought in was Destructive! When we would leave he would let out yelp like screams, he would also tear things up. I was better able to manage because I have a large family and I also work at home so His behavior was easier to work with. I will say it cost me a couch! And probably a few neighbors... you could hear him next door.

Yes bushg. Both you and brenda are talking about situations in which you already had at least one dog established, adjusted, and happy in a home with their people. It gives you much better control in that it enables the owner to work with one dog at a time (the newer one introduced to the pack) instead of two. Even though a dog may be used to being around other dogs in a shelter, if they haven't created an extremely close bond with the second dog being introduced into the home at the same time, the situation in the home doubles the difficulty of an adjustment period for everyone involved. Dognutz needs the opportunity to bond with this dog first, the people in the household be recognized as the pack leaders, then a second dog can be introduced at a later time. When two dogs are given the opporunity to bond with each first rather than their person, they will instinctively create their own little two dog pack and each has found his own rank within that pack. One of them always comes out as the leader. It may not always be noticeable to us, but it is to them. Then, it becomes much more difficult and takes a longer period for the owner to establish his leadership position within that little two dog pack rank. The owner leaves themselves open to be challenged for the leadership position by the higher ranking dog, and when you can't completely focus your attention on one dog at a time, and vice versa, the dog can't completely focus on you because there is another new dog that is in the mix, it becomes a more difficult and lengthier process to correct.