need help with home alone issues

[callie]

Lately I've been having problems with Callie being home alone. Part of it is my fault, because for 1 1/2 months I was home all the time and Callie was pretty much never left alone. Now I'm in a new place (for about 2 weeks now) and I have a regular 8 hour day where Callie is left alone. Whenever I come home she's at the door and whining with her ears down flat and her tail between her legs. She'll follow me around like this for a couple of minutes. Lately, she's been dragging things around the house, like my clothes and a few stuffed animals and other stuff she can easily fit in her mouth. Except for about a week ago when she chewed up one of my shoes, she isn't destructive towards the items. However, I don't want this behavior to continue or for Callie to think it's ok.
I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing in regaurds to disciplining this behavior. I hate walking in the door and telling her "no" and "bad girl" right away. What would be the appropriate response to this behavior? What can I do so that it stops? Any help would be appreciated!

[houndlove]

Prevent it from happening. It sounds to me like Callie is somewhat nervous about having all that space to herself with no one around. A lot of dogs find that a little overwhelming. If she seems stressed and anxious when you get home (rather than boingy bouncy happy) then I'd go with that assessment and work under that assumption. Start her off in a much smaller space. Can you dog-proof one particular room and then shut the door or use a baby gate (for some reason my dogs prefer baby gates over shut doors)? Give her her toys and favorite things in there (frozen Kongs, treat dispensing puzzle toys) and confine her to that one room. Over time you can try to slowly expand her "territory" to larger portions of the house (baby gates rule!).

Scolding a dog after they've done something is wholly ineffective (and in cases where it's anxiety over being left alone, the majority of the bad stuff usually happens within an hour or two of you leaving so by the time you get home it's probably 5+ hours after most of that stuff happened).

[callie]

Houndlove, I tried limiting Callie's space in the apartment when I'm gone. This went really well the first day, but on the second she got ahold of a cardboard box and shredded it into confetti. I've limited her space as much as possible. She's stopped eating her breakfast, though which worries me a little. I feed her before I leave, but when I get home, there's still most of her food left. (She gets Canidae; 1 cup am and 1 cup pm). She's still greeting me whining with her tail between her legs even if I'm gone for a short time. Any suggestions?

[bubbatd]

Of course she misses you ! I'm surprised that there isn't more destruction or messes ! To me anything within reach of a dog is fair game ..... I never had problems with my Gildens , but sure found out with Ollie ! Her ears down and tail between here legs shows she knows she's done wrong . As to her breakfast , I'd feed her earlier in the morning so that she can enjoy and then pot before you leave . Sounds like a good girl to me !

[callie]

bubbatd, I'm waiting for the day I come home and find the place destroyed:) She's not big on toys, but will toss her ball or rope around and play by herself, which creates endless amusement for myself when I watch her.
As to her food, she normally doesn't eat first thing in the morning. Even when I'm with her during the day, she rarely eats before 9 am and she usually just snacks unless she's been extremely active early in the morning. Although, I try to prevent her from gobbling up her food right after intense exercising.

[matthewmitchell]

You shouldn't tell her No, or bad. Once you come home it's far too late to correct or discipline. If you tell her bad or no, she is going to think that she is being punished for greeting you at the door.

I'm working on getting my dog through this right now also. He has terrible anxiety when he is alone and he loves to chew. Basically the best thing to do is make sure anything and everything is picked up and prevent the issue of chewing before she even has an opportunity to chew it. Also, start leaving her for short increments at a time so she gets used to being alone gradually as opposed to just dropping her into for 8 hours.

This is what I've been told and is what seems to be the most helpful.

[DoggyDaze]

Callie,

We just finished our first week of "home alone" during the workday. Kongs helped. The beef rib she buried one evening helped the following day.

But the best distraction we've found is a near empty jar of peanut butter (heavy duty plastic, CeCe is not an aggressive chewer).

However, she is very "busy" in the evenings.

[callie]

I've stopped disciplining her when I get home. Most of the time, my reaction was just blurted out when I walked in the door to the chaos Callie created.
As to dog proofing the apartment, I try to keep the place real neat so she can't get into anything she shouldn't but if I missed anything, she manages to find it. I'm pretty sure she has started to jump up on the kitchen table because that would be the only way she could have gotten into trouble a few times. Everytime I figure out her newest trick she finds another one. She is way to smart. I think we're figuring it out though.
If anyone has had similiar problems, what did you do?

[misticaleclipse]

A bit of seperation anxiety is to be expected in this situation.
I agree with kongs providing a good distraction, but they only
last so long.

She is along for a full 8 hours? I consider that a long
time to leave a dog alone and not let them go to the bathroom...

You could try and take a 3 day weekend and leave for shorter periods
of time to see what she does and work you way up to longer.
Only come back in the door when you do not hear her barking
of causing a rukus.

When you do walk in the door do not make a fuss over her at
all, infact ignore her until she is calmed down and then you
can reward the calm behavior with attention.

If she is alone for 8 hours a day I think it is wise to maybe
look at a dog walker to come in mid day to let her out and
this should also relieve some anxiety.

Any friends that have dogs who are alone during the day?
Maybe she would appreciate some company.

If you had the money you could also look at a dogy daycare
facility.

[ToscasMom]

The thing is, she was used to having you around all the time and now she misses you. It's a shock when a dog is used to having its person there and suddenly they are gone for what seems like an eternity. I am around my dog a lot and I have to make a conscious effort to make sure she is left alone so this doesn't happen when I am gone for the full day.

She is missing you and blurting out in anger when you come home is probably making her feel like seeing you again is a bad thing or something. Yelling at her for something she did hours ago isn't going to register. I know it's frustrating to find a mess, but it's important that you don't relate coming back home with punishment. I mean, if you think like your dog, she has been waiting for you all day, wondering when or even if you will return. She's glad to see you and it has to make her feel awful that you do not appear glad to see her. She misses you so much she gets flustered. She is not being destructive for spite, she's just anxious because you aren't there all the time like you used to be. She doesn't understand why. Overall, I would say you are really lucky she hasn't eaten a table leg. I agree with those who said she may need a person to visit with her while you are gone. In the meantime, it's a great idea to work on desensitizing her to you being gone at times in increasingly longer time lapses.