Separation Anxiety?

[beth101509]

I wanted to update you all on our progress. After some of your advice and some other stuff I read online, I had an epiphany. She loves her crate and is fine there all night, and even goes into it when we are home. She doesn't mind when we are in a different room, she just hates being alone outside. I stopped leaving her alone outside at all, and started making sure she had chew bones and toys and a stuffed kong, and a few hidden dog biscuits in her crate any time I left the house. I also closed the crate door sometimes when we were home.
I actually think leaving her outside was her biggest trigger, and it would upset her for days afterward, even if I later put her in her crate the next time I would leave. It doesn't make sense to me why she wouldn't rather be in our big, fenced yard with a covered deck and food and water, but the fact is that she just doesn't. She is so well behaved in the house now that I decided to stop leaving her in the backyard by herself any longer than it takes her to go potty. I let her in as soon as she comes back to the door. I thought I was doing her a favor by trying to get her to take some outside time, but she hates it. No more window jumping, and no more drool puddles in her crate when I leave. She is happy when I get home, but doesn't whine or act crazed when I walk in the door. My only problem left with her is that she refuses to go outside and use the bathroom first thing in the morning-she doesn't want to leave us, but it is just because I have sympathy for her poor bladder-it doesn't seem to bother her.

My dog LOVES being outside, just not alone. The minute I try and go inside he will come running up the deck stairs like, "don't leave me!". I can't figure it out either. He just won't do it. Glad you are finding what works best for you and your dog and that you are making improvements!

[Ivy]

My dog is the same, she would stay out all day if at least one of us is out there, but never alone. I never thought of labs as apartment dogs, but this one totally could be. She isn't all that high energy either, she matches whatever level of activity we have at the moment.

[happy_blackbird]

I am so glad your girl is feeling better!!!

Unless Ellie is doing something she is not normally permitted to do (digging for neighborhood cat poop, pulling lemons off the tree, eating the decorative grass), she does not want to be outside alone. That's actually how I often get her to come inside when she's puttering and I need to get going. I say, "Bye, Ellie!", head to the back door, and give it a slam. That gets her to come right to me (I know, I know, she should have recall, but till she gets that down pat, I am not above manipulating her to get her to come back to the house). They are intensely social creatures who love their pack, so why be alone outside when there's a party going on inside? It's lonely out there! Plus, I am just too neurotic about all the things in the yard that could injure her at seven months old. She's just not ready to be unsupervised anywhere let alone with 10,000 sq ft of not so edible landscape bark.