How do I help my dog suffering from separation anxiety and general meeting new people anxiety?

Question

I have a terrier mix, she’s a nice medium size. She was adopted, with her sister, under a year ago. She has always been a bit pacey and neurotic, but now that I have separated her from her sisters, she’s gotten worse. She barely eats, follows me around everywhere, and whenever she sees my father she runs in a circle, hides from him, then barks and growls at him. She has come up to him and licked his hand (once), and then when he stands up she goes into her fit again. She does the same thing to my sister minus the hiding and the fit actually ends. The reason I separated her from her sisters was because she was jumping on and injuring my grandparents and I wanted to take her away for a bit and train her. Not only that, if I leave the room, she follows me, and If I leave the house, she whines for hours until my return. We've tried the food thing, she won't let him come near her. My father is reaching his limit and I am worried he is going to have me take her back. What should I do!?

Answer 1

Seperation anxiety is a really bad problem and can be very difficult to fix. You have a great cure avaliable in the form of the dogs sister, though. If you dont want to take the dog back to your grandparents just yet, why dont you see if you can borrow her sister and see if she settles down with her. She will be happier when you go because she has her friend to play with, and then you can try to teach her her manners.

If you want to train her with food- use something that is completely irresistable to the dog- try something like cooked chicken- that usually gets their attention pretty quickly. If all the new people she meets offer her tidbits like this she should come out of her shell much sooner.

Make sure that people approach the dog kneeling down, this is alot less scary for your dog, and tell them to take it slow with her. Let them offer her some food and hold out their hand to her to see how she reacts, if she comes up to sniff it or licks it they can try to slowly give her a scratch behind the ears- most dogs love this. If she acts nervous, gently bites them, has tail between legs, and looks like she wants to run away dont encourage people to pat her.

You should introduce new people to her in a place where she feels comfortable (I had a dog with this problem once, I couldnt take her out for walks- she would get insanely protective of me. I was the only person who could introduce new people and it HAD to be where she was comfortable. If someone else tried to introduce her there were problems and she would start to get aggressive) and once she starts warming up to people you can try to take her for walks and introduce her to new people, sights and sounds. If you do take her for walks you should take her sister as well, this will make her much happier.

good luck!

Answer 2

you have to understand that everyone in her little life has left her so she is going to take more understanding and patience than another dog might but here is how you handle it.

Get a crate for her that she can stand up in and turn around but that is all.  Put her in the crate .  Walk a step at a time away from the crate until you get a reaction from her. Count your steps. Keep doing this every day and each time go another step away from her. When she starts to fuss don't look at her don't make any comment to her . Fold your arms over your chest and look away from her. When she quiets down then you can take her out of the crate.  Keep doing this until you are out of her sight for several minutes. Make sure that every time you come back.  

Have your Dad put her in her crate himself. Then when she has been quiet for a few minutes he should go get her out of the crate himself and cuddle her and tell her how spectacular she is.

Hope this helps and it will if you follow it religiously