SA or age appropriate?

    • Gold Top Dog

    SA or age appropriate?

    I know my pup is only 15 weeks, but I think we may be dealing with some S.A. issues. I hoping for a little help.

    Now, I get that some dogs don't love their crate like others, so I'm not distrubed by that. We still have some barking issues in the crate while I'm gone but I'm more worried about the fact that she doesn't like me to be out of her sight. We have a baby gate between the hallway to the bedrooms and livingroom/kitchen area and if I cross over the gate and she can't get to me, she starts crying and jumping on the gate. If I leave the house and my boyfriend is home, she still gets all upset and crys and jumps at the door for me to come back. He says she lays by the door and waits for me; he tries to distract her but it doesn't always work. The other day, my bf and I were walking Peyton, and he took the leash and lead her for a bit. She kept trying to be on my left side instead of his (I keep her on the left) and if I dropped behind, she would stop and bark at me and try to run to me, basically choking herself against her harness. At this point I just turned my back to her and didn't pay any attention until she calmed down.

    Now I understand that since I'm the one that plays, feeds, trains, walks, and takes care of her she responds to me first/more than she does to my boyfriend. She doesn't dislike him either, she runs up to him when he comes home and showers him with kisses (and some bites but we're working on that too...) and they play together, but she has some issues when she can't see me.

    I'm wondering if this is just a puppy thing or if it's the beginnings of S.A. Of course I would love it if she'd chill out a bit more in her crate and she wouldn't be so nuts when I leave her sight but if it's an age thing and I just have to wait it out...that's fine too!!
    • Gold Top Dog
    It could very well be SA, and Im sorry I dont have any advice on it.  My Kayla had it TERRIBLY bad for a while, I mean she would DESTROY things and be soaking wet with slobber when we got back.  We eventually discovered that when she was left with another dog it was fine.  So we got another dog, and we never had a problem again.  I also think that as she got older she just grew out of it, and if we had to leave her alone (without the other dog) I think she would have been fine.  Then again I believe a police officer found her abandoned in a house and brought her to the pound, where she was then in a cage for a few weeks... so we were probably dealing with some abandonment issues.  She turned out to be the most amazing thing to ever enter my life...  Good Luck!
    • Puppy
    It sounds like it could be the start of SA and you should get a handle on it now before it escalates.  Since I'm not a trainer and not good at describing what to do, I'm posting a link that I think would be helpful for you.  At least you would get some ideas on how to handle the situation.  Also do not punish her for this behavior.   Good luck!
     
    [linkhttp://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html]http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html[/link]