Could this be separation anxiety in rescued pup

 Thank you for adopting a rescue!

Rescue dogs do present challenges.  This sounds like separation anxiety to me.  First, have you remained in contact with the foster parent?  Have you discussed this with her / him?

You can take steps to desensitize the dog to this.  It will take time, but you can do this.  You work in small steps.  Give the pup something to chew in his crate - a frozen Kong works well.  Walk out of his sight, walk back in, praise, treat, reward.  Yes it is a slow process but from what I've heard from folks in obedience classes with me whose dog had these issues, they work through it in about 4 weeks.  You are lucky you work from home as you can work in this quite a bit.

The next step is to walk out of the room.  Do that a few times, always returning to praise, treat, reward the pup.  Once he "gets" that, you move to another room.  And so on.  You will progress to walking out of the house and back in (so he hears the door close, and open).  And walk out of the house and around the house (leaving him for a time between the sound of the door closing and opening again).  Out of the house, start the car, turn it off and return.  Small steps, over and over.  Only move to the next step once he is comfortable with the prior step.

I'd really be interested in what the foster parent says!

I'd say it's highly likely that it's an adjustment issue but not one that will probably resolve well without taking some important steps. There's a booklet called "I'll Be Home Soon" and I can't recommend it strongly enough. It has step by step exercises to working on this issue..

When we adopted Shane back in May, he showed some of the same signs as you're dealing with. The main thing I worked on was getting him used to me leaving for a few min's and then seeing me come back. I did that over and over again throughout the day. Not making a big deal out of leaving or returning is super important. Leaving through one door and returning through another is also important to keep them from obsessing over one place. It really is going to take time though and at 4 or 5 days out, he's still feeling very insecure, so try not to give up hope.

By the way, Shane wouldn't touch his kong in his crate if we left. Someone told me not to worry about it but only to give him his kong while in the crate, so he'd learn that that yummy thing came with some time alone in the crate. If he ignored it for too long, I took it out and put it back in the freezer. It took a bit of time but he now runs to his crate when he sees the kong come out. I use a combo of his dry (moistened) and canned food and stuff the kongs with that. He gets breakfast and dinner that way, regardless of whether we are home or not. That way, he doesn't associate me giving him the kong with me leaving the house. I wish you all the best. I remember how worried I was about this but it's all fine now and hopefully will be soon for you too.

Some people have had good luck with Valerian root to help keep the dog calmer while you're gone.  You might also talk to your vet about using an anti anxiety drug when you have to leave as the counter conditioning can take a while for some dogs. It's possible that if you work on it multiple times a day in short sessions, you will see some improvement soon.

I think working on obedience training around the house also helps a dog gain confidence. 

Many dogs with SA become even more anxious when confined to a crate.  Patricia McConnell has a booklet called "I'll be home soon" that has step by step instructions to help your dog overcome her fear of being left alone.  You can also look at her website and blog for tips on dealing with SA while you wait for the booklet to arrive.

Some dogs, who previously were fine when left alone, develop SA when they go to a new home.   Good luck and don't give up hope.

ETA, Cathy and I were posting at the same time and recommending the same booklet. :) Get it ASAP as it is one of the easiest guides to follow and very effective.

I'd take him in ASAP, today, to the vet for some meds.  This will buy you some time.  Most dogs in a state of severe anxiety won't eat anything, so no, the Kong won't help.  You might have to find a pet sitter if you can't get him into the vet this morning.  I know that's not always easy either on such short notice.  If you aren't able to do either I'd leave him in a bathroom with all items removed that he could destroy or damage. 

As I said earlier, he may not have had any anxiety previously and this happened due to going to a new home. 

I'm really sorry you and your new dog are dealing with this and I hope things improve soon.  Sending you and your dog some "stay calm" vibes.  The more anxious you are about leaving the more he'll pick up on that so try to stay calm as possible.  I know that's a lot easier said than done.  I had a dog with mild SA and she destroyed a lot of stuff when I left her alone in her crate for the first time. She tore out of her crate. :(  It wasn't too hard to counter condition her and it helped that I could take her to work with me while I worked on the problem.  Good luck and please let us know how things go.

You can pick up Valerian root at most pharmacies in the vitamin/supplement section.  It's worth a try if you can't get any meds today.

I'm also going to second **everything** both Cathy and Jackie have said.

1.  Valerian -- get the **tincture** (and get it in glycerite, rather than the alcohol formula) - use a full dropper and stir it into just a little bit of peanut butter and put it in his mouth.  (dunno why but that combo is a winner wtih most dogs *smile*).  The tincture works FASTER -- like within 5 minutes.  The ground herb will take an hour to kick in.  You can use rescue remedy ALSO (just use it a few minutes after the valerian).

2.  Take some yourself -- Yeah, I'm partly kidding but honestly, partly not.  What Jackie said about **your** state of mind is huge.  You're near tears, you feel overwelmed and pressured, and honestly this is somethig the dog picks up on.  (it's more than just your voice -- but worry literally has a 'scent'  so keeping yourself level is no small task).  Valerian to us  STINKS.  It's aa strong-smelling herb, but to be honest -- I've done the peanut butter thing with myself too.  but you'll see it does work pretty fast.

Like the ladies said above -- gosh I am so sorry you are having to go thru this.  But let me speak dog to you for just a minute?

he's been tossed from pillar to post.  At "the other place" there were other dogs that he kinda knew and they were probably all barking (which got attention).  In this NEW place he's not sure the other dog likes him and everbuddy is upset with him and it's all just SO NEW and SO SCAREY. 

And right now?  He's pretty sure he's feeling "maybe we can't keep" him vibes (and maybe he's even heard those words).  He's scared and his first reaction is to make sure someone knows. 

Especially at night -- it's a scaredy thing, and being ALONE is not a dog thing he does well (most don't).  Please try to keep him IN a room **with** someone else.  There's this amazing thing -- "sleep smell" .  (partly it is that thing you rush to the bathroom to brush your teach and wash OFF of yourself because we all know we need it in the morning -- but an animal is greatly comforted by that scent of all the packmates being intermingled.

He's just scared -- and very very unsure.  And right now all he knows is that at least when he pitches a fit in the crate that he gets SOME sort of attention.  And for him, right her right now "negative attention" it at least SOME attention.

Take a deep breath -- honestly today isn't going to make or break.  You've gotta get thru it.  but don't tell him you're "sorry" you have to go.  Just say "I*'ll be back before supper!! See ya!!" and CHEERFULLY leave. 

There is good support here -- more than you know.  I remember WELL the hard time Cathy had leaving Shane -- and what's more, Shane has a pretty serious heart problem (which they knew) but she had to additionally worry about his heart if he got too upset.  So she really DOES understand your angst about leaving him.

And "in" a crate isn't bad -- right now he's fearful because he doesn't know what to expect, and even if he hates the crate -- as long as it's a good sturdy one that he can't bend to wreck it to get out of it then a crate actually becomes protection from everything else he doesn't know.  Today -- you'll get thru it.

You aren't crazy, you aren't mean, you aren't being weird -- you've got a new little life you're responsible for and you're concerned.  That is a GOOD THING!!   Most all of us on here have been thru this with at least one newbie.  Not only do you get good advice here - you get caring thoughts and prayers (yeah, we actually worry about each other in the interim and want to know how you made out).

 Good luck -- with prayers & good thots for you -- Callie

I would not leave him for ten or fifteen minutes, as part of the counter conditioning.  I know you have to leave him today but for the counter conditioning exercises, it's too long a time span to do anything toward helping him learn not to be anxious when you leave.

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00314.htm

Here's another one

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_9/features/Desensitizing-Protocol-and-Separation-Anxiety_20604-1.html