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Separation Anxiety... we all get it!

I get the impression that Crunk has been starved of loving attention by his former owners. He was kept outside but could look in through the glass door, whimpering all the while, clearly missing me. Every time he banged and scratched I growled a slow and low sounding "No", looking him dead in the eyes.

Forgive me if I missed earlier information about this dog, but I take it that it is an Australian Shepherd, and male, I assume from the name? What is its age?

For a dog like this that seems to have been deprived of atttention, and who whimpers or scratches eagerly at doors when separated from you, I would suggest that give the dog some time and that you lighten up a bit on some rules and expectations temporarily while also refraining from using any punishment or even strong correction.

SLEEPING: As suggested, letting the dog sleep in your bedroom is a real necessity at this point. In a sense, it is as though you are starting out with a new puppy! Both the pup and an attention-starved dog have a lot in common and need a slow introduction to the behavior you will eventually demand. Sleeping in the bedroom will also very quickly cause the dog to adopt your daily schedule and sleep the same hours you do.

ANXIETY: Sleeping with you also gives the dog a long undisturbed period of time to be near you, and this helps to build trust that you will not be ignoring or abandoning the dog. Although you may see its main symptoms as clinginess, insistence on being near you, and whimpering when it cannot get its way, the underlying problem is one of anxiety, so everything you do needs to be designed to decrease the dog's anxiety and increase its confidence that you will always be coming back to it each time you go away, and that you will not be mad or reject it for some small mistake.

SEPARATION: A good way to work on separation is to place the dog in a safe room with some toys or treats, and after spending a few moments with the dog, walk out and close the door so the dog cannot follow and must remain alone. Ignore whatever the dog does, and make no correction, comment, or response to its reaction to your leaving. Then, after just one minute, return to the room and remain for a while--play, or just let the dog sit near you. Then repeat: Walk out, close the dog in, ignore any reaction, and then return after one minute.

Over a period of weeks, slowly increase the time you stay out of the room--2 minutes, 3, etc. Working up to 15 minutes is a good first goal. Again, it does not matter what the dog does while you are away from it. At about 15 minutes, start to randomize the absences: 5 minutes followed by 30 seconds, then 10 minutes, etc. Also randomize the amount of time you remain with the dog before leaving. In general, you should always end up spending approximately equal time with the dog as you do absent time.

Through this type of exercise, the dog will start to learn that you are not going to leave forever, and will begin to have faith in your return. BTW, if you have two TV's, a great time to practice this is when you are watching a show. Have the dog in one room with the TV on, and you can then retreat to a second room where the TV is also on. During each return and absence, you simply relocate and continue watching your favorite soap opera, or the NOVA on Quantum Physics, whichever you prefer! (:-)

MILD CORRECTIONS: You mentioned saying "No!" and staring at the dog when it was whimpering outside the window. It would be best to use as mild and as few corrections as you can, and to let the dog slide a little for the first several weeks. He is not trying to be a bad dog, he is a hurting and needy dog, and so he needs patience, not discipline right now.
For example, you mentioned that at a friend's house he "was very frisky in company, nipping and leaping about." If this were a "normal" dog that had been with me for some time, this would be an urgent sign that this dog needs some training! But in your case, this is the normal and understandable reaction of a dog who probably loves people but has been denied access to them. He is frisky and leaping and nipping because he is as happy and excited as he has probably ever been over the past years! Unfortunately, you will never have a normal well-behaved dog if you react by stiffling or punishing this behavior. What you need to do is rechannel the enery and excitement into more acceptable activities. Get some Frisbee practices going!

So, the best course until the dog becomes more secure is to...

1) Avoid situations where he will misbehave. You know he will get overly excited at a gathering of other people, so don't take him to such places for now. If he always whimpers every time he is locked outside, then for goodness sakes, don't lock him outside unless it is an absolute necessity. You get the idea. Instead of worrying about how to react to unwanted behavior after it occurs, you simply use management techniques for the time being to avoid it occurring.

2) I would recommend only the gentlest of corrections. Even an assertive "No!" and a stare may be too much for him to handle right now. A good rule that will help you to judge how to respond is that a correction should not be a punishment, it should be a redirection of the dog's attention to a more appropriate behavior. A correction must always be instructional! Dogs learn lot from being shown repeatedly what you want them to do. They learn absolutely nothing from being punished, given a mean look, or yelled at. So always make your correction a learning experience.

If the dog scratches the door, a simple "No" in a normal tone of voice will surfice, but then immediately take the dog to a chew toy or place it in a Sit, or put it where it cannot scatch a door! I'd be lying if I told you you'll have to do this just a few times. You will probably have to do it over and over and over again--sometimes four times in a row within a few minutes! But this type of patient redirection will eventually work, and the dog's unwanted behaviors will get less frequent, and all without upsetting the dog. And the great benefit is that while all this improves, the dog will think more and more of you, rather than learn to fear or distrust you!

You see, any type of aversive, emotional response, or stress-producing stimulus will only make this type of dog worse! So use the traditional Clicker Training mantra: Reward desired behavior, and ignore unwanted behavior--as much as you can. When you do respond to unwanted behavior, SHOW the dog an alternative, and then reward for engaging in the alternative activity.

STRAIGHT FROM THE BOOK: The other common recommendations for a clingy newcomer include

That was probably a lot more than you expected from one reply, but I hope some of it helps or gives you ideas on how to handle this dog during the immediate future until his anxiety level is reduced.

Good luck, and lots of patience!

Barry
"A dog cannot be bad, it can only be a dog."