separation anxiety between dogs

Question
I have 2 dogs 4 yrs old and brothers.  One is a serious alpha male, I have recently had a child and have to get rid of him for fear of my son being hurt.  These 2 have never been separated, they whine, cry and even bark when they get stuck in different rooms from each other.  I have the perfect person lined up to take nuka and nuka loves him to death.  Part of the problem or question is I have to travel about 9 hrs to get nuka to his new home and will be leaving his brother at home,  I am looking for any information on how to make this transition easier on both of them.  Nuka already is a very nervous dog and has serious separation anxiety from me, so I just want to make this as comfortable as possible for both of them.  Please Help!"

Answer
Ann,

If there was an easy way of treating anxiety in dogs we'd all be using it.  There just is no easy way to separate two dogs or even an anxious dog and his owner.  Time helps, as dogs get used to their new situation.  Surprisingly, sometimes the new situation is better for both dogs and their combined behavior gets significantly better with a change in environment.  Although, sometimes an anxious dog in a new situation can start getting worse and cause problems. It's impossible to predict which situation might happen.

There are anti-anxiety medications to help with the trip that you can ask your veterinarian for (make sure to ask for anxiety meds not sedatives).  I tend to use these medications for short periods of time like a few days to a week because they dont seem to help much beyond that.  

There are also behavioral medications that can be used if the transition is just not going well.  But these medications usually take 4-6 weeks to see effect and I'm afraid that it may be too let to start them now in your case.  But if Nuka is having a big problem after a few weeks in his new home you might seek a vet to give the meds a try.

All you can do is try to do what is in everybody's best interest (which it sounds like you are doing) and hope for the best.  Change is hard even in the best of circumstances, so just give them lots of love and calm support.