Whiney Golden

Question
Well. We adopted a 3 yr old Golden male about August, 6 months ago. Immediately I noticed he seemed extremely insecure.
Upon bringing him home, he marked and peed on several items in the house(Which we have gently broken him of now)
If you even raise your voice in the slightest(not even at him) He drops to his belly and stays still.
He was very jumpy too. I'd open the bottom fridge and he'd fly across the room. Or when the water bubbled in the water bowl jug, he'd fly backwards. He jumps if you move quick too.
He whines ALOT! He whined for pretty much a full week in his kennel(which he is used to sleeping in)
He carry's around his "blankie" quite a bit. He chews it, shakes it, tries to mount it.
When he comes in from outside or we get home. He does like a groaning whine, wont calm down quickly, and I've noticed if you touch him while in this state of mind, his groaning increases.
We have two other Golden's. 2 females. My oldest female is presently at the vet for a couple of days.
My male now cries a GREAT deal of a lot more now since she's been gone. Especially at night. All night!

Basically, I am curious as to why he is behaving this way? It is very odd I must say, for any breed or any dog in fact to be acting the way he does. He is 3 years old, and we are his fourth owners.

We are unsure as to how to help improve him.
We know he has improved in the last 6 months since having him. He does not show as great deal of fear. But there is still room for more improvement.

I would greatly appreciate any advice you could give me.

Thank You!!


Answer
It's not as "odd" as you think for a dog to demonstrate high anxiety, ESPECIALLY as you are his FOURTH HOME!  This dog is hugely insecure, even with your loving attention; your older female is most likely the "anchor" for him emotionally, and his distress at her absence (he knows nothing about why she's gone), so sudden an absence, has accentuated his insecurity.

I suggest you discuss with your veterinarian a course of medication to deal with this dog's very high level of anxiety.  It appears to have been caused by a former "owner" but his basic temperament is very 'soft'.  While on medication, you can begin a course of behavior modification. Start with positive reinforcement training:
http://www.clickertraining.com/

Once you have learned this technique, teach him to 'sit' (but use a new word, someone, somewhere has totally destroyed this one); once he performs this behavior reliably every time, ask him to "work" for his food, being petted, being allowed in/out, etc., for about a month.  This technique (Nothing In Life Is Free) is used to control rank opportunism and high excitability but because it promotes you psychologically in such a clear manner it can also help an anxious dog to trust your leadership, and this will calm him (especially if he's on meds.)  Give him NO attention for his fear responses (even though they probably alarm you); instead, get his attention and ask him to "sit", then reward that.  You can also use some play training with this dog once he's got the "sit" down pat:
http://www.dogplay.com/Activities/obedience.html

He will form a bond with the play object and strongly associate it with working for reward; this play object's presence (produced by you when you have distracted him from his fear response) can help allay his fight/flight response (in addition to the medication, of course.)

You will also want to learn about dog psychology.  John Fisher's "Think Dog" is an excellent guide.

This dog has had a rough life; god only knows what people have done to him.  He's fortuntate to have fallen into your care.  Proceed with your loving, calm, consistent leadership and he should improve steadily over the next few months.