separation and jealousy

Question
I adopted a young male (uncastrated) street dog abroad about 4 weeks ago (2 of which in the holiday home in Montenegro). It seems he is Tibetan Spaniel, docked, and besides many ticks and knots has no fear of people or dogs and is very loving and playful.

He is about 2,5 years old and has now been with us (or at least me - the other 3 of the original holidayn party are less present is daily routine) in the Netherlands for about 2 weeks.

He is intelligent and is learning fast, becoming more aware of traffic and showing less compulsive behaviour (his one evident charactar trait we noticed) such as dashing headstrong and heedlessly after cats, birds, dogs, etc.

He now lives with 2 me and my partner, and a cat!!; and he is showing separation anxiety during the last few days. He always cried a bit when left but he has now taken to following me everywhere, including walking up open staircases which he is not comfortable on; and seems jealous of the cat by trying to find a position between me and her.

Advise would be much appreciated as the dog schools seem to all be closed for the summer.

Kind regards,
Maaike Pypekamp


Answer
You are his security, which tells me he is bonding to you, which is a good thing.  However, you probably don't want this to escalate into separation anxiety.  Separation anxiety is not what I'm seeing with the picture you painted of this dog's behavior.  True separation anxiety usually involves the dog being extremely distressed, even to the point of destroying areas such as windows, doorways, or thresholds when the owner leaves.  So, this may be mild, or it may simply be his attempt at controlling your movements.  Either way, there are some great exercises you can do to prevent it getting worse, and I would advise you to grab a copy of Patricia McConnell's book, "I'll Be Home Soon".  It's available on Amazon or dogwise.com, and is relatively inexpensive.  Her protocols can help, especially if you adopt them so early in your relationship with this dog.  Dog schools are for obedience (skills) training, which also helps, but this is more behavioral training, and the book will help you.