housebreaking/anexity

Question
We have a 6 month old Italian Greyhound that we love very much.  We had gotten him about 2 months ago and from day 1, he has had major separation anexity.  He came from a very good breeder but she was home with him all the time.  We both work and he needs to stay alone for about 6 hours, 3 days a week.  We can bearly create him form 20 minutes without a major mess and a lot of barking.  We have followed the ACK training book as well as one from Purina and have been working on crate training with him even when we are home.  Please help!!  It's coming down to me or the dog!  He also is still having some trouble with housebreaking.  It seems like he is doing this out of spite when we get home and let him out.  Thank you for your help!!!

Answer
Likely it is stress more than spite.  These things are tough to correct.  Try filling a Kong with peanut butter and freezing it.  He could be too busy licking it out when you leave, and by the time he is finished, to tired to care.  

Better leadership will help too.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/ For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm