Boxer Dog

Question
Our boxer dog Roxy is 18 months old, beautiful, fully house trained and has never chewed anything she shouldn't have the thing is we cannot leave the house not even for half and hour.  On our return we find she had urinated and pooped every where we can also hear her crying from outside the house, please help she is so sad when we return.

Answer
Hi Paula,

Howling, barking, and crying, urination and defecation (even with house trained dogs) are all signs of separation anxiety. The destruction and house soiling that often occur with separation anxiety are not the dog's attempt to punish or seek revenge on his owner for leaving her alone. In reality, they are actually part of a panic response. It's not understood why some dogs suffer from separation anxiety and, under similar circumstances, others don't.

Punishment is not an effective way to treat separation anxiety. In fact, punishing your dog after you return home may actually increase his separation anxiety.

You didn't say if your dog is crate trained, or not. Some dogs feel safer when contained in a small space, such as a crate. If your dog isn't crate trained, confining her with the help of a child-gate or two in a small room (sich as a laundry room, or part of the kitchen) can have the same effect. You can lay down newspapers on the floor of this space, in case there are any accidents.

Here are a couple of websites you can read that tell you how to deal with this problem.

http://www.canines.com/library/sepanxiety.shtml

http://www.wagntrain.com/SeparationAnx.htm

http://www.inch.com/~dogs/separationanxiety.html

Best of luck,
Patti