Aussie separation anxiety

Question
I adopted a 2 year old Australian shepherd mix from the humane society. She is fairly well behaved, except she can't be left alone for even a couple of minutes. She follows me from room to room, waits against the bathroom door for me, and can't even be left alone in my fully fenced backyard. The vet gave her Clomipramine and suggested trying to distract her with toys so I could kind of sneak out, but nothing is working. I left her alone for 40 minutes and she scratched the paint off my front door, tore a hole in my window screen, went to the bathroom, and barked the entire time. I live in an apartment complex, she can't do this when I leave. I can even hear here barking the entire time it takes me to take out the trash or check the mail. I tried to just leave without putting on shoes or anything, but she drops what shes doing the second I look like I might leave the room. This behavior starts within a few seconds of the front door closing, is there anything I can do besides day care or crating? I want her to eventually be able to be left home alone, at least for a couple hours.

Answer
well, crating (unless she hurts herself in a crate) or daycare would be good suggestions. Clomipramine may take the edge off but usually by itself won't take the place of training. Here's a really good article on SA. Of course, it also requires that you be able to carefully manage her environment while desensitization is being done. Got any vacation time coming up? http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002/sa.htm Best luck with her. Sandy Case MEd CPDT www.positivelycanine.com