Dogs Training Blog

i have an almost 2 year old yorkie. he has separation anxiety(sa). the symptoms are mostly barking and defecating. i tried crate training but he WILL defecate in there so now i use a play pen with water, a litter box, dog bed and plenty of chew toys. but his anxiety is so strong that there is a 50/50 chance he won’t use the litter box and he’ll be so anxious he won’t drink or play with his chews (i recorded him for a couple of days). i had him sent to a behaviorist who did a few tests on him. his anxiety is a severe case but unlike a lot of SA cases he is ok if he not completely alone (ie with another person who is not me or another dog). he will whine a little at first but he gets over in a matter of minutes where he’ll usually bark off an on for hours until i get home. (usually 4-5 hours). the behaviorist said he would either need to be medicated for life or there was a possibility that getting a second dog would help. i was told that he would need a high dosage which could change his regular personality as well. but another behaviorist said to never get another dog to cure SA. what should i do? i don’t want him to change too much if he’s on meds. he’s a wonderful boy aside from the sa. but if i do get another dog i don’t want the dog to possibly learn SA from him. i wanted another dog but i wasn’t planning to get one until about the spring of next year. by then i figured i’d have my current dog all better. i wanted another small dog because i live in an apt. i was thinking of a papillon. as i hear small dogs are a little more prone to sa.

More: continued here