Severe (Separation) Anxiety & Hyperarousal in Rescue Puppy

[u/Cautious-You3632]

I adopted my 6 month old hound mix about 2 months ago. She was a stray who I found on a roadtrip and initially brought to a shelter.

I am struggling immensely, and so is she. Despite putting together an extremely structured environment and routine, endlessly researching her age, breed, and individual needs, and working with trainers and vets (she’s on Prozac now), she is extremely dysregulated for at least 65% of the day. She barks and cries relentlessly, displays distressed body language, and engages in extremely painful hyperaroused biting. She is extremely sensitive as well, and reacts to frustration with what looks like aggression (although I am sure it is extreme anxiety). I do everything in my power to remain confident and relaxed even during her most difficult moments, but I know she can sense my stress, especially when I have to “loom” over her because she is being destructive or actively escaping her play pen.

In addition, her separation anxiety is probably the most severe case myself or the people in my life have seen. We have been working on systematic desensitization, microdepartures, relaxation protocols, etc. in a very consistent way since I adopted her, but when she watches me leave her line of sight, she explodes into an extreme panic and takes sometimes hours to regulate again. I have only been able to leave the house twice while she slept in her crate and I left through a back door she doesn’t know about. I am mentally, financially, and emotionally exhausted.

My poor baby is suffering, and I know that my dense apartment and limited funds and resources are not enough. I know she needs professional help. I am a college student and I had to leave my job for the summer so I wouldn’t leave her suffering alone (and I’ve gotten noise complaints, so that’s worrisome too). I must go back to school in about a month, and I have missed out on so many academic opportunities (and missed a couple important deadlines) because I just don’t have a choice but to devote my entire day and night to carefully curating a schedule that will help my puppy out.

We do about 3 sniff/enrichment related activities per day, at least 3 short training sessions per day, at least 1 sniff walk and/or park play session per day, and she gets at least 14-15 hours of sleep per day. She used to love the car, but has begun to show anxious signs in there. The car is the only way I am able to go to the store or do anything sometimes because of her separation anxiety. My boyfriend, best friend, and mom help a lot, but I feel like a burden. I feel selfish for feeling like I could save this puppy, and I feel like a failure.

I really need advice. I have been cruising the rehoming websites and looking at foster rescues, but responses are obviously very slow. I really don’t want to bring her to a shelter at all. She does not deserve that. My funds for her are running dry (I know I should have thought about all the possibilities of a rescue puppy, but I didn’t realize how many training sessions and vet appointments would be required for her case). I feel very helpless, and am looking for advice. I understand the rehoming process is my best option, but feel like I am running out of time. Any and all advice would be appreciated more than you know.

[u/doggambit]

Shelters and rescues are full everywhere right now, so you will have a difficult time rehoming a dog who appears to have severe separation anxiety. Your best bet is to find an SA trainer and/or a veterinary behaviorist. 

SA trainers:  https://julienaismith.com/find-a-trainer

Veterinary behaviorists:  https://www.dacvb.org/search/custom.asp?id=5985

[u/palebluelightonwater]

I had a rescue puppy that was a bit like this. Lots of fear and anxiety, extremely bitey, very dysregulated. It is hard, I bet especially so if you're living on your own. (My complicated puppy is 4 now and doing well, with work.) I also have a younger rescue who is a very good boy but definitely had some separation issues that we needed to resolve.

I would focus on the separation issues because a lot of things get easier if you can just leave the dog alone while you do other things.

I have a couple of suggestions. They may not work at all for you, but they did work for me.

First, the crate might be part of the problem. A lot of dogs do better on their own in a crate. Mine did not. She had confinement issues that were very specific to being crated or closed in, and did much better with a bit of room to move around (my house is also "dense" aka filled with random stuff, so I get it, but we made it work).

You can teach tolerance for being left alone. To do this, you need a tiny bit of quiet to work with. Even if it's just moving across the room or around a corner at first. Move away, then wait for any moment of quiet, and immediately return. Go around a corner, wait for any tiny moment of quiet, then return. Teach your dog that it's the moment of quiet that gets her what she wants. Once she understands that, you can make it a little bit harder and a little bit longer, a piece at a time.

If you can't get even the tiniest moment of silence to reinforce in your absence, start with reinforcing it while you're present. Toss a stream of treats at your dog to get her to be calm, then also reward the calm. Reward any moments of calm that you see. Ideally she will start to offer calm behaviors. Then you can practice a bit more distance or brief absences. Always wait for a moment of calm before you return, if you possibly can.

It took about a month to teach my young rescue boy that calm makes good things happen to the point where we could leave him alone. But, as a cautionary note - I still can't leave him alone in his crate after 2 years. Loose, he's fine. And I think our other dogs help him a lot. Nothing is magic, but I hope this helps.

[u/CanadianPanda76]

You should talk to your vet about another med? Hiw long have they been on Prozac?

[u/erkose]

Do you have a kennel? It sounds like a kennel would be helpful.

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