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I am going to try the leave for 10 minutes, come back, method to start. It sounds like the simplest thing to try first. I will also try the exercise before I leave thing too.
I don't know about getting her a dog friend. She is spayed, but she doesn't really seem to like other dogs much. She also failed her "cat test" at the shelter. The shelter recommended she be an only dog and not live with small children. She does tolerate the neighbor dogs. I dog sit them at their house a lot and she comes with me. They also come over to visit or she sees them when we are outside. As long as they stay away from her, she's okay with them. But they come anywhere near her or try to interact, she shows teeth and they tuck tail and back down. She's never gotten into a fight or bitten another dog. But they are intimidated by her.
I have a question that I didn't think of before. My daughter likes to Facetime our dog. This will make the dog howl too, but she also wags her tail and seems happy. She gets excited if I let her know my daughter is calling. It also makes my daughter happy since she misses us and the dog doesn't text. But is this maybe not helping things? And I am sure my dog misses my daughter. I think the dog is mainly my buddy now because I am the one who has always fed, brushed, and exercised her. While I play with the dog too, my daughter is more of a pure play buddy. My daughter is the more fun one for the dog.
I am going to try the leave for 10 minutes, come back, method to start. It sounds like the simplest thing to try first. I will also try the exercise before I leave thing too.
I don't know about getting her a dog friend. She is spayed, but she doesn't really seem to like other dogs much. She also failed her "cat test" at the shelter. The shelter recommended she be an only dog and not live with small children. She does tolerate the neighbor dogs. I dog sit them at their house a lot and she comes with me. They also come over to visit or she sees them when we are outside. As long as they stay away from her, she's okay with them. But they come anywhere near her or try to interact, she shows teeth and they tuck tail and back down. She's never gotten into a fight or bitten another dog. But they are intimidated by her.
I have a question that I didn't think of before. My daughter likes to Facetime our dog. This will make the dog howl too, but she also wags her tail and seems happy. She gets excited if I let her know my daughter is calling. It also makes my daughter happy since she misses us and the dog doesn't text. But is this maybe not helping things? And I am sure my dog misses my daughter. I think the dog is mainly my buddy now because I am the one who has always fed, brushed, and exercised her. While I play with the dog too, my daughter is more of a pure play buddy. My daughter is the more fun one for the dog.
Based on what I've observed with dogs and technology, I don't know that your dog is recognizing the FT person as your daughter. The dog is probably getting excited because you are.
The leaving for short periods of time strategy sounds like a good plan.
Based on what I've observed with dogs and technology, I don't know that your dog is recognizing the FT person as your daughter. The dog is probably getting excited because you are.
The leaving for short periods of time strategy sounds like a good plan.
I think she can make out the voice. She won't react or howl to a phone call, just FT. And even if it's a quick FT and I don't tell the dog, she comes running from other rooms, sits, and starts howling. It's kind of comical and cute.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JONOV
Have you tried turning on either the radio to NPR (or any tlak radio) or the TV to the nature channel? Sometimes it can help.
I've done this and even left another human in the house... she howls and cries if I leave and the person with her has to really work hard to clam her down. Once calm, the dog sits by the door I left the house from and waits for me to return.
I've done this and even left another human in the house... she howls and cries if I leave and the person with her has to really work hard to clam her down.
That's a sign that the other person does not know how to treat her while she's upset. They can unintentionally make her react even more. All the humans need to understand and be on board with training or it will be wasted effort.
Heads up...while doing the frequent departure/desensitizing routine you may not be able to start off with 10 minute periods. That's a fairly long time. Your dog may not tolerate it. Tolerance needs to be built up gradually. We don't know where you can start off. Trial and error. What you want is to return just BEFORE the dog decides to ramp itself up so you have a chance to praise her for controlling herself. Either that or waiting her out until she's calm again...and then praise her for being calm. She needs to learn that pitching a fuss won't get her what she wants. Being calm will.
Last edited by Parnassia; 10-04-2023 at 01:50 PM..
I haven't made much progress with my dog yet. These things take time I suppose but she seems to be howling less, until now. My daughter just came home from college for Thanksgiving break. When she came home the dog was excited, happy, wagging her whole body and howling. This morning when I went to wake up my daughter, my dog was with me and jumped on the bed and started howling again for several minutes (took a while to clam her down). If my daughter leaves the room, the dog is fine, when she comes back in, the howling starts again. I just don't get it. Doggo seems happy (maybe it's a happy howl? Online searches keep telling me no, but with the wagging tail and happy eyes it just seems happy).
I haven't made much progress with my dog yet. These things take time I suppose but she seems to be howling less, until now. My daughter just came home from college for Thanksgiving break. When she came home the dog was excited, happy, wagging her whole body and howling. This morning when I went to wake up my daughter, my dog was with me and jumped on the bed and started howling again for several minutes (took a while to clam her down). If my daughter leaves the room, the dog is fine, when she comes back in, the howling starts again. I just don't get it. Doggo seems happy (maybe it's a happy howl? Online searches keep telling me no, but with the wagging tail and happy eyes it just seems happy).
My dog is weird. haha
Sounds as if howling is how this particular dog expresses not only its anxiety, but its joy. Some dogs are much more vocal than others. There isn't anything wrong with expressing joy for a few minutes. You just don't seem to like it. What did you do to "calm her down"?
If the dog howls when its favorite person leaves or it is left alone, that's a very different situation from howling when its happy.
Last edited by Parnassia; 11-18-2023 at 02:36 PM..
Sounds as if howling is how this particular dog expresses not only its anxiety, but its joy. Some dogs are much more vocal than others. There isn't anything wrong with expressing joy for a few minutes. You just don't seem to like it. What did you do to "calm her down"?
If the dog howls when its favorite person leaves or it is left alone, that's a very different situation from howling when its happy.
It seems like she does it for everything: when people leave, when they come home, if she hears something like a siren in the distance or the local fire whistle. I don't mind her howling in principle, but she's at a frequency and volume that hurts my ears when she does it (think fire alarm pain) and she doesn't stop for a long time once she starts. If I say, "that's enough." She stops (sometimes it takes her a short bit to wind back down). But if I am not there, no one else can get her to stop.
Have you tried the anxiety meds, or the CBD items? I have something that was given to me, don't really need it, it's a calming thing for dogs. Has CBD in it. (I think they were just getting rid of stuff.)
We had a dog that was prone to separation anxiety. She'd really become upset when we'd leave the house and if we were out walking as a family and she'd see someone getting distance on her when she stopped to smell something she'd frantically run to catch up to them. maybe it was more abandonment issues. Went crazy when we'd come back greeting us like we'd been gone forever. I read that if you ignored the dog when you came back or just looked at them and said "Hello, we're back, it's okay." but didn't make a fuss greeting them in return they'd calm down. I tried it. She was slinking around like I'd kicked her and was mad at her and very hurt. So I went back to making a big fuss and we were all happy.
Our current dog is more reserved and either waits to see who is entering the house before she comes to see us or she'll wait for us but doesn't get excited. She gets a pat on the head but I miss the big production greeting, honestly.
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Sounds as if howling is how this particular dog expresses not only its anxiety, but its joy. Some dogs are much more vocal than others. There isn't anything wrong with expressing joy for a few minutes. You just don't seem to like it. What did you do to "calm her down"? 
