On Anxiety: Oppenheimer vs. the Big Gate by HMX
Today saw the beginning of Oppenheimer’s training. Being in school for another 2 weeks, I decided to tackle the biggest hurdle that could potentially leave us with severely pissed off neighbors: separation anxiety. As he isn’t yet housebroken, we have elected to use the kitchen as a holding area for Oppenheimer during the day due to the nice, easily cleaned, linoleum floors. To keep him in, we’ve purchased a large baby gate capable of spanning the 46″ opening. Standing at 32″ tall, it is a bit of an overkill for our small pup, but there seems to be a linear relationship between height and width: the longer you want the gate, the taller it is going to be. This isn’t much of a problem for me, being over 6′, but for Blythe who stands an impressive 5′, getting over the gate without removing it is a bit of a challenge.To begin our training, I followed queues from here and here. Both recommend giving the dog a good bit of exercise and activity prior to lock-up to deplete them of energy. This serves to lessen the amount of energy they can contribute to escape and/or destruction of their temporary domicile with the hope that they will soon fall into a slumber after you leave. With this in mind, I took Oppenheimer for a morning walk to relieve himself and work off some energy before returning home for a bit of play time. I tried to vary the playtime between his ‘detention’ area and the area he is allowed to freely roam while we are home. Despite my best efforts, Oppenheimer wasn’t tired and didn’t much care for being locked behind the gate.
It was torturous, as he howled and fought at the gate for freedom. He could see me, and I did my best not to pay attention to him, but he wasn’t happy and it took him quite a while to calm down. This included biting at the gate, pulling at the gate, trying to climb the gate and searching around the walls where the gate was secured. Fortunately he didn’t spend much time clawing at the walls and he would frequently dart away from the gate to seek egress from some other, hidden, location. Finding none, he began to whimper and then howl. In a way, it was all very cute and sad as to break him of the behavior, I could do nothing to comfort him until he calmed down.
At the first break in the howling and whimpering, I walked over to the gate and waited for him to approach me in a calm manner. This brought on a new bit of pouting, but it soon subsided and Oppenheimer was rewarded with a treat and the removal of the gate. I moved his bed back to its location next to the couch, engaged in a bit of play and then encouraged Oppenheimer to rest, which he was all to happy to do. The above scenario was repeated three more times throughout the day with increased lengths of time behind the gate post-calm down. He slowly got better after the second time, but upon inspection I found him doing little more than staring at the gate waiting for me to appear.
For his third trip behind the gate, I decided to leave his sight while I took a shower. The howling started anew as did his attempts to escape. Fortunate for me, he is a very small dog of about 30 ounces and the gate provided a impenetrable obstacle. The howling was lost in the rush of running water and I was able to momentarily pretend that he was fine and that all was well. There was a bit more howling after I came out of the bathroom so I returned to the couch and folded my graduation announcements. Soon after, the howling stopped and I heard the crackling of him playing with one of the toys we had gotten him. Another small success: he was beginning to entertain himself while separated from the pack.
I let him play for a few minutes more while I completed my folding, removed the gate and treated him to a bit more play time followed by a nap. I believe it was during this time that I learned of his propensity to licking feet when he feels that his has upset the alpha of the group. If I had a foot fetish, I’d be in heaven. I don’t, but it is something that I can live with as it is better than submissive piddling. Once again, he was coaxed into napping next to the couch and all was good.
His last trip in the pen followed his walk after Blythe returned home. I had stepped out momentarily to pick up a few more items for Oppie to engage himself with during the day and returned home to find him behind the gate, fighting for egress. I’m not sure how long he had been behind the gate, but I was fearful that not enough progress was being made. Looking in the pen, I noticed that his bed was missing. In lieu of his crate, I have been trying to establish his bed as a safe, comfort zone. I quickly remedied this slight oversight and we both played with Oppie, in the pen, for a while as we introduced him to his new toys. Blythe left the pen and I prepared dinner for myself while Oppie ran about, me doing my best to not acknowledge him or interrupt his playing.
Dinner prepared, I left the pen and returned to the living room to eat. Oppie was left behind and to my wonder, made little fuss about being left behind. I ate dinner and talked for a while on the phone with my mom. The entire time, Oppie was content behind the gate, only howling once towards the end of my conversation to let us know that he was still there. We waited another five or so minutes after the howl before releasing him and were pleased with the fact that he spent nearly an hour behind the gate without any incidents of separation anxiety. I am hesitant to call this a success, tomorrow being the real test, but it definitely shows improvement. We also noticed that Oppie spent less time following closely underfoot after his release, spending more time exploring and playing with his toys.
For now, he seems to be alright and I hope it remains that way. I made a trip to the mailbox to deposit my invitations and Oppie was laying on his bed upon my arrival. I also stepped out onto the patio and instead of inviting Oppie out to join me, I closed the glass door behind me. He walked to the door and looked for a moment before returning to his bed to await my return. Hopefully this all shows that he is slowly, but surely coming to the realization that there are times when his pack mates must leave, but that they will return and not abandon him. I was tempted to get two puppies as a means of lessening the feeling of abandonment, but I thing we’ll be able to make due as is. It will just require time and a bit of training, but in the end I hope that we will come to a solution that doesn’t require the aid of medication.
