Separation or a dominance problem?

[Willie]

We got Willie from another truck driver at 7 months and it's been 4 months. There has been improvement in almost everything. But we're stuck on something - Every time one of us leaves the truck or the house he goes nuts. Barking and getting hysterical. This might be separation anxiety but, he's not alone. He has a fit for a few minutes and settle down next to the door and waits. But he's not alone! This even happened when we were at a friends house and someone he just met left their house and he didn't want them to leave while the rest of us were still there.

We worked it as separation anxiety by putting him in his crate 10 minutes before we left, not making a big deal about leaving or coming back and all that. But he goes nuts in his crate for a long time.

He's hardly ever left alone and not for very long, an hour or so, but this happens when I leave and he can still see me while I'm fueling the truck he's going nuts clawing the window and barking and acting nuts even if I leave the window open and pet him as I walk by. And all this while Cindy is sitting right next to him.

It's driving us nuts not knowing what to do.

I read it's more of a dominance thing, he doesn't want any of his playmates to leave him. He still tries to be dominant in some ways, but we're still working with him.

I've tried going out the door slowly. Open the door, wait till he calms down, put a leg out, wait, step down, wait. No real improvement.

Any ideas?

Oh yeah, this will happen even after a long walk and we come back to the truck and we want to go in and eat or something and he still goes nuts. It's not like he wants out, he just wants to in the middle of what's going on no matter what.

Wayne

[Cassiepeia]

Do you or who ever is with him in the truck/house etc. try to calm him down when he goes nuts? Even just speaking to him? That could be reinforcing his behaviour. When you pet him while you're fueling the truck is he calm or barking? Again, you could be reinforcing it.
When you slowly get out of the truck, at least in my view, you're saying to him "when you act crazy I'll stay with you, but when you're calm I'll leave you", which is the opposite of what you want.

Perhaps you could try leaving him alone on purpose, waiting until he's calm (even if it's only for a few moments) and then going back into the room or truck, waiting a few moments (don't praise him right away, let him relax and be still and/or quiet for a few moments more) then praise and treat him.
Basically telling him, "When you're crazy and noisy, I won't be there. When you're calm and quiet I'll be with you".
Try doing it when you have some time to spare and make sure you carry it through to 'real life'.

Have you tried clicker training? That could help even more, especially since you want to quickly capture the correct behaviour to let him know what's right. You can find plenty of info on it if you google 'clicker training' and YouTube has a lot of videos of it in practice too. It's not essential to training though.

Cass.

[Willie]

Any speaking being done is usually a really firm and / or loud NO. We gave up on that and just ignore him now. If one of us is leaving the other holds him until the door is closed (house or truck) or we put him in his crate and let him out after he's calmed down. If we leave together we get out as soon as possible to minimize the effect and ignore him.

I only read about the clicker training the other day and was going to get more into it. Didn't really make the connection on this situation until now.

Wayne

[Cassiepeia]

If one of you is still there with him, you could try distracting him with his favourite treat (something he never gets except for training - whether that be food or a toy) and have him do some basic obedience commands.

Instead of using the word 'no', could you try saying 'uh uh!' or making a loud noise like dropping keys or something similar? This should stop him barking for a moment and when he does stop..give him a very quick moment to be quiet and then praise him for being silent.

Just a thought...you could also teach him to 'speak' on command and in turn teach him the 'quiet' command.

Teaching him to speak is a simple matter of letting him do his thing and saying 'speak' as you anticipate he's going to bark, then rewarding him for doing what you said (even though in the beginning he won't realise he's doing what he's told ). Only praise when you ask him though and then once he's doing it on command, let him "speak" when you say so and then immediately say "quiet". When he is, praise like crazy. It'll take a while but could help out a bit.

Just thowing ideas out there anyway. Hopefully others will pop by and give their opinions on this situation too.

Cass.