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I also have a rescue with separation anxiety. It is pretty common. Your dog has almost over-bonded to your husband (mine, too) and that is difficult to deal with. If you can crate her, then do that in order to keep your home from getting trashed. Make sure you feed her at regular intervals.We use the black kong toy, stuffed with peanut butter to help keep our dog busy. There are other toys that dispense treats, and he has a couple of those, as well. We don't make a big deal over leaving the house nor coming home. We ignore him before leaving. We also ignore him when we first get home. He knows he will get his treats (frozen kongs) when we leave, and he has developed his own routine.Dr. Sohpia Yin is a behaviorist/vet with a website and blog. She also is on facebook. I have used lots of her ideas, and they work. She has a booklet about teaching your dog to be patient and wait for everything. You start by making the dog "sit" before he gets anything, including petting. She has a machine that dispenses treats. You'll see it on her site. If it weren't $150 I'd have already had one. But if a dog is being destructive, it could save money in the long run.Look up www.drsophiayin.comConsider using medication to help with this. Her site recommends two. Our vets use amitriptyline and Prozac, and our dog is currently on Prozac. It helps, but would be better with behavior modification. Never punish your dog for anything he does when he's anxious. That makes it worse.Other Answers:
- The best you can do is reassure her, remain calm. It's difficult to reassure a dog without feeding into it's fears. My GSD is terrified of thunder. She's almost 9 and that has never changed.She feels the master bedroom is safe so when a storm is approaching I turn on the bedroom AC (and the central AC) and she goes in there and feels safer.You sound like a concerned, smart pet owner - lucky dog!
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