Chester suffers from mild separation anxiety.

Now, from my reading and posts on various forums, some think separation anxiety often occurs if the dog is unsure of its place in the pack: they feel they have been given alpha power, and they need to keep the pack together — obviously since they can’t, it makes them very anxious.

I think in general I’ve done a pretty good job of being a “leader”. He has to do a sit-stay for his food. He has to sit before getting on the couch. He now has to wait while I go in the door first. And so on.

Yet Chester still gets so anxious when I’m gone that he sometimes has accidents — when I’m there, it’s been months since he’s had an accident (well, pee anyway) in the house.

Sometimes I think we’re making progress with it, and then sometimes it’s just as bad as ever. He won’t touch food when I’m out of the house. Today I left him a groovy stick (a rubber chew toys with grooves in it; I smeared some peanut butter — which he’s just decided he likes — into the grooves).

Naturally, he didn’t touch it while I was out. However, when I came home & took a shower, he spent his time in the crate, door open, gnawing on it. Even better, when I moved the crate back out into the family room, he went into it of his own accord — while I was in another room — and continued to gnaw on it.

I was so proud of him & praised him when I saw that. Of course, the minute I did that he picked the groovy stick up and carried it out of the crate. Still, I think that’s probably the very first time he’s chosen to be in the crate when he could be near me.

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