I just realized after setting up a web cam for my ferrets, that (Kokini) my 8 year old Siberian husky Howls continuously while I am not home. She does not destroy anything does not chew anything. She runs from room to room, inside and outside the house (she has a doggie door) howling. I don't think she is howling when she goes outside, But I cannot be sure as my camera may not be picking up the howling when she is outside. My neighbors may be deaf as they have not said anything to me and I have not seen a note on my door, Maybe they are just tolerant.

I am sure this has got to be some form of separation anxiety, as she will calmly stare out the window at us as we leave the house. When we come home we get the husky howl greeting. Sounds the same as what I have been hearing on the webcam. They never did this when her companion was still alive( had another webcam set up then). She died last year at the age of 15. I am wondering if she has been doing this since she has been gone.

she gets a walk around the block before we leave in the morning at 2:30am, Perhaps she needs more exercise, I am not sure I can afford much more time that early in the morning.  any suggestions or comments would be helpful.


Thanks

attached is the link to the webcam feed if it would help to hear her.

ferret cam 1

here is a photo of Kokini and sabre. Sabre is the black and white



here is kokini
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I didn't get to hear her howling, i'm assuming she is sleeping or something.

But it is a good chance that she is still grieving. Dogs are the same as humans, every grieving process is different. You could get her toys that are more stimulating for the times that you guys are gone. I have a treat ball that I got at WalMart, it is a ball that holds treats in it. The dog can smell them but can't reach them, they have to roll the ball around for one to drop out. This may help in keeping her busy and mind off of whatever she is feeling (if it is grieving that she is going through).

It is just a thought, either way, i'm thinking that for the most part it is just time that she needs, or eventually a new friend. I'm not saying necessarily another dog in the house, even just play time with other dogs a few days a week could possibly help with it as well. It might not though, it depends on the dog.

she is 8 years old and not very toy oriented. Perhaps a treat ball with some freeze dried chicken in it would work. I am going to get her a bordetella vaccination and then take her to a WAG hotel for a day play and see if that helps. I just have to wait 7 days after getting the vaccine.

she is still howling, perhaps she went outside when you were listening. I can hear the doggie door flap when she goes out and in.

It is breaking my heart hearing her. It is worse because I can only assume she has been doing this since last year. I hope that it is not the case. But she is a really good girl and does not destroy the house. I feel so bad.

Aw! Ferrets! I don't hear any howling either.

well, then she is just howling when she knows I am listening. She is being shy.

It seems she is howling less and less as the day goes on.

I hear nothing, but could you walk her more at night? It seems even exercise the day before calm mine down a lot.

I have not heard her howl for about an hour so she may have howled herself to sleep. I will try to walk her at night and see if that helps. I will know if it works on Monday.

Update!

After giving her a long walk last night and this morning she began howling again at 6:00 am and has stopped at 8:00am. It is definitely better but I need to get this under control. I have ordered some Bach Rescue Remedy and Will try that next. I just got all her vaccinations done yesterday. I am going to take her to a Wag hotel for day play in 7 days (the Bordetella vaccine needs to take effect).

Well it turns out the reason she was quiet is she smashed a hole in the fence and got out. She was spotted by several of my neighbors walking up and down the side walk and then going to my front door. My next door neighbor saw her in front of my house looked and saw the hole she made in the fence and then put her in his back yard.

I have reinforced the fence, I think a fence rebuild is in order.

I now have the tv on in one room and the radio on in another room. I guess we will see if that calms her.

Have you only been noticing this behaviour recently? (As in, after the passing of her companion) Or has busting out of the yard and howling always been a common behaviour for her?

She has never busted out before.  And after talking to my neighbor yesterday he said that the howling only started in January. We were on vacation the last 2 weeks in December so we were home the whole time.   Since Sabre passed in July I don't think it is directly related. I say that because she may be bored and lonely.  I left the TV and radio on today and I have not heard her howling yet (I hope she did not escape again). She always give us husky talk when we get home and would only throw a howling run around the house fit if we took sabre somewhere and left her home. It would not matter if I was home with her either.

I've been listening on and off today, I haven't heard her either. The movie though, not going to lie, totally enjoying listening to it. I think i'm listening to the movie "Buddy". haha.

It is sounding like the noise is working for her. I know that mine is very quiet when I have some sort of background noise for her!

It is a very common thing for dogs to quiet down just by simply putting on a radio or anything with voices.

I am glad to hear things are looking and sounding better for both of you!!

It is the movie Airbud. It is the only movie I could find that was dog oriented. She does not look at the tv (Sabre used to) but I was hopeing for there to be more barking and dog noises in the movie than there is.

I just hope she did not get out again.

While searching internet. I noticed that the is a network called dogtv. it is a channel made specially for dogs at home alone. Directv is the only one who carries the channel. I think they have an app for ipad and android tablets, but who is going to give there dog a tablet. I think they also have streaming to the computer as well, But I am not giving my dog a laptop either.

http://dogtv.com/

Haha ... I guess if you have a computer at home you could just throw that on for her. Sorry, I took a wild guess at the name of that movie, I was wrong, Buddy is the dog. Thanks for correcting me!

Do you have the movie Snow Dogs? That one got Loki's attention, my best guess is because they are mostly all huskies/malamutes in that movie. But seeing as she doesn't even look at the tv, I don't think she will be too picky about what you would put on.

Weirdly enough, my dogs have always been really calm and quiet when I put country music on. Anything else and they would complain. Too this day, I still have no idea why.

Well she stayed home yesterday, I Guess the TV being on helped. I added a few more dog movies on rotation. I don't think it really matters what is playing as she is not visual, Just dialog and sound playing is all that is probably needed. I turned off the TV today to see if audio is the only thing needed. I still have TV in one room and radio in another so she can choose which one she wants to listen to.

When we got home yesterday she was in the room with the TV laying next to the couch.

Spoke too soon, she is howling again. Started at 8:25am. Perhaps the little excursion on Monday had her tired and happy for Tuesday. I also gave her a dose of rescue remedy, seems that is not doing the trick either. Maybe she does the the TV on. Back to the drawing board

I would try with the TV back on again so she can see the moving picture. If she is quiet while the TV is on then that may be your answer!

I hear a high pitched whining sound, but I can't tell if it is the movie or the dog.

I would say that if that doesn't work, then it may be that you just need to exhaust her a lot in the evenings. Also keep some background noise on for her.

If I hear of anything that has worked for other people I will be sure to pass it on to you!!!

So turning the tv back on did not help, She started howling at 10:30 and stopped about noon on thursday.

On friday I forgot to turn the camera on so I do not know if she was howling.

She threw a fit when we left for a vet appointment for the ferrets Saturday morning. I guess she knows that we do not go to work on saturdays and was demanding we take her with us.

My GF will be home tomorrow so I will take her to the Wag Hotel for all day play on Wednesday. I hope that she will be ok for 2 days after. I can swing the cost for 1 day a week just can't do it for more. It depends how tired she gets on Wednesday

If you really try to tire her out then I'm thinking that she should be pretty tired for about a day or two. Especially if she hasn't had tons of of exercise, I hope this works out for you!

so Wednesday she spent the day at Wag hotel all day play. I watched her on the webcam and she did play with a couple of dogs for a few moments, for the most part she stuck next to the human supervisor and followed them around. Seems she was more interested in human companionship. she did not do much running or playing just wondering around by herself. There were 10 other dogs in there with her. I think I have a socially awkward dog. I am hoping that a few more visits there will open her up. when I went to pick her up she did not carry on like she was glad to see me. Perhaps she wanted to stay there. However when we got home she was glad to be home. I will see how long she lasts without having an episode today.

I am really at a loss here. I have hired a dog walker and right after he walks her around the block she goes back into the house and immediately starts howling. I really have tried everything I can think of. I have ran her at the park until she is about to collapse and she will still howl.

I really can't think of anything else to try

Maybe it is separation anxiety from humans. You said that she just follows the people around at the dog place and she is fine while with the person on a walk and while you guys are home, but every time she is left alone without a person around, she howls.

That would be my best guess. And seeing as it has been going on for quite some time I am not really sure what else you could do about it. Maybe you could try recording your voice and your girlfriends voice and see if that calms her down. Maybe she will feel better if she can hear your voice. It's a wild shot, but maybe worth a try. Or facetime your dog all day while you're at work so she can see and hear you. haha. That one seems even more ridiculous though.

I actually have setup a spare phone on wifi with skype. I just got get it to auto answer and wifi to stop powering down in sleep mode.

I hoping that this will not make it worse though. Last thing I want to do is be on skype with my dog all day when I am suppose to be working.

Of course. I would just mute it on your end and then when you're talking in the office the dog can hear you, then if you turn the volume on every once in a while and she is howling just say her name and ask her to stop or something. Or say things that make her happy. See if that works. If not, then I would just be leaving some music or movies on for her every time i'm gone and if you have any family around there that could spend some time with her every now and then, maybe it could help her. I finally heard her howl, sounds mournful. It only lasted about 2 minutes for me.

How about rescue remedy? Have you tried that?

Edit - i just saw that you said you gave a dose. How much did you give? I have to give about 10-12 drops before dizzy relaxes if he's really hyped up or anxious. The 4 drop recommendation didn't make a difference.