Hello everyone,

I barely made this account in hopes that someone can help me find a solution to my problem.
We "rescued" a Siberian husky about 2 years ago. Last owner told us that she is very anxious and very hyper. She was in and out from different families that thought they could handle her. They would become very impatient and aggravated with her, so they would hit her
With us, she has nothing but a lot of love and cuddles. Anyways, when we leave for work, I have to take her and other fur-siblings outside. While she is outside she wants to come right back in. She starts to cry and whine. She does this continuously until we let them in. If we are not in the same room as her, she will go crazy and start crying.
How can we help with her separation anxiety?

Thank you

Are you sure about how long it lasts? My husky whines when he sees us leave for work, but he stops pretty quickly. When we get back home, he whines until we spend time with him. From our perspective it would be easy to assume he's whining the entire time...but that's not the case.

Assuming it is constant, 2 thoughts come to mind.

1. Training may work. Put her outside and reward her when she stops whining for even a second. Show that not whining is rewarded with attention and treats. Over time make the goal for each reward a longer pause. As the pauses get long enough, she'll get bored and want to do something else instead of sit and whine. Same for the not being in the same room. Reward quite, calm behavior and keep reinforcing it.

2. Huskies are very pack oriented, and having members of their pack vanish can often be difficult. You could try making a comfort item, like a child and his blanket. Get a small blanket or maybe even a bandana or something. Carry it around on you for a week or so to really get your scent embedded in it. Then make sure to have it in your hands every time you interact with her. Put it with her while she sleeps, tuck it in her collar when you go for walks. Hopefully she'll get the idea and use it as a comfort item while your gone. Tie it to her when you leave, and then make a big deal out of getting it back everyday. Reward her for delivering it to you. She may catch on that you giving it to her means you are coming back to get it. Again, over a weekend or something, give it to her and get it back for a treat after 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, etc...

So separation anxiety is a common term thrown around, but true separation anxiety is fairly rare.

No dog wants to be separated from its pack, and many will whine when separated and when you first return. Unless your dog cries the entire time (or gets destructive) and you know that for a fact from neighbors or a webcam, I wouldn't assume that she does that all the time. Most will eventually give up and go and nap or chew for a while.

In most cases, what is dubbed "separation anxiety" is just boredom and under-exercise. Make sure your pup is getting plenty of exercise in the form of long walks, running, or trips to the park. A tired dog is more likely to take your departure as an excuse to nap.

When you do leave, give your dog something to do. Give them a stuffed Kong or Himalayan Chew to keep them busy. Then they associate you leaving with good things!

If that doesn't work, then it may be true separation anxiety, which is a whole other battle and extremely difficult to overcome. It's very, very tricky. This book is a great resource, but you need to be prepared to do a lot of work.

Good luck!

I have this same problem with my 4 year old, Gerberian Shepsky, Jill will be fine until I leave her sight for more than 2 minutes, then she gets scared and starts trying to get to me. She tried to eat my wall -.-

The vet prescribed her a type of anxiety medication, they had to take her to the back room for a heart worm checkup and she went crazy, so she said that it was fear and anxiety. Ever since the medication she has been fine and we now have blinds back up again.

Her previous owner was a complete jerk to her and I rescued her the very last day when I learned she was going to be euthanized, so I immediately went to the shelter and adopted this abused yet beautiful pup. She still expects to get beat for doing tricks and commands, but I always disappoint her with hugs and a kiss on her forehead. She has finally opened up, but she still gets scared easy, like of my cat. Or the wind..... Or the toilet flushing etc...

The vet and trainer i go to say that my dog has Sep. Anx., and it is a permanent problem and huskies are notorious for getting SA, they said training may help but there is medicine she will need to be on with her heart worms, once the HW are gone, I can take her off the SA medication and train her without any damage being done and killing her from the dead parasites.

Hope this helps,
Sincerely, Count Alexander

*EDIT* I just realized how old this post was, sorry for the late reply. for some reason I thought that said Dec 2.... wow I must be blind lolz... or partial dyslexic..

No reason to apologize ... in fact we encourage new members to "awaken" sleeping topics when it relates to their reason for being here.  Over the years, many experienced Husky owners have spent time answering new comers, trying to help them sort their problems ... sometime it seems as if we're answering the same old questions over and over again.  

I have no idea how many threads there are responding to "How do I stop my pup from, variously, howling, biting, pulling, running and not coming back"  This type of help isn't any different now than it was 5 years ago, it still applies.  I think it safe to say that we really do encourage people to use the search function and re-open an existing topic rather than starting a new one.

So, don't apologize, I thank you for taking the time to look and reply as you did.....