New to the forum.

I recently adopted a 2 year old female from a Siberian rescue. She is so great all the time. Around children, people, other dogs. I have very little problem with her temperment, but when ever I leave, give her 5 seconds and she starts scratching the door, trying to open the handle to the door, howling, etc. Luckily, I work from home mostly, but she can''t be at my side all of the time. I went into my office for about 5 hours the other day and she pooped, peed, chewed slippers, and just generally just tore everything up. She never has accidents inside, and never shows aggressive behavior until I leave.

I got her a crate. After I finally got her in it (she kept not listening and just going limp when I tried to put her in it), I left for 10 minutes, and came back to her digging at the bottom, she knocked over her food and water bowls, and was also crying. I have only had her for a week. She has been in 3 different places in the last month after being abandoned by her owner. I know Siberians are a pack dog and dislike being alone, but could her behavior also be because she thinks she'll never see me again when I leave? She gets plenty of exercise (runs and walks 4 miles/day with me). What is a solution or do I just need to wait it out until she figures out that I will come back when I leave? Has anyone had a similar problem?

Note: She also got spayed a little over a week ago. 2 years old is a bit of a late spay.

Welcome to the forum!

Your girl needs to associate the crate with a positive experience, and if at 2 years old she has never been in a crate before (or if she had negative experiences with crates in the past), you will need to establish a positive association with the crate. Check out this thread:

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t918-crate-training?highlight=crate+training

I think it's great that you work from home, and I completely understand that sometimes you need the peace and quiet. My fiance was working from home when we first got our girl, and as a very small puppy she required so much supervision that she had to be crated quite a bit during the day so he could work.

Good luck with your girl, and I hope we can help you with all the questions that you might have. Thanks for rescuing as well

Welcome!
Meredith gave you a great link to start with. Don't give up on her, this is something that can be worked on, how long have you had her? It will take at least a month or more for her to settle in and start feeling at home. Jumping from so many home can be hard on a dog, we had that issue with our girl and it took a few months for her. Were her to help you out

Thanks for the suggestions and support. I have had her for a week. I work from home 3 day a week, but I have to go into my office 2 days/week for 6-8 hours. I love her and she is great. She must've had a bad crate experience. She even avoids the area of my place that the crate is in. She was found in a park, turned into the animal shelter, transferred to a rescue for a day but they had no space so she was transferred to another rescue, and also spayed and came home with me in a matter of 2 weeks.

It is bad timing for me. I have to go on a work trip tomorrow and won't be back for a couple days. I have a roommate who will be taking care of her so I really just don't wanna her to give him hell to clean up. It is hard enough for me to get her in there, so I can imagine that he won't have an easier time. Her has a regular schedule, having to go to work for 8-10 hours during the day.

Alone time isn't my concern. She is great whenever she is with me, but unfortunately I can't take her everywhere...

Congrats and thank you for rescuing! I feel your pain, because our girl has EXTREME separation anxiety. She's been rehomed twice for escaping/escape attempts at previous homes. She's missing toes on her back paws (possibly from an escape attempt) and was all scraped up from trying to get over chain link fences at the rescue. So sad.

She tried to follow me over our 6 ft gate (with coyote rollers) 15 min after we got home. Then she actually did get out of a secure harness/tie down while I was moving my car into the driveway and hubby was in the driveway. She will need some time to know that this is her new home. Is there a doggie day care that she can go to in the next month or so until she realizes you're her forever home? Our girl isn't specifically freaked out by being alone, but being without any humans. Even being with her boy husky companion isn't enough.

We're also crate training her slowly (my dad got sick and passed a month after we got her - so I was out of town slowing all of our progress) - and she's definitely a lot better! Hang in there! She loves a frozen kong - that distracts her in the crate for about an hour and a half.

Bottom line : you're not alone and while extreme separation anxiety is not common, you have help and resources! I'm sure my fellow husky lovers here will have lots of other good ideas!

She broke out of her cage in like 15 minutes yesterday. Opened the top latch and bent the side a bit. I put 2 pad locks on it today. Waiting for the roommate to report. I am just worried she is gonna hurt herself trying to escape. She was clawing and biting pretty relentlessly.

Hmmm....I'd be worried too. Have you tried tiring her out with a walk prior to leaving? If she won't settle down after that - you may want to try rescue remedy or a thundershirt for anxiety. We're trying the rescue remedy for our little drama queen - I'll keep you posted on how it works! The doggie daycare also recommended alcohol free valerian root drops.

2 pad locks and she still escaped! Definitely returning the crate. Luckily she is not being very destructive. She really just scratches the door (metal door) and poops. Usually on the wood floor, and of course howls and whines. My roommate says he has no clue how she got out because there are no signs of the crate being broken or anything. I will try those suggestions though.

hollywoodhuskies wrote:

Hmmm....I'd be worried too. Have you tried tiring her out with a walk prior to leaving? If she won't settle down after that - you may want to try rescue remedy or a thundershirt for anxiety. We're trying the rescue remedy for our little drama queen - I'll keep you posted on how it works! The doggie daycare also recommended alcohol free valerian root drops.

Did the "rescue remedy" work for you?

I didn't try it. I am trying to not use substances. I got a thundershirt. She definitely has less anxiety, but still scratches the door and whines (to a lesser extent with it on) . Yesterday was the first time she didn't have an accident while alone and I also didn't get a noise complaint. I also got a sonic egg. If she whines or howls loud enough, it emits an ultra sonic pitch that seems to stop her in her tracks. Getting a door guard to protect door from scratching soon. All of that plus long walk/run before I leave seems like it will do the trick.

I am going to try out the thundershirt tonight; and I ordered the Anxiety Wrap online; thanks for the suggestion, I hope these help, my neighbors are not pleased with my husky barking and crying when I leave for work at 6 AM.