# As I leave my dog spins out of control. Litrerally.



## turbojenna (Apr 29, 2011)

*Correction on title "Literally"

I have a mini poodle which we've gotten used to her angry tantrums when someone she loves--leaves. Everytime I leave she starts to do about 3-4 spins (which I've read means they're mad), and barks persistently until I get in my car. 

I've tried coming back inside with treats and telling her something along the lines of "no don't do that" and I sit her down, get her to calm down, then give her a treat. I've taken time to repeat it, but when I really leave, there she is barking away. So I gave up.
I flipped through some pages worth of threads and didn't see someone with my issues.

Just wondering if anyone had any suggestions to stop the barking when I leave?


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

I had heard that spinning like this was due to anxiety. So, my guess is she's upset and anxious that you're leaving. Try doing some "leave conditioning". When you're home, and have some time, leave for, oh, say, 1-2 minutes. Then come back. Act like it's no big deal, don't say anything when you leave, and don't say anything when you come back. And, don't give her a treat when you come back. Just act like you leaving for 1-2 minutes and coming back is completely normal and boring.
Do this leaving thing for 1-2 minutes anytime you have a few minutes throughout the day. After a couple days of this, try increasing the time to, maybe, 3 minutes or so. Do this for a couple days, then try increasing to 5 minutes or so.
Basically, you're trying to get you leaving to be normal and boring, and not a big deal to her.

The other thing is, leave her something to do when you leave. When we leave, we always give our dogs kongs stuffed with peanut butter and treats, and they seriously don't even notice we left! I'm not saying your dog will stop freaking out when you leave, but, giving her something to do, like the kong, or another treat dispensing toy, may help.

And, lastly, you can change your "leaving routine". So, if your routine right now is: put on shoes, grab your jacket, then find your keys, your dog knows all that is leading up to you leaving. Try changing the order of things. Grab your keys, then sit back down for a minute or two, then get your jacket on, and then your shoes. Whatever, just switch it up, so she doesn't necessarily know what you're doing.....


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## Indigo (Mar 31, 2011)

Does she also destroy things while you're gone or does she just act this way when leaving? I don't know if this is separation anxiety or just a conditioned response to leaving.

What doxiemommy wrote about leave conditioning is great. I've done that too and it helps to desensitize them to the act of leaving. They never know if you're leaving for a long time or a couple of seconds. It becomes almost like a peekaboo game. Make sure though that you don't return to the house while she's freaking out, or she may think that freaking out brings you back (counterproductive)!

My dog used to go berserk when anyone left, thanks to my family members who would make a big fuss over him before leaving. He would jump around and bark until we were out of sight. I changed it up by telling everyone to do the same thing before leaving, after I did the desensitization work with him.

Ignore the dog as you are calmly getting ready to go.
Right before you leave say the same phrase in a calm tone. Something like "watch the house", or "goodbye".
Leave promptly and don't return to the house if he cries.

After a few days of this, my dog started to realize that we weren't going to give him extra attention when leaving anymore, and we weren't going to come back if he barked. When he saw us getting ready to go he'd settle down for a nap, because we weren't coming back for a while.


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## turbojenna (Apr 29, 2011)

She doesn't destroy things...anymore. That I corrected, but the spinning is still left. She won't spin endlessly, but she will do 4-6 spins and bark. 
Thats the thing, she seems to know when I'm leaving to water the lawn (something simple and short) and be in plain site versus leaving for work or school (long extended periods). I will try the conditioning method. Thank you!. I will post an update to see how this works out. I never tried it!


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