This is a follow up question to my post on being scared in the crate. After a week of anxiety/panic attacks when left alone in the crate at night and talking to the vet, we believe Penny is developing some new, pretty bad separation anxiety. More than the normal velcro, want to be with you, can't be trusted type we're used to. Crying quickly turns into panting, sometimes shaking. She is almost 2 (and spayed) and has been crate trained and used to sleeping in a different room from us since she was a few weeks old, so this is not a normal learning how to be in a crate training issue.
The only change in our life or routine recently is that my wife is now 8 months pregnant. We have a daughter, but she is older than Penny so this the first time she has experienced an owner's pregnancy. The vet thinks this is a definite possibility for the cause. Looking back at my other posts here the past several weeks reveals that we've been going through a difficult phase with her on several behavioral fronts that are probably related. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
Our dilemma is what to do in the short-term. First, we hope it is a temporary issue instead of a permanent one. At night she will only calm down if she is physically with my wife or me. So we seem to have two options: (1) leave her in her kennel and hope she learns to cope as long as she doesn't get violent and hurt herself or (2) let her out and sleep with her on a couch or extra bed, while comforting is adding the risk of rewarding behavior and setting precedence we'll later regret. Unfortunately have the dog in our bedroom, crate or no, is not an option for several reasons, including old, territorial cats. And we even haven't had to consider day-time leaving her at home yet. The vet talked about drugs as an options but I am not really interested, especially if we don't know the true problem yet.
So, has anyone had any similar experiences of an older puppy or adult dog developing increased separation anxiety? Or having to make similar sleeping decisions? Sorry if this was rambling, I haven't had much sleep this week.
The only change in our life or routine recently is that my wife is now 8 months pregnant. We have a daughter, but she is older than Penny so this the first time she has experienced an owner's pregnancy. The vet thinks this is a definite possibility for the cause. Looking back at my other posts here the past several weeks reveals that we've been going through a difficult phase with her on several behavioral fronts that are probably related. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
Our dilemma is what to do in the short-term. First, we hope it is a temporary issue instead of a permanent one. At night she will only calm down if she is physically with my wife or me. So we seem to have two options: (1) leave her in her kennel and hope she learns to cope as long as she doesn't get violent and hurt herself or (2) let her out and sleep with her on a couch or extra bed, while comforting is adding the risk of rewarding behavior and setting precedence we'll later regret. Unfortunately have the dog in our bedroom, crate or no, is not an option for several reasons, including old, territorial cats. And we even haven't had to consider day-time leaving her at home yet. The vet talked about drugs as an options but I am not really interested, especially if we don't know the true problem yet.
So, has anyone had any similar experiences of an older puppy or adult dog developing increased separation anxiety? Or having to make similar sleeping decisions? Sorry if this was rambling, I haven't had much sleep this week.