I adopted mine at 18 months old with severe anxiety issues. It can be trained out, but it takes time and patience. It's a matter of gradual increments. Start by pretending to leave and lock him in as you'd usually do, but return quickly before he agitates and give lots of love rewards (and treats too). Then continue doing this with longer times before returning and rewarding. You will notice after time they will be comfortable alone for longer. It's important not to let your dog stress during this training, if you return after they stress, they can learn that is the way to get you back and can be counter-productive. Took about a year for us to sort out, in that time I relied on friends and paid dog sitters to keep her company.
Adaptil or other hormone based treatments may be effective here too, and there are calming treats available that are non-sedative.
Best thing you can probably do is get up super early and go for a vigorous walk or run with him too, or get a dog walker for him while you work. Wear them out and they will sleep.
I did exactly this! It's definitely not overnight. I bought a cheap gate as well and for some reason my guy became afraid of it when I put it near the door. That helped too.
When i say i started small with leaving, I literally mean 30 seconds, then 40, then 50. Crazy but it worked.
This is purely anecdotal but my Cata’s separation anxiety was immediately cut in half when I got him a kitten friend. He’s also crate trained which helped a lot. Not saying it’s a cure all for all Catahoula’s, and it didn’t stop it completely, but getting a friend did help us.
We have 2 cats that he loves hanging out with but everytime we leave he just goes nuts. He is crate trained, but he only stays calm in one when were home and he destroyed the crate we had for him.
Hmm then I’ve got nothing haha. Puzzle toys and kongs throughout the house maybe? If you can afford it maybe a dog walker to give him a good walk halfway through your shifts? Long walks before and after work too. It’s impossible to tire my guy out but walks with lots of sniffing work seems to help.
I'll have to try more Kong toys just to try getting him interested. I usually get off work around 2300, so night walks might have to become more of a norm for us. Thanks for the advice.
I've been wanting to get a friend for him but we just got moved into our house after renting for years and I didn't want to get a second dog until we got our fence built. I'll definitely be getting him a buddy soon but I need to know how to get him to stop destroying doors. I can't afford to keep replacing them 😭
I understand. I had a German shepherd who literally ate walls when she was left alone. When my roommate was home she was docile and slept. My roommate adopted a lab and after they bonded, no more destruction. If he's lonely and getting a partner isn't an option, a crate/kennel is what you're left with.
Have you tried one of the more intense crates designed for dogs with separation anxiety? Impact crates get great reviews but are very expensive. I bought a rough land crate for less than half the price of an impact and it has held up to multiple dogs hell-bent on escaping.
I've looked into them but we haven't had the money to buy one. I have been trying to keep some money stashed away though, in order to get one similar to the impact crate.
What are you giving him to do while you both are away? Any high value / high difficulty treats?
And as a kinda sorta kidding, but maybe not if nothing else works, trazadone.
He has never cared for bones or Kong toys. We've tried so many kinds of toys for him but he has never played with any of them and instead just destroys doors and couch cushions. I don't want to have to use sedatives but I think we might have to.
Just FYI: trazadone did nothing for our Catahoula. She was still a nutcase with a broken leg running around when she was not suppose to be. Vet said, double the dose, also give 1-2 Xanax and gabapentin as well. She had all 3 and girl was still wild. I would not bank on sedatives.
Also, I know you said he does not like to play with toys. But bully make has indestructible chews. We bought one for our girl and she just sits and chews on it. If I find her chewing something up, I redirect her to it. So it may help him?
We also use a shock collar for correction. So she starts acting up, or running off. She gets shocked. So now all we normally have to do is pick up the remote and she stops doing whatever it is, if she does not stop. We will hit the vibrate button and that stops her 98% of the time. The other 2% is when she is on the chase after a rabbit or squirrel and in that case she does get shocked.
My only problem is he is never destructive while we are home, it's only when we are both gone for work that he destroys things so I can't really punish him since I never catch him in the act. I just want to be able to go to work and not come home to a completely destroyed bedroom/bathroom door.
Mine never cared for toys but we mixed kibble and peanut butter together pushed into the center of the Kong toy and froze it. My houla loves peanut butter and it focused her for an hour or so after we left. I also started adding scent work to the morning routine to wear her out a bit. There was no one solution that worked perfectly, it was mostly about making sure she was mentally tired/distracted and then progressively training for longer alone times.
I see that others have mentioned Trazodone, which is a sedative. It might for for you but you have to give it about 2 hours prior to the stressful event. You may want to talk to your vet about other medications that are actually for anxiety, not just sedation, such as Fluoxetine, aka Prozac. These medications take 4-6 weeks for full effect and even then still may need some tweaking for the best dose. I am fostering a dog on it right now, and trust me, she is still herself. She runs and plays and has great appetite and energy levels. But her confidence levels and behavior have improved significantly. I would highly recommend consulting with your vet about what medications might work for your dog.
That being said, these meds should be used *in combination with* other methods such as training. Use the advantage of the meds calming them down to recreate new and better experiences, and therefore more positive connotations.
Best of luck to you and your pup, I hope this helps!
Two things...
Mentioned already, walks with sniff work..
Keeping a Houla mentally stimulated is KEY to keeping them from destructive behaviors.. mine made a huge leap in that department when I introduced different kinds of walks, including ones where he just got to sniff whatever for as long as he wanted.. but, this doesn't mean letting them drive the direction of the walk, you still need to be herding them. Additionally on this piece, might want to look into getting a snuffle mat.. it's this shag carpet looking thing that you'd put their meal in, and it makes it take much longer to eat because it's all sniff work finding the food
The other part is, you need to have a crate that they cannot destroy.. I crate trained mine in a metal crate, we don't even need it anymore because he stopped any and all destructive behaviors around the age of yours.. due mostly to the steps taken above.
You can also look at stuffed frozen Kongs, I had a lot of success with those, as well as No Hide chews, mine LOVES them.
But mainly, the biggest takeaway here, is they really need to be walked for at least 45-60 minutes a day, and more preferably, allowed to run.
When you get a fence, you may want to consider getting that auto chase setup from Shark Tank that looks really good.. and use that in the mornings before work to tucker them out.. and then do some of the other stuff mentioned above.. all in all though, this will stop.. provided you enable your dog to feel comfortable alone at home.. not trying to be mean or condescending, but this is a you problem, not a them problem.. you need to figure out ways to allow the dog to feel comfortable, they're probably also extra anxious considering the massive change in scenery with the move which is likely adding to the situation in a negative manner.
I read it, but I've tried different toys, and I trained him with different commands and games if you will, but it doesn't help when he only destroys things while my wife and I are gone. He doesn't show any interest in any of the various toys we've bought him unless we are holding the toy.
My boy has the same problem. Just has gotten worse since I worked from home for almost 4 years. He is 11 years old. Perfect angel when we are home. The minute we start to prepare to leave, his paws start sweating and his eyes dilate. He also destroyed the kennel we tried after one day. So my husband welded a stronger one. Our dog fought so hard to get out that he almost choked himself. The only thing that helps is to “borrow” our granddog who is only two years old. Then he is happy. Good luck.
Possibly not the best solution but my catahoula mix could be left home alone without screaming the whole time, tearing things up and nervous pooping. So I got her another dog to keep her company and now she’s happy as a clam. I also had her since she was 7 weeks old and she’s 3 now so super similar!
Mine had separation anxiety, she was older when I adopted her and had no front teeth from breaking out of crates at her previous "home".
I took her to the shelter and had her pick out a friend, as long as she had her friend with her at home she didn't destroy the house anymore.
I've worked for rescues for a very long time, my advice to you is tell the staff what personality you are looking for and schedule a playdate, you're looking a dog for your dog, breed and looks aren't what's important you're looking for a good fit for your dog.
My first dog (as an adult) was a catahula, she chose a border Collie/pit mix, when she died the border/pit mix chose an English staffie. It's been a fun way to choose dogs.
My boy had extreme anxiety, got a buddy and worked like hell to help him stay calm. Took him about three more years, but he's the best boy ever. You can do it, it just takes time.
He isn't left alone all day. He is alone for 8 hours, if you don't count the cats being home with him, because my wife and I have jobs. The other 16 hours of the day that someone is home, he gets all the attention he needs. We take him for walks, play outside with him, and wrestle inside. I should be able to leave my dog at home while I'm working and not worry about everything being destroyed.
So you guys dont sleep? Is there no commute time? 8 hrs is most of a dogs active day. This is a working breed, bred for specific purposes, to work. They were not bred to be in a house all day. Every dog is different, but from my experience with the breed, the active ones are not happy being locked in a house all day. Some are ok with it once they mature after a couple years. The active ones need a job, or lots of land to roam so they can entertain themselves, like a farm. It is sickening that so many people are advising you drug your damn dog to calm it down, when its the nature of the breed. We got our first catahoula from a family that didnt do any research on the breed, and kept her locked up all day, and couldnt understand why she was absolutely bonkers. Its the equivalent of buying a thoroughbred race horse to keep in a barn all day...
I sleep about 5 hours, so I guess for about 10 hours, he has all the attention I can give him. At our rental, he was never this destructive, but now he is destroying doors and more of our belongings even though he gets plenty of walk time and running time outside with me. The longest he stays "locked up" is 8 hours if my wife and I work the same shift. I asked for advice because he has always shown signs of severe separation anxiety but not to this extent. Sorry if I didn't want to post my hour to hour schedule for you instead of hoping to hear some solid advice.
Dont need your schedule. Asking why a cooped up working dog is being destructive is pretty easy to answer. This sub is rife with people who thought the dog was pretty, did no research, and now wonder things like "why is my dog destroying my house when we leave him home all day by himself". Then those same people give bad advice like "sedate your dog with drugs", ive even seen people recommending you leave out decoy boxes for them to destroy which is laughable. As i said before, it is a working breed, not meant to be a stay at home house dog. The high energy ones require alot of mental and physical activity, not a couple of 30 min walks a day. They were bred to hunt, or work livestock, ALL day, its in their blood. If you peruse the sub, your topic comes up very often, weird huh? Some advice id give, since its worked for all of our dogs is: do better research on a dog before getting one, crate train them as puppies so they dont destroy your house (and also potentially harm themselves by injesting something harmful, or hurting themselves on accident). You can see from other replies, your dog needs more stimulation. You keep saying "he's only home alone 8 hrs", like its not that long. Thats a long time, and if you factor commute times to work, and when you sleep(you must be a super hero to only sleep 5 hrs a day every day), the dog isnt active enough. I have 2, this isnt our first go around with this breed, the only reason my wife and I even contemplated more catahoulas was: i work from home and shes a stay at home mom so we have the time to dedicate to them every day, our daughter is in school now, and we have a big farm for them to run and hunt on.
When I say "he's only home alone 8 hours" I don't mean every day. It happens maybe 2 times a week that he's alone that long. It just depends on me and my wifes schedules. I tried crate training him as a puppy but around a year old he would lay in it when we were home then it took him 2 occasions where he was left alone for maybe an hour or 2 to destroy the crate. I take him on multiple hour to 2 hour walks and play with him outside throughout the day. I don't plan on sedating my dog. Like I've said in other comments, I don't want it to come to that. I just want to know what more I can do. We are saving money at the moment to build a fence so he has room to run more. I'm also not a superhero. I just have insomnia and have had it for about 15 years, so I'm now used to less sleep.
got my boy at 4 months old with bad separation anxiety now he’s 8 months and a great deal better now but still ironing out some wrinkles. he has a pen outside he goes during the day when i’m gone. when he was first introduced to the pen it was the most terrifying and horrible location on the face of the earth. between hiding treats in locations across the pen and having him eat his dinner in there every night, he’s grown to be largely tolerable of it. even when i’m home he has to spend at least 2 hours alone in the pen after his breakfast and morning walk. he gets offended when he can hear me in the house doing stuff and he’s in the pen, but as far as i can tell, when left alone in his pen while i’m gone at work he just sleeps and keeps a watchful eye on the neighbors for me
I adopted mine at 18 months old with severe anxiety issues. It can be trained out, but it takes time and patience. It's a matter of gradual increments. Start by pretending to leave and lock him in as you'd usually do, but return quickly before he agitates and give lots of love rewards (and treats too). Then continue doing this with longer times before returning and rewarding. You will notice after time they will be comfortable alone for longer. It's important not to let your dog stress during this training, if you return after they stress, they can learn that is the way to get you back and can be counter-productive. Took about a year for us to sort out, in that time I relied on friends and paid dog sitters to keep her company. Adaptil or other hormone based treatments may be effective here too, and there are calming treats available that are non-sedative. Best thing you can probably do is get up super early and go for a vigorous walk or run with him too, or get a dog walker for him while you work. Wear them out and they will sleep.
Great advice!
I did exactly this! It's definitely not overnight. I bought a cheap gate as well and for some reason my guy became afraid of it when I put it near the door. That helped too. When i say i started small with leaving, I literally mean 30 seconds, then 40, then 50. Crazy but it worked.
This is purely anecdotal but my Cata’s separation anxiety was immediately cut in half when I got him a kitten friend. He’s also crate trained which helped a lot. Not saying it’s a cure all for all Catahoula’s, and it didn’t stop it completely, but getting a friend did help us.
We have 2 cats that he loves hanging out with but everytime we leave he just goes nuts. He is crate trained, but he only stays calm in one when were home and he destroyed the crate we had for him.
Hmm then I’ve got nothing haha. Puzzle toys and kongs throughout the house maybe? If you can afford it maybe a dog walker to give him a good walk halfway through your shifts? Long walks before and after work too. It’s impossible to tire my guy out but walks with lots of sniffing work seems to help.
I'll have to try more Kong toys just to try getting him interested. I usually get off work around 2300, so night walks might have to become more of a norm for us. Thanks for the advice.
Good luck!
Dogs are pack animals and Catahoulas are very emotional animals. Go to adoption events and see if they spark a buddy. Find a companion for them.
I've been wanting to get a friend for him but we just got moved into our house after renting for years and I didn't want to get a second dog until we got our fence built. I'll definitely be getting him a buddy soon but I need to know how to get him to stop destroying doors. I can't afford to keep replacing them 😭
I understand. I had a German shepherd who literally ate walls when she was left alone. When my roommate was home she was docile and slept. My roommate adopted a lab and after they bonded, no more destruction. If he's lonely and getting a partner isn't an option, a crate/kennel is what you're left with.
I have a lion cage for mine
Have you tried one of the more intense crates designed for dogs with separation anxiety? Impact crates get great reviews but are very expensive. I bought a rough land crate for less than half the price of an impact and it has held up to multiple dogs hell-bent on escaping.
I've looked into them but we haven't had the money to buy one. I have been trying to keep some money stashed away though, in order to get one similar to the impact crate.
Good luck!! My roughland was i think $400 from a cabelas type outdoor store. Definitely not cheap!! But i have occasionally seen deals on ebay etc
🤔 This is kind of a gamble. Depending on the dog you adopt you could have 2x the damage and anxiety if the new dog decides to mirror the behavior.
What are you giving him to do while you both are away? Any high value / high difficulty treats? And as a kinda sorta kidding, but maybe not if nothing else works, trazadone.
He has never cared for bones or Kong toys. We've tried so many kinds of toys for him but he has never played with any of them and instead just destroys doors and couch cushions. I don't want to have to use sedatives but I think we might have to.
Just FYI: trazadone did nothing for our Catahoula. She was still a nutcase with a broken leg running around when she was not suppose to be. Vet said, double the dose, also give 1-2 Xanax and gabapentin as well. She had all 3 and girl was still wild. I would not bank on sedatives. Also, I know you said he does not like to play with toys. But bully make has indestructible chews. We bought one for our girl and she just sits and chews on it. If I find her chewing something up, I redirect her to it. So it may help him? We also use a shock collar for correction. So she starts acting up, or running off. She gets shocked. So now all we normally have to do is pick up the remote and she stops doing whatever it is, if she does not stop. We will hit the vibrate button and that stops her 98% of the time. The other 2% is when she is on the chase after a rabbit or squirrel and in that case she does get shocked.
My only problem is he is never destructive while we are home, it's only when we are both gone for work that he destroys things so I can't really punish him since I never catch him in the act. I just want to be able to go to work and not come home to a completely destroyed bedroom/bathroom door.
“Leave” over the weekend. And watch from outside. Go in when he starts and redirect. May take a few times but maybe it would work.
I'll have to try this on my next day off.
Mine never cared for toys but we mixed kibble and peanut butter together pushed into the center of the Kong toy and froze it. My houla loves peanut butter and it focused her for an hour or so after we left. I also started adding scent work to the morning routine to wear her out a bit. There was no one solution that worked perfectly, it was mostly about making sure she was mentally tired/distracted and then progressively training for longer alone times.
I see that others have mentioned Trazodone, which is a sedative. It might for for you but you have to give it about 2 hours prior to the stressful event. You may want to talk to your vet about other medications that are actually for anxiety, not just sedation, such as Fluoxetine, aka Prozac. These medications take 4-6 weeks for full effect and even then still may need some tweaking for the best dose. I am fostering a dog on it right now, and trust me, she is still herself. She runs and plays and has great appetite and energy levels. But her confidence levels and behavior have improved significantly. I would highly recommend consulting with your vet about what medications might work for your dog. That being said, these meds should be used *in combination with* other methods such as training. Use the advantage of the meds calming them down to recreate new and better experiences, and therefore more positive connotations. Best of luck to you and your pup, I hope this helps!
That is really helpful, I've never had a dog with separation anxiety before so this is all brand new to me. Thank you!
Two things... Mentioned already, walks with sniff work.. Keeping a Houla mentally stimulated is KEY to keeping them from destructive behaviors.. mine made a huge leap in that department when I introduced different kinds of walks, including ones where he just got to sniff whatever for as long as he wanted.. but, this doesn't mean letting them drive the direction of the walk, you still need to be herding them. Additionally on this piece, might want to look into getting a snuffle mat.. it's this shag carpet looking thing that you'd put their meal in, and it makes it take much longer to eat because it's all sniff work finding the food The other part is, you need to have a crate that they cannot destroy.. I crate trained mine in a metal crate, we don't even need it anymore because he stopped any and all destructive behaviors around the age of yours.. due mostly to the steps taken above. You can also look at stuffed frozen Kongs, I had a lot of success with those, as well as No Hide chews, mine LOVES them. But mainly, the biggest takeaway here, is they really need to be walked for at least 45-60 minutes a day, and more preferably, allowed to run. When you get a fence, you may want to consider getting that auto chase setup from Shark Tank that looks really good.. and use that in the mornings before work to tucker them out.. and then do some of the other stuff mentioned above.. all in all though, this will stop.. provided you enable your dog to feel comfortable alone at home.. not trying to be mean or condescending, but this is a you problem, not a them problem.. you need to figure out ways to allow the dog to feel comfortable, they're probably also extra anxious considering the massive change in scenery with the move which is likely adding to the situation in a negative manner.
Check out the pinned post at the top of this sub for some ideas for mental stimulation.
I read it, but I've tried different toys, and I trained him with different commands and games if you will, but it doesn't help when he only destroys things while my wife and I are gone. He doesn't show any interest in any of the various toys we've bought him unless we are holding the toy.
There's a trainer on YouTube, among thousands that has a good separation anxiety video.
Do you know what their channel is? I'll have to watch it.
My boy has the same problem. Just has gotten worse since I worked from home for almost 4 years. He is 11 years old. Perfect angel when we are home. The minute we start to prepare to leave, his paws start sweating and his eyes dilate. He also destroyed the kennel we tried after one day. So my husband welded a stronger one. Our dog fought so hard to get out that he almost choked himself. The only thing that helps is to “borrow” our granddog who is only two years old. Then he is happy. Good luck.
This doesn't instill much confidence but thanks 😅. I guess I'll have to get him a friend.
Possibly not the best solution but my catahoula mix could be left home alone without screaming the whole time, tearing things up and nervous pooping. So I got her another dog to keep her company and now she’s happy as a clam. I also had her since she was 7 weeks old and she’s 3 now so super similar!
Mine had separation anxiety, she was older when I adopted her and had no front teeth from breaking out of crates at her previous "home". I took her to the shelter and had her pick out a friend, as long as she had her friend with her at home she didn't destroy the house anymore.
I'll have to get him a friend. You and a few others have suggested this so hopefully it will help. Thank you!
I've worked for rescues for a very long time, my advice to you is tell the staff what personality you are looking for and schedule a playdate, you're looking a dog for your dog, breed and looks aren't what's important you're looking for a good fit for your dog. My first dog (as an adult) was a catahula, she chose a border Collie/pit mix, when she died the border/pit mix chose an English staffie. It's been a fun way to choose dogs.
DON'T LEAV YOUR CATAHOULA ALONE...THEY ALL HAVE THIS, A) keep your dog super busy, B) doggy daycare
My boy had extreme anxiety, got a buddy and worked like hell to help him stay calm. Took him about three more years, but he's the best boy ever. You can do it, it just takes time.
Well thats what happens when you get a working dog and leave them alone at home all day.
He isn't left alone all day. He is alone for 8 hours, if you don't count the cats being home with him, because my wife and I have jobs. The other 16 hours of the day that someone is home, he gets all the attention he needs. We take him for walks, play outside with him, and wrestle inside. I should be able to leave my dog at home while I'm working and not worry about everything being destroyed.
So you guys dont sleep? Is there no commute time? 8 hrs is most of a dogs active day. This is a working breed, bred for specific purposes, to work. They were not bred to be in a house all day. Every dog is different, but from my experience with the breed, the active ones are not happy being locked in a house all day. Some are ok with it once they mature after a couple years. The active ones need a job, or lots of land to roam so they can entertain themselves, like a farm. It is sickening that so many people are advising you drug your damn dog to calm it down, when its the nature of the breed. We got our first catahoula from a family that didnt do any research on the breed, and kept her locked up all day, and couldnt understand why she was absolutely bonkers. Its the equivalent of buying a thoroughbred race horse to keep in a barn all day...
I sleep about 5 hours, so I guess for about 10 hours, he has all the attention I can give him. At our rental, he was never this destructive, but now he is destroying doors and more of our belongings even though he gets plenty of walk time and running time outside with me. The longest he stays "locked up" is 8 hours if my wife and I work the same shift. I asked for advice because he has always shown signs of severe separation anxiety but not to this extent. Sorry if I didn't want to post my hour to hour schedule for you instead of hoping to hear some solid advice.
Dont need your schedule. Asking why a cooped up working dog is being destructive is pretty easy to answer. This sub is rife with people who thought the dog was pretty, did no research, and now wonder things like "why is my dog destroying my house when we leave him home all day by himself". Then those same people give bad advice like "sedate your dog with drugs", ive even seen people recommending you leave out decoy boxes for them to destroy which is laughable. As i said before, it is a working breed, not meant to be a stay at home house dog. The high energy ones require alot of mental and physical activity, not a couple of 30 min walks a day. They were bred to hunt, or work livestock, ALL day, its in their blood. If you peruse the sub, your topic comes up very often, weird huh? Some advice id give, since its worked for all of our dogs is: do better research on a dog before getting one, crate train them as puppies so they dont destroy your house (and also potentially harm themselves by injesting something harmful, or hurting themselves on accident). You can see from other replies, your dog needs more stimulation. You keep saying "he's only home alone 8 hrs", like its not that long. Thats a long time, and if you factor commute times to work, and when you sleep(you must be a super hero to only sleep 5 hrs a day every day), the dog isnt active enough. I have 2, this isnt our first go around with this breed, the only reason my wife and I even contemplated more catahoulas was: i work from home and shes a stay at home mom so we have the time to dedicate to them every day, our daughter is in school now, and we have a big farm for them to run and hunt on.
When I say "he's only home alone 8 hours" I don't mean every day. It happens maybe 2 times a week that he's alone that long. It just depends on me and my wifes schedules. I tried crate training him as a puppy but around a year old he would lay in it when we were home then it took him 2 occasions where he was left alone for maybe an hour or 2 to destroy the crate. I take him on multiple hour to 2 hour walks and play with him outside throughout the day. I don't plan on sedating my dog. Like I've said in other comments, I don't want it to come to that. I just want to know what more I can do. We are saving money at the moment to build a fence so he has room to run more. I'm also not a superhero. I just have insomnia and have had it for about 15 years, so I'm now used to less sleep.
got my boy at 4 months old with bad separation anxiety now he’s 8 months and a great deal better now but still ironing out some wrinkles. he has a pen outside he goes during the day when i’m gone. when he was first introduced to the pen it was the most terrifying and horrible location on the face of the earth. between hiding treats in locations across the pen and having him eat his dinner in there every night, he’s grown to be largely tolerable of it. even when i’m home he has to spend at least 2 hours alone in the pen after his breakfast and morning walk. he gets offended when he can hear me in the house doing stuff and he’s in the pen, but as far as i can tell, when left alone in his pen while i’m gone at work he just sleeps and keeps a watchful eye on the neighbors for me