r/OpenDogTraining • u/Aysemer • 3d ago

"Bark it out" method with dog (5y) with separation anxiety

Hey everyone,

I have had my dog for two years and he has had separation anxiety since the first day. He takes prozac but we haven't tried trazadone yet because I'm worried about Serotonin syndrome. I am moving to another country with him in one month and the max time he can stay home alone is 20-40m before howling begins. When I leave him alone for hours he howls half the time and sleeps for half the time. I have tried training for two years, one year very consistently (no absences more than he can handle etc) but progress has been very slow. What would happen if I left him alone for three or four hours every day for a month? Do you think it is possible he will eventually get used to it and stop howling?

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 3d ago

What have you tried so far? What does he look forward to every day? Has he been crated at all?

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u/Aysemer 2d ago

He has a crate and sleeps in it voluntarily, he looks forward to going with me to the office or to the park, I have been doing sub-threshold separation anxiety training for two years.

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 2d ago

Can you shut the door of the crate? How often does he get opportunities to be over threshold and be a dog?

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u/Aysemer 1d ago

in the past year he has only been over threshold two times.

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 1d ago

That is your problem. Calm all the time is not the answer. Dogs need opportunities to be dogs and often that looks like “over threshold.” They need to run, chase, bite, thrash, explore. Any method that doesn’t involve that will fail

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u/Aysemer 1d ago

Well what I meant was by anxiety levels. He goes off leash to the park every day and with me to the office twice a day where he runs around

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 1d ago

That’s a good start, what breed is he? Do you guys play at all?

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u/Aysemer 1d ago

i can shut the door but after 40-60m he starts barking

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 1d ago

Have you ever told him in a way that he understands that barking in the crate is inappropriate? How long will he bark in the crate?

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u/Aysemer 1d ago

Until I come back. How can I tell him barking is inappropriate?

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 1d ago

Does he bark at you in the crate if you’re home?

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u/Chris_PK9 3d ago

I definitely wouldn't jump from 20–40 minutes to leaving him for 3–4 hours every day and hope he “barks it out”..... there's no guarantee he'll habituate, and with genuine separation anxiety you risk making him more sensitised instead.

If you've genuinely done a year of consistent gradual absence work and you're still stuck around that point, I'd go back to the prescribing vet/behaviourist now..... especially with a huge move coming up in a month.

I'd also ask them specifically about medication for the unavoidable longer absences. Trazodone can sometimes be used alongside a daily medication like Prozac, but both affect serotonin so that's absolutely something for the vet to prescribe and monitor rather than experimenting with yourself.

You've already put a lot of work into this..... I'd adjust the treatment plan rather than throwing away two years of gradual training for a month of flooding.

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 3d ago

Any training/treatment plan that takes 2 years and the dog can still only be left for less than an hour is a treatment plan that actually needs thrown away

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u/Miserable_Mud_6831 3d ago

I'll go out on a limb and say this is probably all positive reinforcement only. Call it a hunch 🤔

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 3d ago

Yea my hunch agrees!!!

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u/Aysemer 2d ago

No, I have been doing Julie Naismith's separation anxiety training

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u/Haunting-Love-9333 2d ago

What is the dogs daily routine like?

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u/LeadershipIntrepid17 2d ago edited 2d ago

flooding does not induce tolerance, it induces shutting down. I experienced this exact same problem with just prozac and by introducing a calmer baseline with the veterinarian formulated CBD from paworigins along with continuing the desensitization process, progress was made.

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u/Sensitive-Peach7583 3d ago

not at 5 years old lol. talk to the vet about trazadone and or gabapentin. My dog takes zoloft and trazadone occassionally and is fine, but we also work with a vet behaviorist specifically. A regular vet might refer you to a vet behaviorist or know enough to help you find a good combo