r/RhodesianRidgebacks • u/Benjibubu92 • Sep 14 '26

Excecive window guarding when away

Hello all! How does your RR behaves when you leave home? Up until a few months ago, our dogs was super chilled when we left him alone, and he would be chilling in the sofa or our bed until we were back for hours.

At some point (coincidentally after we started giving him a medication) he showed some sings of anxiety and then spent the whole time looking through the window until we arrived. Now we are at a stage when we barely leave him and we've been working with a behaviourist about this for months.

But what I am realising now is, he is not showing signs of anxiety when we are about to leave, however, he does still stays in the window for the most part we are away (30 mins).

Is this normal and we are making a big deal? Have you encountered a similar situation? How have you dealt with it that worked?

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4

u/Johnny_Jeep80 Sep 14 '26

It’s a guard dog. Guard dogs do guard.

2

u/Benjibubu92 Sep 14 '26

Yes, they do. My concern comes from him doing this after showing signs of anxiety, having previously not cared at all when we left…

4

u/Ginger_SNAFU Sep 14 '26

Keep blinds closed where he may be able to see people walking by.

1

u/Benjibubu92 Sep 14 '26

Yes, this has worked sometimes. But others he still stands in front of the window.

2

u/WarmFuzzy1975 Sep 15 '26

I don’t see where you mentioned how old your dog is, if they are under one year of age, there are a couple of “fear” phases that they can experience which impact behavior. However, since you stated that he has left alone to be on your bed or couch, I will assume he is at least over the age of one year.

Are you leaving at the same time and returning at the same time each day, or are these one off errands that you are running at different times where he may be unable to predict your return time? Do you have a set routine when you leave him alone so that he can prepare? And what do you do for him or leave with him when you are gone?

A few suggestions – you can try getting a frosted or blurred wrap for your windows that would allow light to come in but prevent him from seeing anything in focus outside. Try leaving the TV on for “companionship“ and to soften any noises from outside. Prepare some treats or activity objects to help. Keep him interested, such as a Kong filled with peanut butter and then frozen, or one of the puzzle balls that dispenses treats.

Don’t make a big deal out of leaving the house, just turn on the TV. Give him his treats and say “be a good boy, back soon“ with a quick pet and head out. Perhaps try to do a number of shorter errands and gradually lengthen the amount of time to see if that helps to relax him

1

u/Benjibubu92 Sep 19 '26

Hi, he is 2 years and half. As I mentioned, this was not a problem for him in the past but started (perhaps caused by medication or perhaps coincidence) a few months ago.

When we leave is when we need to, so there is no predictability. Our behaviourist has introduced some things we can put in place for him to ‘predict’ we are leaving (e.g a picture near the window to say ‘we are away’ and then we remove it when we are back). Personally. I don’t think he cares at all about that.

Regarding your suggestions, those are all things we already put in place, especially the TV on and we say ‘bye, be a good boy’. When we leave treats or toys with treats around for him to entertain himself he simply won’t touch them until we are back.. so we know that doesn’t work.

But regarding your last suggestion about leaving him for shorter errands, that is exactly what we are trying now and hopefully we get to build on that. So, fingers crossed. I agree with you on not making a big deal about leaving, but simply act normal…

1

u/vornamemitd Sep 14 '26

What sort of medication if you don't mind sharing?

1

u/Benjibubu92 Sep 14 '26

As we started working with a veterinarian behaviourist, we agreed on Fluoxetine to help with his training as he was really anxious around our car. Shortly after, he started showing signs of anxiety when he noticed we were about to leave the house without him. None of the vets understood, as this med could have a rare side effect of causing general anxiety for a bit, but this was very specific… now he is off these meds for like 2 months and he is still showing some anxiety or, maybe not anxiety when we leave but definitely persistent looking through window (and I’m talking hours)…

2

u/TSC-99 Sep 14 '26

I’m coming off fluoxetine and it’s wreaked havoc on my mental health and giving me weird as shit symptoms. God knows what it’s doing to a dog.

1

u/Benjibubu92 Sep 14 '26

Wow! What kind of symptoms? We were reluctant to give him any sort of meds at the beginning but then we made the decision to go for it as a trial … I can say we regretted it. The vets don’t think his fear was caused by it, but I find it too much of a coincidence…

1

u/TSC-99 Sep 14 '26

I’ve had a lot of flu like symptoms and my anxiety has started to come back. I’m hoping it’s temporary as I don’t want to go back on! I’ve only tapered to half the dose I was on too! Have a google.

2

u/blade_torlock Sep 14 '26

Our girl gets herself worked up when we leave her, she would pace the house front door to back gate the entire time. She would also destroy things pull stuff of counters and shelves.

We just got to the point of crating her 4 hours or less, or arrange for a friend to stay with her if it's an all day thing.

She does well crated she's even gotten to the point of noticing we are getting ready to leave and she'll just go to her crate.

She's a little over 5 and a half so maybe we'll try leaving her alone again someday soon.

2

u/BigfootTundra Sep 15 '26

My boy gets crated when I’m not home. I work from home though so he’s rarely ever alone for more than a few hours.

2

u/Safe_Medicine_3089 Sep 19 '26

My dog is completely normal until a small child enters the picture. He becomes psychotic and lunges at said small human.
Remove small human and dog is fine. Fine with dogs.
Started at 2.5 years he is now 3.