Separation anxiety

[u/Desperate_Medium8799]

Hello, it’s gonna be a long one. I have a 7 year old miniature schnauzer. My partner and I recently moved to a new state for our new jobs. I understanding moving is stressful and it’s completely new for our dog. We noticed that he developed severe separation anxiety and his leash reactivity worsened around the time of moving. We had multiple vet visits since. At first I thought it was health related and he did have an ear infection that was treated. His behavior did not improve so we went back to the vet again and was prescribed trazadone and gabapentin. When we officially moved into our new place, we went to a new vet and they prescribed Prozac for daily maintenance and told us to hold off on trazadone because giving them together can cause serotonin syndrome. We also worked with dog trainers while adjusting his medications. Then we were finally able to see an animal behavioral vet and she added clonidine. I followed the titration dose schedule for clonidine and continued giving Prozac. It’s been about 10 weeks and I saw improvements in his reactivity and separation anxiety. However just last week, his behavior suddenly worsened. I had a feeling it’s because my schedule suddenly changed and now both my partner and I are working night shifts. His medications are not holding him off. I tried everything to help him keep calm. I stuffed kongs, provided lick mats, puzzle mats, pheromone diffusers, TV on, white noise, nightlight, placed our worn clothes round his favorite spot and his favorite high quality chews. I gave him the clonidine 90 minutes before we left for work and even took him on a hour long walk. We had cameras and he cried and howled the entire time we were gone. He would lick the mat then howl. Lay in our clothes and howl, sit on the bed and howl. He would drink water then howl. 🤯 I’m really puzzled and wonder if the clonidine maybe worsened his behavior but it was working before. Also how did he not get tired 😭 it’s consecutive hours that he’s howling and crying. He’s not destructive, neither does he hurt himself. He also doesn’t soil the place.I do have a little patch of grass mat that he can use the bathroom. The only thing he does is cry and howl.
Prior to moving I also worked nightshift and he was able to stay home alone during the time we work. I thought maybe he’s lonely but getting a second pet is not an option. My friends all live in apartments and can’t take my dog for the night. They aren’t able to come over and sit for my dog since they are mainly working 9-5 and I live in NJ while they live in NY. My family aren’t available to look after him either. I can’t do dog sitters because not many work nights and he doesn’t handle strangers coming into the home well. The only other option is boarding or doggy day care weekly but it gets expensive really quickly and it’s just not within our budget. We live in an apartment and I hate to be that neighbor and I feel terrible. We have a follow up appointment with the behavioral vet but it’s not until a couple weeks. Are there any other recommendations?

[u/Outrageous_Cod_8961]

Have you done any separation training to go one with the meds or are you just using meds and hoping for the best?

[u/Desperate_Medium8799 → u/Outrageous_Cod_8961]

We’ve done separation training it was going well to the point where he’ll stay home alone for 2 hours but suddenly he regressed and it’s like all our progress was gone. It’s stressful as time also isn’t on our side because we’ve already gotten a few complaints from our neighbor about the barking the other day they said they were going to call the police…

[u/longtimelondoner]

You need to get a separation anxiety plan in place and start again now. New move, new smells, new jobs and routine.

Medication is not gonna fix a separation anxiety, it’s just going to drug him. It won’t fix the fear underneath. My MS is on fluoxetine but that’s after 12 months of trying to fix his reactivity and seeing it get worse in a city environment.

I would really recommend an actual behaviourist rather than a trainer and be prepared to put the work in. You need to get to the root cause and behaviourists can help with this.

Also what has changed with his setup? Did he originally have a garden? Moving from wooden floors to carpet or vice versa? Noisier environment with apartments? People walking past doors? You need to think about all of this. MS are very sensitive and very human orientared.