"Victek" wrote in message
...
We recently acquire a 3.5 year old Shih Tsu - very sweet, loving dog, but
does not tolerate being left alone. We have to resort to putting him in a
large "crate" when one of us cannot be home with him and it's seems that
over time he is having more trouble, not less. Now he senses when we are
leaving, runs the other way and generally resists the process. When we
come back even after a short time (one or two hours) he becomes quite
frantic and cries/whines after we let him out. The fact that his behavior
seems to be getting worse is really stressing us, but we don't know what
else might help. TIA for any suggestions.


What I did with my adult dog/rescue, was to start out leaving her alone for
very short periods of time. Something as simple as taking out the garbage,
and loitering for an extra moment or two. I did this numerous times a day,
gradually extending the length of time to up to 10 or 15 minutes over a
period of weeks. From there we went to quick trips to the drug store or
grocery, no more than 30 minutes. Over time my comings and goings became so
routine that she learned to take them instride. Prior to my getting her, I
was told she was very destructive in her foster home when left alone, so she
always had to be crated. I'd say it took me about 4 to 6 months total, to
get her to the place where she can now be left alone all day without
accident or incident.

Good Luck!


td