About 2 years ago we adopted a 2 year old female GSD (Maja-pronounced My-uh). We know her breeder and history so no worries there. Long story short; she always had some separation anxiety and after a few too many times of coming home to finding something chewed up/destroyed we started putting her in her crate during the day. She has been crate trained her whole life and it wasn't really an issue until about December of 2015. I came home from work one day to find that she had chewed her way out from inside her plastic crate:


We switched her to an all wire crate. She figured out how to wiggle her way out by pushing on the crate door just enough to fit through. So we bungee corded it shut. She chewed through the bungees. So we used zip ties and hose clamps on all points of weakness. She started ramming the crate and managed to flip it over a few days in a row. We were concerned that she would get stuck and/or strangle herself in the larger holes on the bottom so my husband took a big sheet of plywood, cut it in half and we bolted her crate to it. We kept all the reinforcements on all points of the crate except the door to get her in and out. She can't flip it but she was still going pretty nuts. Came home a few times to a crate floor absolutely covered in drool and a dog that had made her teeth/gums bleed trying to get out. So we called the vet, got her started on puppy prozac and began working with other options for behavior modification. We now feed her in her crate, hubby taught her how to run on the treadmill so she is getting exercise, we got her new toys, etc... Some days she seems to do ok. Not great but she obviously isn't drooling as much anymore most days and she now can't get out of Fort Knox. This week she somehow figured out just how to chew to get the zip ties off her crate door. So I switched to using padlocks on her crate door (one on the top of the door, two on the side where it latches to the crate and one on the bottom of the door). This is effective in keeping her in and she can't chew through them. However, today I came home to this:


Honestly, I have no idea what she was doing to hurt her nose so bad. It isn't the first time either. Hubby has a webcam set up and said she was a bit anxious and obviously chewing on the crate in the morning and by the afternoon was lying down. She has been on puppy prozac since January so it should have kicked in by now. I am obviously going to talk to the vet and see if some more time with a trainer might help but at this point I am all out of ideas. Anyone else have suggestions? And for what it is worth she absolutely loves her crate when we are home. She chooses to be in there (we leave the door open when we are home and it is her choice) most of the night. She has no problem in the morning going in it either.

my shepherd was bad for that as a pup, too.
he would be heartbroken when I left for business, doing a low howl at night for hours.
he would tip over the clothes hamper to get my dirty clothes to snuggle on.

he got over it by the time he was two.

as for the nose, that's no biggie. she did it on the crate. My boy tore his way out of a chainlink enclosure once, tearing up his mouth and paws on the wire ends.
he didn't care.

tag

Had a similar issue, thunder shirt worked for us.  Not sure if it would help you or not.

Leave for 5 minutes


Come back



Leave for 10


Come back



Leave for 30



Etc




<------Golden doodle....they have bad SA

One of my GSD (I have three currently) and one of them has a on and off separation anxiety.

It seems to me as if they really like routine. Once me and my girlfriend got into a routine of when we went to work or college classes the dogs tearing shit up seemed to taper off.

We just got a seven-week old, so I am tagging this for responses.

 

mine is almost 10 weeks.  she is a crazy person but separates ok I just want to get her off the whimpering and howling when she needs to be in the crate at night.

Do you only crate her when you leave her?

My GSD and little Papillon mix get crated often when I'm at home, not as punishment, but to reinforce it being a good place.

They always get crated when they get bully sticks to chew on, eat in their crates, and if I take a nap, they get crated. They get crated sometimes for a bit when I'm just chilling watching a movie, just to reinforce that the crate doesn't mean I'm leaving, just that it's time to relax and do nothing. My GSD got real pissy one day when she wanted to take a nap, but the door to her crate had been knocked shut, and she couldn't get into the crate to sleep.

1. Dog should be exercised and given purpose...work with the dog on behavior and training, every day. Yes, every fucking day. A tired dog is a happy dog. GSD's are workers, they need to have a purpose.


2. You should do as much as you can to give the dog confidence, if it's a "shadow" dog (always your shadow), work harder on ignoring the dog...let it feel build up some confidence about being alone, without you, even when you're in the house.

3. Start leaving the dog alone (out of the crate), at random times for small periods of time (5 minutes, 10 minutes). Vary where you go, what door you leave from and enter by, and every time make sure the exit and greeting is "no big deal". Dog needs to learn it's routine that you leave, but you always come back. Build up towards longer and longer periods of being alone. When you come back and the dog is good, gentle praise. If she's bad, ignore it and try again.

4. Make the dog look forward to you leaving. Puzzle toy with some treats in it, every time. Frozen wet food in a kong, something that challenges and occupies the dog. Maybe leave some music on, or the TV, and shut the blinds as outside agitation can stir up anxiety.

I've been through it many times, just went through it with my new dog (corgi/shepherd mix) and these things work but they take patience, work, and consistency. It's worth it, tho.






 

mine has to be up your ass 24/7.  he does not like to stay home alone either, but he does.  He has chew toys/bones out, and we would leave intentionally at random times for random lengths of time.  He has not destroyed anything even though he is not happy. he is now 10 months and 100 lbs.  we also used to give him ......
   
Composure for Medium and Large Dogs, 60 Soft Chews
by Vetri-Science Laboratories   $16 on amazon

They have a serious calming effect.  

he was crate trained, but has not needed to be in a crate for over 3 months.