Olive’s Separation Anxiety Journey
Written by Rachel Boagey.
We rescued Olive from Mexico 2 days before I needed to pop to the post office and send a parcel home to my parents in the UK. Not wanting to leave her leashed up outside the store, I left her in the comfort and warmth of her new home.
The post office was 2 blocks away from where we used to live in a 3rd floor 1 bedroom apartment in Mount Pleasant. I checked the reachable surfaces for anything she could destroy or eat in my absence. I left my phone with the video recorder running, so I could watch what she did when I left. I'm still not totally sure why I did that - I'd grown up with dogs and none of them ever were too bothered by our departure.
I dropped my parcel off and walked back up Main Street. I was 1 block away from our apartment when I heard a dog howling. Surely not. As I got closer to home it was apparent that it definitely was a dog in our building - and not one I'd heard before. I ran up the 2 flights of stairs as quickly as I could and rushed in the door. Poor Olive was distraught. I hugged her so tightly and could feel her little heart beating as loud and fast as mine. I immediately watched the video back and my heart sank - she was launching herself up at the windows, howling and screaming.
Weeks went by with us not being able to sit up off the couch without Olive jumping up too. If we went to the bathroom which was nearer the door, she'd follow us. If she thought we were gearing up to go out she'd lay on the door mat, purposely in the way. We read every resource we could find and got contradictory tidbits of information from what felt like hundreds of different websites.
Myself and my partner spent every evening practicing cues such as picking up keys, stepping outside of the door, so on and so forth, for weeks. No step seemed too small. If she had a Kong, she wouldn't touch it or would start screaming as soon as she finished it. If she didn't eat it due to stress, the screaming would start right away. We needed to go out. I needed to go out when my partner was at work. At this point, I couldn't even get in my car without having to abort the mission and if I made it to the grocery store, I more often than not had to ditch all of the items and run back to the car to get back home to Olive.
In May of 2021, 2 months after we'd adopted Olive, we moved to North Vancouver. She settled in quickly and so well, loving her new lifestyle and surroundings. In our new 2 bedroom house we had so much more room, so we got a big crate with the goal to leave her in it when we went out - we'd read on Google that a crate can act as a safe place for dogs with separation anxiety. We were cautious to reintroduce it and did this slowly and carefully, remembering she'd had a stressful flight in a crate when she flew over from Mexico. We fed her basically all of her meals in there, first with the door open, then shut. She would run in there willingly, even falling asleep in there after she ate.
One day I had to pop out and we'd managed up to about 30 minutes of her in her crate eating a Kong with no panic in sight. Of course, I got stuck in traffic. I watched her on camera having a full blown panic attack and trying to break out of her crate. I was hot, stressed, crying in my car, not to mention driving like a lunatic.
Enough was enough. I searched for a separation anxiety specialist. The money was a concern but getting my sanity and my life back would be worth every penny in the long run. We had an initial consultation and I was immediately relieved - this was curable.
First of all, we ditched the crate. Our trainer Holly at Positive Paws informed us that almost always, confinement exacerbates panic, which when you think about it makes complete sense.
We worked long and hard, logging missions by the second and writing down every single move Olive made while we were outside of the house. Missions went from a few seconds to 20 minutes and Olive was comfortable with the pace.
As well as endless help and support from our amazing trainer, we also reached out to Olive’s vet after doing some research on canine medication. I won’t lie, I was pretty reluctant to put Olive on medication, mostly because of the huge stigma surrounding it, and the common notion that it should only be used as a ‘last resort.’
We learnt from speaking to the vet that medication can in fact make a significant difference in the management of a variety of behavioral problems. With my fears alleviated, I was willing to give it a shot if it meant improving Olive’s quality of life while our training continued. Olive was prescribed the SSRI fluoxetine (also known as Prozac) and in just a few short weeks, the benefits started to shine through. She became less anxious about being left alone and her panic-free threshold grew and grew.
Don't get me wrong, there were setbacks and bad days, but every single week a new (albeit often small) milestone was met, such as Olive taking herself off to her bed by the fire, shutting her eyes, putting her head down on the ground and having a snooze.
All along the journey, Holly was our rock. Every tiny success was a cause for celebration. She helped us, kept us motivated, and reminded us that slowly but surely Olive was improving, in her own Olive way.
Last week, we met Holly for what hopefully will be the last time (no offence, Holly - we love you really!) Olive graduated being able to do 1 whole hour alone without any panics at all. In fact, she even snores from time to time!
Sure, there will likely be more setbacks and tears. But through the right training techniques, time, baby steps, love, and boundaries, Olive is learning to trust again, to trust that we won't ever abandon her like the first people did.
To those of you who are going through separation anxiety, just know that it will be hard work, it will test you, you will probably cry A LOT...But you will get through it, and you will get your life back. In doing so, you will have given your pup the greatest gift.
Follow Rachel, Vinny and Olives story on instagram @olivemylife.pnw