When you first get your Greyhound, it's vital to prepare him for being left, not wait till you want to go out, even for short periods. He (or she) may never have been completely alone before. Follow the procedures below to lay a foundation, then even if your dog is by nature prone to separation anxiety (as it's called), you may prevent the problem.

Crime and Punishment
If you come home and find your dog has trashed the place, whatever you do don't scold him - you'll make him scared of you, increase his anxiety, and make everything worse. It's not his fault, pet dogs have been bred to need human company and the behaviour is a panic reaction, not an attempt to 'punish you' for leaving him. Be neutral while you clear up, then go back to normal with him and start the training below.

Separation Anxiety is a dog’s inability to cope when left alone. Typical severe symptoms are howling, barking, scratching or chewing at furniture and fittings, and even wetting and messing around the house in your absence. Depression and hyperactvity may also be caused by it, and extended and/or over-exuberant greeting on your return is another sign. Some dogs may even become aggressive when they sense your imminent departure, trying to stop you leaving. If your dog has lower levels of separation anxiety that may still mean your dog's unhappy even if there's no damage to the house.

Separation anxiety can sometimes start in a dog who didn't used to suffer from it, in response to a change in the home such as the arrival of a new pet or baby, or a change in your patterns of absence. Some dogs become prone to separation anxiety as they get older.

Separation anxiety generally does not get better by itself, more often it gets worse - you have to fix it for them!

In order to stop the fear your dog needs to become more confident and secure in himself, and less dependent on you. You need to teach him this by changing the way you behave.

The Fix

Step One
He must have a bed or den of his own, somewhere warm and secure where there's no risk of being trodden on. The end of a room is best, away from doors and corridors, and if you let him sleep upstairs that's where he'll feel safest.

You want him to learn to stay in his bed when you leave the room and not follow you round the house all the time. Some following is OK, but it mustn't be compulsive. You need him to have confidence as an independent being. Train it like this:

• Start in his "bed" room, and wait till he lies down, then ignore him, walk past him without looking at him or saying anything, busy yourself with something and then after a bit casually leave the room.
• If he follows you, keep ignoring him, keep moving round the house and end up back in his bed room.
• Stop there until he lies down again, briefly fuss him while he's lying down, and then repeat the ignoring and moving around, tour of the house and back to his bed room. Since he's a Greyhound you won't have to do many cycles of this before he can't be bothered to follow you and stays in his bed.
• As soon as he does this, shorten the tour of the house to get back to him before he gets up, and praise and fuss him while he's still in his bed. If he gets up too soon, do another cycle of the ignoring and tour of the house.
• Make sure you ignore him when he's up and praise him when he's stayed on his own. Resist the temptation to fuss him if he gets up as you come back into the room - the training is that he only gets praise if he's stayed in bed.
• Increase the length of time you're away from him until it ceases to be an issue, so that if he's tired he'll have a long sleep on his own.

Obviously he is still supposed to want your company, so don't go mad, you just want him not to absolutely need your company every minute - to be a bit self-sufficient. As with everything, Greyhounds are all different and yours may already be self-sufficient and not need any training, or he might be at the other extreme and be unable to cope with being left on his own whatever you do (if that's the case you'll either have to add a confident Greyhound to the family to look after him, or take him back to your rehoming organisation and explain that you need a more suitable dog).

Step Two is to desensitise him to your departure "cues" - if your dog already has a separation problem he'll associate all your usual going out procedures, like putting on your coat and picking up your keys, as the start of his period alone. You need to desensitise him to these stimuli, so at various times go repeatedly through these actions quietly and without fuss, and then sit back down. Repeat these actions until your dog stops taking any interest. Also try to change your pre-departure routines to make them less familiar.

Step Three
Tell your dog when you're going out, so he isn't constantly worrying about it when you're not going out, but tell him in a casual tone of voice that has no hint that it might be a problem for him. Greyhounds are extremely sensitive to tones of voice, and if your voice conveys a total lack of being sorry for him he'll be a lot less likely to feel sorry for himself. Pick a phrase to teach him, like "see you in a bit", and just say it once as you go. Don't go over to him to make a fuss, just put your head round the door and say it, so he knows. He will tend to take his cue from you so play it cool.

Finally, train the going out. If he's anxious, just go for a few seconds then come back still acting cool and not paying any attention to him. Repeat until he's not anxious any more, and extend the period you're away only when he's no longer anxious as you leave. Don't forget most doggy anxieties don't get unlearned in a rational way, based on what actually happens while you're out, dogs tend to learn to be anxious when the situation that initially created the fear recurs. So make sure you don't increase the period you're out until he's not at all anxious about the previous length of absence.

More Tips

Training for general obedience is very important so that your dog will know that you are in control of everything and he's not being left "in charge" of the house. The anxiety this creates is a very common source of the problem. If you're a couple, make sure both of you are completely in charge of him, not just one of you.

Walk him first and if possible feed him so that he's ready for a nice lie down! Make sure he's getting enough exercise, especially if he's young.

It's a habit: occasionally the problem has become so ingrained that even when his confidence does improve he still chews or even excretes out of habit. For these dogs an indoor kennel may be required. These have proved to be very successful, but be aware that generally they should be left open as some dogs seem prone to claustrophobia. If it represents a secure personal space he will still go in there to sleep.

A Greyhound's instinctive response to fear is to move, so locking him in one room can be counter-productive.

Two dogs together are generally more secure, especially if your nervous dog is joined by a confident one. Most racing Greyhounds live in pairs so it's especailly reassuring for them. It does depend on the personalities of the dogs though - if you add a second nervous dog they can just set each other off! If you have a fundamentally very dependent dog a supportive companion may be the only alternative to taking him back, though fortunately if you have the space two Greyhounds are generally better than one in any case - no-one who's had two ever goes back to having just one! It's a lot less extra work than you'd think, they give each other a kind of company we can't, and the differences in their personalities are a special joy.

Paradoxically, it can help to ignore your dog when you get back home. Some experts have found that waiting until your dog calms down before your greet him increases his confidence, by enhancing his perception that you have everything under control and that you're not expecting him to be especially needing you. However, if you try this don't make him wait too long, and make sure he still feels loved.

Obviously, don't leave your dog any longer than you have to, and try to avoid very long absences that your dog will very quickly learn to fear - when you go out he can only guess when you'll be back. One unusually long absence can set the problem off.

If your dog is still unable to be left, you might be able to find a local dog walker or dog sitter, though you'll still need your dog to be able to cope with short separations.

Whatever you do, if you're not making progress don't struggle on alone with your dog unhappy, call someone, such as the organisation you adopted from or a qualified behaviourist, or ask for help in an online forum such as www.dogpages.org.uk.