Water fun with the girls

 SO hot after a groom we went to the pond for a swim!Grace and Chapel are full sisters born 18 months apart.  A lot alike, I love this AUX LAKE X CHapel Hills Breeding

Outback's Amazing Grace

Outback's Goin to the Chapel

Separation Anxiety

 Separation Anxiety

This is a relatively common nowadays behavior that was a rarity in an older day.  We have become a society that has made our pets somehow small people.  Family members they are, humans, they are not.  Dogs have been given status that has made them feel sometimes entitled, sometimes just unruly.  Not unlike ill-mannered children, they are an unpleasant lot to be around, unhappy both in their own contentment and in their interactions with others.  

Griffons have a muppet like charisma.  And a sidewise glance, that makes it seem ok to indulge your little shark.  But soothing every whim is a recipe for disaster.  I cringe a little when I hear the term "velcro dog"  Implying that is ok.  This is a quality we would want in a pet.  I want a connected dog.  I want an interactive and independent dog.  I want a dog that is happy when I am around and when I at the grocery store.  So... I know you all want that dog too.  So let's revisit this concept of producing a good pack member.  It starts with the Pack Leader, which is you.  If your Griffon wants to be in every room with you.  Following you around is totally normal, but whining or scratching at the door, carrying on when restricted should be curtailed immediately.  Redirect.  Send the dog to her bed, kennel, yard, or chill place.  Dogs, like children should be able to entertain themselves without you when they are healthy.  

If you are already having separation anxiety in a classic sense where the dog carries on when it is separated from you or crated.  It is very hard to stem.  I suggest getting a trainer, and potentially sending her away for some time to be reprogrammed if possible.  The soft nature of this breed sometimes makes owners try to solve every issue, correct every whine, never ask the puppy to be a big dog and lay down and behave. 

For example, if said puppy, were mine I would put her in a crate, where I can hear her, but for all intensive purposes she thinks I am gone.  The moment she whines.... I would shush her.... hard.  She would shush.  No words of encouragement, she has done nothing to deserve any of it.  And I would continue on like that.... even rattling her crate. or banging the top... hard if needed.  I would start crate training all over again, as if she were a brand new puppy.  I would ask her to go in and give her a treat.  ask her to come out.  Ask her to go in again... and so on, lots of praise when she happily enters or sits there waiting for a treat. .  Then I would feed her there and only there for the time being..  I would give her a toy she loves maybe a kong I fill with peanut butter, when she goes in, and it disappears when she goes out.  The kennel must become sanctuary not prison.  I would turn off love on this dog hard.she will need to earn it by being a quiet citizen that sits in her crate or nicely on her bed.  There I will give her some love.  She will come to realize the comfort she seeks is that crazy kennel.  This is tough love... this is where you are at. Put her in and out of that thing all the day long.  Without saying a word and never leave or do leave mix it up, pick up your keys open the door come and go, give her a delicious tiny treat every time she goes in .  The moment she puts up a commotion she gets the alarming shushing sound that sounds something like a hiss of an angry cat.  It needs to be with gusto.   Like you actually mean it.  YouTube is an excellent resource.  If you do not take this seriously and involve the entire family she will one day eat your door, which would be a shame.  I would like to try to have her managed for a while because the consistent correction when she carries on in the crate is key not just sometimes or by some people.  Better to have her in the yard or somewhere until you get the crate thing worked out.  She also needs to be asked to lay by herself, if she is on your couch off if she is on your bed no more.  Christy