The Gift Exchange

With my recent move there have been a couple of things about my dog that are very disconcerting, and annoying.

The first, and potentially most serious development, is that my dog is experiencing intense separation anxiety when we leave the apartment for any period of time. He has always whined when we left, and scratched at the door a little, but it wasn’t a big deal. It never really mattered because, since we were out in the country, no one could hear him. I’m not sure if it is more intense now because there are more noises coming from the city, if it’s just from being in the new surroundings, or if it because we are now in a small apartment, and he is experiencing some sort of claustrophobia .

Since we are in an apartment complex it is not okay for our dog to perpetually whine, cry, and bark, unless I want our neighbors to hate us. So, I started researching this issue and it can actually be a very serious thing for the mental health of the dog to be so distressed. This scares me. I don’t want to be damaging my dog every time I go to work! Poor guy…

The other thing, which is equally frustrating, is that my dog ferociously barks and tries to attack at the other dogs that belong to our neighbors. There is no apparent reason for the outbursts, as the other dogs are not presenting any potential threat or offense. This has happened a few times in the past, but has never been quite so intense. My dog is a Cockapoo; a lover by nature, and to my knowledge has never wanted to hurt anyone.

We are so confused with these recent developments, and at this point, we are not sure what to do. To all the pet owners with well socialized, well behaved dogs PLEASE HELP! Does my dog just have a case of “Alpha Dog Syndrome”? Is it just severe separation anxiety?

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