The good news is Sarah was able to work with Yuma and get him to a healthy place during her absence. The bad news is that since we recently relocated back to Chapel Hill, Ace has developed separation anxiety from the change and the cross-country trip where he had access to us all day and night.

It is much easier to give tips on how to deal with separation anxiety than to live with it. We are living in an apartment for a few months while we finalize our home purchase and can’t allow Ace to disturb our neighbors. He was never a destructive dog, but I recently came home to discover him in his crate and his bed in pieces. If I leave him for a few moments in the crate he howls as soon as he hears me go down the stairs. I’ve discovered that he is quiet and non-destructive when left out of the crate. When I return, however, he looks at me with an anxious look, which makes me think that he had reached his “good boy” alone threshold.

I discussed this with our new vet. We are trying to keep Ace on a schedule, which includes a 4-6 mile run every day at least a half hour before breakfast. In addition, we interchange the things we typically do before leaving so that Ace doesn’t get anxious seeing us put on shoes, coats, or grabbing a purse or keys. Only time can tell whether any of these techniques will work. The vet prescribed medication for Ace, which failed to help the first time I tried it (I used a very low dose). I’d rather use the behavior techniques above and will hopefully soon get our Ace back to his happy easy, going self.