Is there a medication to help dogs with separation anxiety?

Our 8 month old Lab has terrible separation anxiety, he chews anything he can, even started ripping the skirting from a couch. he has another dog for company, plenty of chew toys etc.. We adopted him from the pound when he was 3 months old.I do leave the tv on and he has food cubes, he gets plenty of play time and excercise. I think he gets mad because I leave. I do not want to crate him, but it might come to that. Thanks for the advice.I know that considering medication is extreme, but I feel we are at that point with him, unless we can try something else. Thanks for your info.

I have heard of a homeopathic medicine called "Rescue remedy" that is supposed to help calm pets and people.If he is just bored, try getting one or two of those "food cubes" that you put dry food in and the dog has to work to get it out. That should keep him busy for a while.Also try leaving a radio or TV on while you are gone --it may make him think someone is home.

I am not sure what behavioral advice to give you for fear of flying objects, though.... using fluoxetine (Prozac Rx), paroxetine (Paxil Rx) and sertraline (Zoloft Rx) in dogs, usually for aggressive behavior but these medications may also help for anxiety. Other choices for anxiety are amitriptyline (Elavil Rx) and clomipramine (Clomicalm Rx). A medication is often (usually) not sufficient to control behavioral problems in pets, although they are often very helpful in controlling them.Recommended doses for dogs, advice my vets are: fluoxetine (Prozac Rx): 1mg/kg of body weight, once a day ( 0.5 to 2 mg/kg range of recommendations) paroxetine (Paxil Rx): 0.5 to 1mg/kg body weight, once a day sertraline (Zoloft Rx): 1 to 2 mg/kg of body weight, once a day The dosage for clomipramine is 1 to 3mg/kg every 12 hours.Visit your vet, at least once after starting the medications. This is a precaution but it might make your vet feel better about using these medications.Jason Homan

Hi, have a bichon who has the same problem. But she tends to be self mutilating instead of chewing on the sofa to rid herself of tension. we had to put a victorian collar on her just to leave the house, and crate her... and when we came home, we had to bathe her becuase she was lying in a pool of drool. your pup isn't mad at you, just anxious because you have left and he is basically flipping out.OK, so here is what we did to work through it. First, we saw an animal behaviorist/ vet. that gave us clomicalm. We eventually weaned her off of this, but it calmed her down so we could start a behavior modification plan. The plan went as this: give drugs and then out for a good walk before we leave... a tired dog is more likely to sleep. Crate her so she can feel secure and not get into anything that could harm her. We then took a three day weekend to do the "away for 1 min, then 5 min. etc." We had a trainer come over and help us with that bit. to make sure our timing for praising her was just right. (This was expensive, but not nearly as expensive as replacing drywall and the vet bills for granuloma treatment from her licking herself to death! lol!)It took a few months to work it out totally until she was able to maintain when we are gone, but it has been 4 years and now she is baby-gated in the kitchen when we are gone and she is fine! Not even on meds anymore!So you can get through this, it just takes some time. Good luck!- ddp.s. here is the link that helped us get started on the right path!http://www.cpvh.com/Articles/47.htmlhttp://canines.com/library/sepanxiety.shtml