Snarling when we leave the house

Hey Robin,

In my opinion, your dogs sound like they have a bit of seperation anxiety. They see you leaving, and become agitated. They remain agitated the entire time you're gone. If theyre relatively recently rescued dogs, it makes sense, especially with your somewhat irregular schedule, as you said.

Situations like these can be hard. My first recommendation would have been to desensitize them to your leaving (by going for the door often, even if youre not actually leaving) - but as you said, that doesn't seem to be working. I will still advise to keep that up, the more you do it the better they should get with it, even if it takes a long time! Try a gradual approach - start with just walking to the room where the front door is, and praise them for being quiet about it. Repeat that for a while, then move on to taking a few steps toward the front door, again praising if they respond well. Move closer and closer until its reaching for the knob, turning the knob, opening the door, and walking out. Keep a steady rate of praises up for when they behave themselves.

You can even extend that training out to involve being outside and working to get them to stop barking. It might work to stand in front of the door until they quiet down, then go back inside. Move to windows and do the same. Again, gradually work until you can leave the yard with them hopefully quietening down.

What happens when you reprimand them for snarling as you go to a door? Try training them to "be quiet". Similarly, crate training dogs can work wonders for these kinds of behaviour problems. When they start snarling, ask them to go to their crates and see if they settle.

What do you normally do with them when you leave? Do they get free reign of the house, or are they put in the backyard? Crate training could help to decrease their barking while home alone too. The idea behind crate training is to provide a safe place for the dog that they consider "their spot", so that they are comfortable there. Its not used as a punishment, but it is useful to tell them to go there when they get worked up. If you dont like crates you can use the same theory, just with a doggie bed. Try putting your clothes or a blanket you use in their spots so they smell like you. Scent is a real help to anxious dogs. If you do use crates, try putting toys in them too for entertainment (and since theyll be seperated, they wont fight over them!)

I hope this makes sense and is helpful. I think youre doing a wonderful job so far of trying to make them calm down. You might look into DAP (dog appeasing pheromone) plug ins for your home, or the spray bottles, to help calm them down in a natural, safe way. Your vet should have advice on DAP and potential anti-anxiety meds if youre at all interested in looking into that.

It might just take time for them to settle into the new house and routine of being in your lives (and not going back to the shelter!) I do hope you see progress soon, please keep us updated!!