Hi everyone!

I know we have a lot of vet techs, former foster families, and dog savvy people, so I thought I would ask my questions here first.

We are currently fostering a Treeing Walker Coonhound named Hank. He is three years old and was found as a stray in Kentucky. We've had him for 2.5 months now, and I'm thinking he is close to ready for adoption. He continues to make great progress with training, learning house manners (we assume he's never lived in a house before), house training, etc., however, he has the WORST separation anxiety. 

We crate him when we leave because he has proven to be destructive in the past (peeing on things, chewing the rug, clawing at the door). He is an absolute SAINT in the crate when we're home. He doesn't have to see us, but as long as we're home he is fine. However, when we leave he begins bark nonstop. We've tried playing him music, playing the TV for him, leaving our dog in his line of vision, playing recordings of myself speaking, covering his crate to make it cavelike, leaving our clothes in his crate, leaving kongs to keep him busy, using the ecollar to 'correct' the barking, used one of those high-pitched sound boxes, CBD treats, talking him down through the camera, Adaptil spray, and a thundershirt, and nothing works. 

I approached my dog trainer about this and he said it may be time to consider Trazadone for Hank when we leave. However, I'm super nervous to approach the foster people about this because they told me previously that he just isn't meant to be in a crate. I might accept that, but as I said he is fine in the crate when we're home, and he is destructive when left home alone outside of the crate. Personally, I'd much rather have him anxious and in the crate that out and about, eating things he shouldn't be that may result in surgery. 

So, how would you approach this subject to the foster group? Do you have any other tips for building up his comfortability in the crate? We have tried slowly building up the time he is left in the crate, but even if we run to the end of the driveway to grab the mail he will bark nonstop. 

Bumping because help me lol

I'm no help, but poor puppy. :(

I had a dog with really bad separation anxiety before. I couldn't even crate her when I left. She'd chew right through it and destroy the house anyway. She lives my my second cousin and his family. His wife doesn't work so she's with her all the time. So now she does great!

But the person that had her before me was an older gentleman. So you know he didn't work and she was with him 24/7. But then he passed away, and she was left in the house for who knows how long until I got her. That's probably what messed her up.

I adopted Molly (hound mix) as a stray from a different state.  They told me I should crate train her, and I couldn't.  She just couldn't handle it.  So I desginated a room for her and used a baby gate (I had to Molly proof the gate)  I found that it helped her alot better than a crate.  She was pretty bad with being seperated but that room allowed her to have a lot more space.  Once she was comfortable with that, I designated the kitchen as her new safe space.  Kitchen is right next to the driveway so she was able to sit and wait for me to come home.  I think after a year, I took the gate down and gave her the rest of the house while I wasn't home.  

Not sure if I helped at all, but it was defientely a learning experience adopting a stray that had never been in a home!

Jaya - It's such a bummer, but he's doing really well otherwise!

Nadhima - I'm thinking Hank's anxiety stems from the fact that we are his first ever 'solid' people, so I understand why he gets worked up. I wouldn't be opposed to him getting adopted by someone that is home all the time, I'm just worried that people won't understand that that really means they have to be home ALL the time lol. 

Amberellie - How tall was your baby gate? I think ours if 3.5 feet tall and he jumped it, but he does worse with a closed door. I need a babygate but door length lol. I would like to be able to trust him out of the crate, but he can be destructive. We had him in our basement which just has a rug and a boxing bag, and he chewed the carpet and peed on the bag stand. 

Separation anxiety is very difficult to "train" out of a dog, because in the end its a version of stress (often caused by past trauma)

With my first dog, Tazz, she peed on my life because of her anxiety.  Couches, pillows, everything.  The solution, unfortunately, was to close doors to all bedrooms and cover couches in protection so she wouldnt pee all over them.  

I used this gate:  https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/you-and-me-extra-tall-walk-thru-pet-gate-29-50-w-x-41-h-2859492?cm_mmc=PSH-_-GGL-_-SPP-_-PME-_-PET-_-AQU-_-0-_-PM_GGL_FY21_SBU04_PrivateLabel-You&Me_LIA-SMRT-_-0-_-0&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9YWDBhDyARIsADt6sGb8aEG1dEn5w88A5PvMXQsnxFRlQUihl7Ugon4xs7IZQqJirmSlU8waAh7NEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Molly still would get out with that gate, so I lifted it up a bit higher and put a board underneath it so she couldn't crawl under it.    

Cool, thank you! We have this gate but a little shorter. Maybe I'll stack my gates lol

not sure if you are still looking for answer but i may be able to offer some help.

have you tried setting up a camera, leaving for a few minutes at a time and then comeing back? ive done it with some of my dogs before and it has completely fixed the problem, every time. some dogs take longer, some dogs need some help getting the jist of it, but its doable. you leave for a few minutes as if you were going to work or something, etc. and watch on that camera until a moment he calms down, then go back in and reward. usually 3-5 seconds of silence is enough. do it a few times, and each time wait a little bit longer. with consistancy and positive reinfocement, most dogs ive worked with have caught on pretty quickly. one of our dogs, a lab x hound mix we got as a stray around 6 months old would bite at her kennel until her gums were bleeding. i didnt have a camera at the time so i left the living room blinds open a smidge, since her kennel was facing away from it. would stand there and wait watching her till she stopped, then go back inside and give her a soild "good girl" and let her out, or a small training treat and let her out. i didnt do it more than 3 times a day, didnt wanna stress her out too much. she had it down packed after about 2 months, only cuz my parents werent really helping. if its something you can get everyone in your household to work on, the dog will likely pick it up much quicker because its consistent. hope this helps, even for future reference :)