Thanks for your detailed, thoughtful post. Allow me to respond to your suggestions one-by-one:
Wow, I never thought of this. She was malnourished when we adopted her. We feed her once in the morning and once at suppertime, and she snarfs it down like she’ll never see food again. She’s put on weight and is no longer stick-thin. so I think she’s getting enough food, but do you think going to 3-4 feedings a day would help with the separation anxiety?
Nope. She’s a “hound mix,” but we have no idea what she really is (and don’t especially care). FWIW, she seems perfectly comfortable with our lifestyle and doesn’t chew anything she’s not supposed to when we’re around. After her 4th walk of the day (around 8 p.m.), she’s zonked for the night.
She does have plush toys but she tends to play with and disembowel them. Getting her a big one as a companion sounds like a great idea, since she’s very loving and cuddly.
Yeah–2 dogs is a good situation, although now they both go nuts when we get home. But they chill when we’re gone, and they love doggy daycare. We’ve never had 2 dogs before–it’s pretty awesome.
My daughter did this too, with one added feature: before she went out the door, she had the dog shake paws with her, first the left, then the right, then the left again, then the right. It helped cement the procedure of leaving and returning, somehow. She still uses it to this day.