We just adopted a dog on Wednesday. The first day we left her alone, she ate my new bedspread! We crated her the second day, and I came home on my lunch hour to let her out, then recrated her. I want to crate train her, but cannot come home every day to let her out. Does anyone know of a service I could hire to let her out/walk her once a day? We live in the north OP area. I'm hoping she'll get over her separation anxiety soon!
Have you looked into a doggy daycare type facility? We take our dog to a daycare twice a week and he loves it so much and he gets the exercise he needs and the socialization. That is just a possibility.
Hello, my name is K. and I am a SAHM. I have a 2 and 1/2 year old daughter and we are both dog lovers but we don't have one. My dauther loves to walk my dads dog and one of my good friends dogs. What kind of dog do you have? Maybe my daughter and I could start helping you with your dog. She would love it.. Feel free to email me at ____@____.com
Thanks
I HIGHLY recommend you watching the Dog Whisper Show with Caesar Millan who is very very helpful in teaching dog owners how to take control & resolve all matters. He also has many books & videos out that are very helpful!!! You can find more infomation on him through the internet.
Another recommendation I always have found helpful is to provide your dog w/ several toys when you leave but then put them away when you get home so that the next day they are new again. This gives the teething pup something to chew on plus cures him from wanting to chew up your things due to boredom. As for a great distraction when leaving- I recommend a Kong w/ a bit of Peanut Butter... they get that(like my dog)& they may not even notice you leaving- HA!
And of coarse the best of the best is exercise for them- maybe you can take him on a small morning walk & a longer evening walk.
Good luck- I know these times can be very frustrating.
K.
I feel your pain. We have a Labrador that had severe separation anxiety as a puppy. I agree that getting a pet walker or taking the dog to a daycare center will be great solutions. If those two things don't work you can try the two options our vet recomended for our dog. You can either medicate or get another dog.
At first we tried Clomacalm, a type of anxiety reducer for dogs. At thirty bucks a month it was not exactly cheap and it did not always work. We never knew when we were going to come home to a giant mess. Mellie hated the crate so we used kiddy gates to keep her in the living room and kitchen, which had hardwood floors. After nearly a year of medication, coming home to shredded paper, and damaged books we went with option two, another dog. Les, our male Lab has been a godsend. Mellie instantly bonded with him.
I specifically went looking for an older male lab with a calm almost sedintary personality to balance the franitc behavior of our younger dog. Petfinder.com is a great tool if you decide to go the second dog route. Since Labs are very social animals having two eliminated all the problems with her chewing and becoming destructo-dog. If your dog has a personality the resembles a hyper active Labrador I highly recommend the second dog route. We discovered buying a second bag of dog food and paying for an extra set of shots every year was much cheaper than replacing all the stuff she was destroying each month. Good luck!
