Separation Anxiety when I leave the house. help!

[reneekathryn]

will she start to chew?

ok we've been trying to contain gracie in a laundry room when we need to go out for periods of time longer than an hour or so. 4 times so far, two doorways, no doors. Blocking doors with tall pieces of dry wall, baby gates, her crate ect. ect. So far she has managed to get out EVERY time. Now, she is not totally house broken. I put paper down in the laundry room but once she gets out she can't get back in sooo...To my amazement though, she has not destroyed one thing, not even a nibble. She's been great! Your opinions please---she is 13 weeks old, will this good behavior probably change I've been reading a lot about adolesents). I have leather furniture in the living room so the financial risks are great...Do you also think that her lack of interest in eating furniture and pillows might have any thing to do with the fact that she she shares her home with 4 kids that keep her pretty entertained (not to mention a mom that will drop laundry anytime to play fetch)? Looking forward to some insight and personal experiences Renee and Gracie

 

[Carolyn]

Renee&Gracie

I think that you should start trying to leave Gracie out for short periods of time (Like 15 minutes to start) and slowly work your way up to a couple of hours. I know that with Max his energy level has dramatically increased this month and he is 9 months old. We are now also need to start leaving him out side of a crate because he has escaped the new crate I got to replace the foldable one that he escaped from 2x. I have video of him in his crate that I decided to take because I wanted to see what he was doing while I was gone. Well, it wasn't a pretty sight.:eek:
He was so distressed in his crate he worked for about 40 mintes on the corners until it gave in and bent. Then he got his jaw caught in the wire corner (His gum above his canine is all raw :(
Poor Baby! Then when he got his jaw out he continued to push through the opening in the corner till he finally squeezed out. These companies that state their cam lock doors are escape proof are really putting some dogs at risk of injuring themselves or even getting caught in between and..I don't even want to go there.

Anyway what we are going to do is give him a yummy doggy bone that is a smoked cow knuckle and when I go out the first time which will be no longer than 15 minutes he will have the bone (Which he loves)
Then when I return I will take it away and he dosen't get it again until I leave again. I am hoping that he will associate me leaving with godd feelings after a while (Yippee I get to have my delicious bone!).

A few days ago when I left him for about an hour he managed to get into the garbage cabinet and pulled out the trash bag. He also knocked my newly washed cofee carafe down from the dishrack and it broke into a million pieces of glass on my tile floor. I was sooo happy to see he was not hurt but it really scared me of what could have happenned. Because of that incident we decided to put him in his new crate but thus that is when he escaped.

I know that I am going to have to be inconvenienced for a while in order to improve his behavior while we are gone and I have been trying to find an easier way, but I don't think there is an easier way for Me and Max.

Everybody cross your fingers and pray that we get some results.

Carolyn and Maximus

 

[reneekathryn]

Yeah, the trying to escape and NOT succeeding is what scares me most. I can just see her getting something gapped, trying to sqeeze through then back--strangulation...I was almost relieved to find her on the living room chair today (even though there was a BIG wet spot on the floor). Did Max chew and get into stuff when he was just a "child" like Gracie or. did that come as he got older? Some friends gave us the crate we are using. They had gotten it for their lab mix pup and gave up on it after she had escaped more than once with injury to herself. Gracie hasn't escaped from the crate yet but, she is sooo distressed in there when we are gone...I just can't stand the thought of her flipping out for ANY amount of time--I love my babies, even the furry ones! :p Renee and Gracie

 

[Carolyn]

Renee and Gracie

I can't believe I am still up and on this computer!?:D Max was not destructive back when we got him (He was 5 months old when we got him from Rescue.) Although we didn't give him the chance because we crated him regardless. He didn't try to get out in the beginning. He would however excessively salivate which led to tearing up anything and everything in his crate which has lead to escape. I don't know if we had done something wrong but there is no going back now. Ultimately I want to have a dog that is not crated so we have to start a little sooner than I hoped.

I am going to consider putting a doggy door on my back door which leads out into my fenced in back yard. The last time I left him in the yard he dug under the fence and ended up in the fron yard. (he is electric fence trained and is great with it, but I never felt comfortable leaving him totally outside alone. Maybe giving him the option of total freedom to come in and out as he wants will be a good thing. We will see.

your little one is obviously still a little to young for our plan but I am sure you will suceed in making her feel comfortable being left alone in the house. Take baby steps and it will all work out. (that's what I keep telling myself :D

Carolyn & Max

 

[reneekathryn]

caroline & max, the slobbering we definitely have. She used to pull the foam padding out of the mat that came with the crate but I eliminated that, I could just see her choking on a hunk of foam while I was out. She has her "super hero" blanket in there and pulls a bit on the trim but thats all, I try to keep a bone in there. Maybe if we can move away from the crate while we're not home for more than an hour or so it'll prevent boredom resulting in a nasty habit forming (just maybe...). I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Renee & Gracie

 

[reneekathryn]

wonderful doggie!!

Well so much for "baby steps". I had to go grocery shopping today and knew it would be a long one. Since Gracie has proven herself to be a bit of an escape artist, I put her crate in the laundry room along with some newspapers on the floor. She peed in the yard before I put her in and I blotted some of it onto the paper to give her a place other than the living room rug with "scent" on it. I shut all bedroom doors but let her have access in and out of "her" room. I got home 3 hours later, the entire house was still intact and she hadn't had any house accidents (not even on the paper!). Also, we had put up a bell near the back door a few days ago and every time we would go out we would swat it with her paw. Often we are not aware of the fact that she needs to go out as she will just look at the door. Well, this afternoon she started using the bell! I'm sure she won't do it everytime yet but---dog genius, I'm sooo proud! Rene&Gracie

 

[Carolyn]

Gracie

That is soooo great!fiesta1ico She is a smart pup! I am happy to hear that she was a good girl in the house. I bought my bones today and want to take Max to the dog park tomorrow morning. (I hear there are a bunch of Boxers there.) I am hoping to tire him out so I can go for a walk for 30 minutes and test him alone with his bone. I'll keep you posted.

Carolyn

 

[PGIBSON]

hello . We have a 5 year old rescue who has been with us for 2 months. HUGE sep anx. and we have just accepted she is safer in the kennel than on her own to destroy the house and risk hurting herself. The airline kennel, plastic with metal door is what we have and believe me, she has done her part to escape to no avail. If the metal ones keep giving in, we suggest this type. She chews on the vents and pushes the door. Have been putting bitter herb creme on chew areas and seen to have a decrease in chewing(her gums are no longer raw when I return). This dog is so sweet but has a record of Houdini type escapes... Treats are ignored until kennel is opened so we have just accepted our arrangement. Good luck to all!

 

[Carolyn]

Beth

Thanks for your reply! I came home last week after being away for 1hr and found Max out of his crate again (This time the new one). I did however video tape his escape (Which he ended up knocking the recorder down shortly after his escape). The tape footage was too scary for me to ever attempt to put him in a kennel again. We were really lucky that he didn't get caught between the seams and perish.


I don't think putting him in a plastic kennel is a measure I want to attempt. I would probably find it upside down because he throws himself around when inside.

We in the process of ordering a doogy door which we are going to put on the back door leading to the back yard. We will be giving him freedom to go outside and come in as he wishes. Which is what I do while I am home anyway (The front door is always open a smidge so he can come and go as he pleases.)When he has gotten out the kind of mischif he has gotten into involved tearing up a roll of paper towels, opening the cabinet door which contains the garbage door(We have since child locked the door),
and he has a fetish for eating used Pull-Ups that my twin girls throw in the trash (I do a diaper search now before leaving him-I have only left him for 15 min. by himself without a crate, plan to stretch it out slowly once we get the doggy door).

Compared to what he goes through emotionally when he is in the crate verses the minor destruction while alone free, I am opting for the latter. I am hoping the doggy door helps out tremendously because when I am home he is constantly scratching to be let out and he is electric fence trained and has always obeyed the barriers. Yes, on occasion I did leave him alone outdoors without access to the house when the weather was warmer here and he did get into stuff outside (like digging) but always scratched at the doors so we knew he felt the need to be let in or out when we are gone. Max only scratches at doors, he has never barked to be let out or in. I know he has a barrier frustration issue. Because he did dig under our fence in the back yard 2x, so when we do leave him outside we make sure the gate to the backyard is open so he dosen't feel the need to dig under it.

Well, for anyone other than Beth reading this column, who has tried and true experience using a doggy door successfully I would love to chat with you.

Carolyn :0)