Makena'sMom
Boxer Buddy
I've read through some posts on separation anxiety but I haven't really seen anything that addresses my situation.
A bit of history, I work at home and Makena usually has someone at home with her. She's never really been left for long periods of time. My husband and I lived in San Diego up until a year ago. At that time we moved to IL and adopted two young boys aged 7 and 8. Before moving, Makena had no issues when we'd leave.
Since moving, when we'd leave she's started to chew things up but it would only happen sporadically. At first it was just things that belonged to the boys. Then it moved to things that were household items - like the remote control. In the past couple of weeks, it's gotten a lot worse. She's now chewing or stealing something each time we leave. If the boys leave a shoe or hat lying around, she'll take it while we're away and lick it incessantly. (but she doesn't chew it - she only really chews hard things - toys mostly).
She doesn't chew up furniture or doors or anything like that. And she doesn't disturb pillows on the couches or anything.
Can anyone give me advice on how to handle her anxiety when we leave? We all say to her "Bye Makena, we'll be back soon." when we leave as I heard that it helps if we say the same thing to her like that - sort of a code word so she knows that we'll always be back.
Please don't suggest that we crate her as it's just not an option. When she was little, we tried to crate train her but it's really a horrible experience for her. Being in her crate causes more anxiety than if we leave for an hour or so.
Also, she has PLENTY of her own toys to chew on and chew sticks. She also gets lots of attention from everyone in the family and gets plenty of exercise. She's wonderful otherwise and she's incorporated fully as the third child in our family (but please don't tell her as she considers herself the first child ;-)). We're just not sure what to do when we leave and she's missing us. We want to make sure that she's at ease - the things she chews are incidental.
Thank you!
A bit of history, I work at home and Makena usually has someone at home with her. She's never really been left for long periods of time. My husband and I lived in San Diego up until a year ago. At that time we moved to IL and adopted two young boys aged 7 and 8. Before moving, Makena had no issues when we'd leave.
Since moving, when we'd leave she's started to chew things up but it would only happen sporadically. At first it was just things that belonged to the boys. Then it moved to things that were household items - like the remote control. In the past couple of weeks, it's gotten a lot worse. She's now chewing or stealing something each time we leave. If the boys leave a shoe or hat lying around, she'll take it while we're away and lick it incessantly. (but she doesn't chew it - she only really chews hard things - toys mostly).
She doesn't chew up furniture or doors or anything like that. And she doesn't disturb pillows on the couches or anything.
Can anyone give me advice on how to handle her anxiety when we leave? We all say to her "Bye Makena, we'll be back soon." when we leave as I heard that it helps if we say the same thing to her like that - sort of a code word so she knows that we'll always be back.
Please don't suggest that we crate her as it's just not an option. When she was little, we tried to crate train her but it's really a horrible experience for her. Being in her crate causes more anxiety than if we leave for an hour or so.
Also, she has PLENTY of her own toys to chew on and chew sticks. She also gets lots of attention from everyone in the family and gets plenty of exercise. She's wonderful otherwise and she's incorporated fully as the third child in our family (but please don't tell her as she considers herself the first child ;-)). We're just not sure what to do when we leave and she's missing us. We want to make sure that she's at ease - the things she chews are incidental.
Thank you!
