Tyson is 15 mos. old and we still can not leave him out of his cage when we are gone. We started when he was 7 mos. old. We would leave him out while we went to work. He was an angel for a month. Never chewed anything, occasionally there would be a small puddle. We were fine with this. Then he turned. Everyday there was two or three piles of poop and puddles of pee, he was getting into the garbage, anything that was bad. So we thought he's got to go back in the cage. He was in the cage until 10 mos. and we decided to try again. We started slow. For just a couple of hours. No problem. Then we started all day. He was great for just a week, and then he started all over again. He's on a free eating schedule normally, so I thought, well I'm not going to let him eat after 6 am. That didn't work. We tried putting him on a strict eating schedule, that didn't work. We have tried so many things and we had given up the idea that he would be allowed to be free while we are gone. So back in the cage he went. He's at the point that I left for 10 minutes to go to the store and came back to a pile of poop. He was outside for 45 minutes right before I left.
But this weekend, we went to visit my sister in North Carolina. They have a 4 month old mix and they love to play with each other. They've met several times before. But this weekend was the first time we left them alone together. I warned my sister that if we leave Tyson out his going to mess. She said don't worry about it. She thought the dogs would be better off playing together then seperating them. We were gone 8 hours the first day, not one mess. The second day we were gone 7 hours. No mess again. They both were great.
Now here's the question. Does this mean that Tyson is messing because of social anixety? Does he absolutely hate to be left alone? He has always known that he was doing wrong. When I would come home after work, when he'd mess he would cower from me and want outside immediately.
Hubby and I have been talking now about getting a friend for Tyson. Do you think this will be double trouble? That maybe now we'll have to boxers that make messes of our house while we gone. Or does it seem like the cure all?
Should we get a puppy or a dog that's already trained? Will Tyson hate having another dog in his house all the time? Bailey (my sisters dog) is the only dog that he's ever played with. But I don't want him to feel lonely.
If anyone can help, thanks.
But this weekend, we went to visit my sister in North Carolina. They have a 4 month old mix and they love to play with each other. They've met several times before. But this weekend was the first time we left them alone together. I warned my sister that if we leave Tyson out his going to mess. She said don't worry about it. She thought the dogs would be better off playing together then seperating them. We were gone 8 hours the first day, not one mess. The second day we were gone 7 hours. No mess again. They both were great.
Now here's the question. Does this mean that Tyson is messing because of social anixety? Does he absolutely hate to be left alone? He has always known that he was doing wrong. When I would come home after work, when he'd mess he would cower from me and want outside immediately.
Hubby and I have been talking now about getting a friend for Tyson. Do you think this will be double trouble? That maybe now we'll have to boxers that make messes of our house while we gone. Or does it seem like the cure all?
Should we get a puppy or a dog that's already trained? Will Tyson hate having another dog in his house all the time? Bailey (my sisters dog) is the only dog that he's ever played with. But I don't want him to feel lonely.
If anyone can help, thanks.
