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Frustrated. SA issues (long)
Hi ladies. I'm a former lurker/poster, but am now mostly a bumpie. I am so frustrated with our dog right now. I got home today and just cried at the mess. Being a huge and emotional prego doesn't help...
I am 35w, and as if I wasn't anxious enough about incorporating a baby into her life, we are now having recurrent issues with her SA.
Backstory, she had horrible SA when we adopted her 4 years ago. We have never successfully been able to crate her without her doing significant damage to the crate or herself. For the past 2 years, she has been pretty happily adjusted by having free roam of our house. We practice NILIF and she always receives a PB kong upon our departure and had been doing well for quite awhile.
In preparation for our baby, we got new carpet throughout our house. We purchased a (very tall) baby gate and she is now confined to our kitchen. She did have the occasional accident on our old carpet, so the new carpet plus all of our baby things means we are no longer willing to risk leaving her out all day. It has been two weeks and every day I come home to something new destroyed. I know it's SA because she scratches at the baby gate and pulls things out of the cabinets (plastic bags, saran wrap etc) and shreds them mercilessly. She is a dog that does not adjust well to change.
We have upped her exercise dramatically, which does seem to help. I've tried to make it a place she can be comfortable in. Her crate is in there (although she won't stand to be locked in it, she will nap in there). One thing we haven't ever tried with her is a DAP diffuser, but I'm hesitant to try that now because I need something that will work quickly.
I haven't ever gone this route before, but I'm considering asking the vet for anxiety medication for her. :-( I hate that she is so unhappy in the kitchen. She is an anxious dog in general, and I know bringing the baby home will be stressful on her anyways. Can anyone provide any advice about putting your dog or cat on anxiety medication? I don't want her to be in a fog... just wanting something to take the edge off and then hopefully our other tricks (stepping up NILIF, more exercise) can take care of the rest.
Thanks so much for your help.
Re: Frustrated. SA issues (long)
We struggled with SA with our dog, and went the route of medication. She was originally prescribed clomicalm, but it was more than we could afford, and instead put her on prozac (the generic).
In our case, it has been amazing. She is still as happy and excited as ever, but can now be left home alone. Before treating her, she was very destructive (ate through 3 kennels before we figured out what was wrong) but with the prozac she is so much better. I also worried it would put her in a fog and make her act sedated, but it doesn't at all.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Thanks ladies.
Stephparks - do you mind sharing how much it costs to medicate your dog? I will pay whatever it takes, but Gappie is already on Atopica for skin allergies and it's $100/month. Did the Clomicalm work better for your dog than the generic or the same?
And SillyStraw, I have thought about the Thundershirt, but I have read so many mixed reviews on them that I didn't think it would work for our dog (I feel her case is somewhat severe and I'm a bit of a skeptic!). It would be something she would have to wear every time we were away and I think she would just adjust to wearing the shirt and then continue her freak outs...
My Bio
Thanks for all the responses. I hadn't heard of the Reconcile/BOND program. I guess I will see what plan of action the vet recommends.
I didn't realize the Thundershirt had a 45 day return policy. That might be worth a shot if we could get our money back if it didn't work for her.
Right now we pay either $6 or $9, i can't remember, for 60 days from Fred Meyer. We only had her on Clomicalm for 30 days (it was $100) and didn't notice much difference in that time.
That is wonderful, thank you! Vet appointment is on Friday. Hopefully we can find a solution for our little girl
We'd work on obedience training randomly at home or on walks.
Remember to give her no attention before leaving or coming home. NONE. My DH has trouble with this and I have to constantly remind him. It makes a difference. NILIF helped a ton as well.
GL.
We just upped her from one to two 30-minute walks per day. Physically, I don't think I can handle much more right now. Sometimes she gets an extra one if DH gets home early enough. She is a good little running buddy also, but that will have to wait until I can start running again. The backpack is something that I will probably try. She is for sure a dog that needs 'mental exercise' as well.
Daycare is something I have looked into and will probably seriously consider once the baby comes to offer her a break. They offer it at the kennel we board her at and she loves going there. She has aggression towards many other dogs but they handle her pretty well when she boards there so I'd feel comfortable with their daycare.
Completely ignoring her before and after leaving is something we are getting back into the habit of. When she had free roam, she was calm as a cucumber before we would leave and when we would get home. Her reward for being calm was getting attention. Unfortunately, she has regressed back to freaking out before we leave/when we get home, so we are back to ignoring completely.
Thanks for all the help ladies, I really appreciate it.