What am I going to do with this dog

mckayleesmom wrote: Gunner is great with the kids and has the temperment to put up with them. He just has one major problem...seperation anxiety. If the kids accidentally shut a door and leave him in a certain part of the house or go outside without him he freaks out...he seriously starts screaming like he is being tortured.

I always make sure he is in the house if we go somewhere and I put him in my room if we are going to be gone more then 30 minutes. I leave the tv on to distract him and nothing helps. When I get home I can seriously hear him screaming all the way outside like he is 10 feet away.

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of those shock collars..Does anybody have any suggestions before I have to go that route?

luvbug00 replied: Rescue remidey

it's an all natural seditive..seditive being a strong word for calmer. It is sold in natural food stores and is used on animals and humans of anxiety. just a few drops in the water or food. I'm sure if you tell your vet they will reccomend as well. Also many animals need the radio or tv on. and for the barking somtimes the shock coller has to be used. it's not as harmful as you think and it does stop the barking.

mckayleesmom replied: Just a little look into his seperation anxiety...We have front room that is empty besides the computer and Ferret cage..It connects to the dining room and has a door to the kitchen...There is also another door at the front room. We usually close those for the Ferret to run around and play. Gunner was on the other side of the doors one day because the kids wanted to show the neighbor kids the ferret and I didn't want Gunner jumping all over them. There window type cutout without the glass where you can see from the kitchen to the dining room. Gunner was freaking out behind it...he finally jumped on one of the kitchen chairs and jumped over that wall...It's like 4ft high...He had never done this before, but he could have really hurt himself....dingdong.

cameragirl21 replied: get another dog, he's just lonely. I'm not an advocate of shock collars but you do have a lonely dog. The upside for you is that all he does is cry, at least he doesn't destroy stuff like many other dogs with separation anxiety do. Another dog will keep him company. Remember, dogs are pack animals and they hate to be separated from the pack. So increase your pack to another pooch and you'll have 2 happy dogs.

mckayleesmom replied:
Leithan is going to petsmart today and I seriously told him to look into one. It's not the barking that is bad...he is actually crying...super super loud and its not like he is being abused or being left out...He is with us 24 hours a day and follows the kids everywhere..so he gets plenty of attention...He just freaks when "HIS KIDS" leave him.

You should see him when Mckaylee leaves for school in the morning...He paces back and forth from my front window to Russell's bedroom window to watch to see if she is ok out there. For the first week he would freak out, but now he realizes that the big yellow bus brings her back eventually, so he is calmer about it.

He just loves his kids....Unfortunantly I'm afraid that people are going to think he is being tortured one day when I'm not home and break down my door to save him....

Calimama replied: I would try anything before a shock collar.

mckayleesmom replied:
I was not an advocate of shock collars either...I have always thought they were mean, but now I can see why some people get them unfortunantly....I have thought about getting another dog...but I'm just not sure I want another one right now...Gunner is still being trained...kwim? He isn't even a year old.

mckayleesmom replied: Leithan said that their old Sgt Major had a dog that had a shock collar and they only used it a week or so and after that they took it off and just used the clicker thing as a training method...the clicking made him react without the shock collar.

A&A'smommy replied: yeah i wouldn't do a shock collar for many reasons but mostly because all its going to do is actually torture him. He is lonely I would just get him another dog or get a stuffed animal

mckayleesmom replied:
All he does is eats the eyeballs of the stuffed animals...

I'm really wishing now that we would have bought his brother too.

cameragirl21 replied: I'm not denying the shock collar will work but you're not solving the separation anxiety problem, just breaking his spirit into submission.
Try this--if you have a neighbor or friend who has a dog, ask to borrow it for a couple days and see if that eases his separation anxiety. If it works, maybe you can make an arrangement with someone that when you're gone, you'll borrow their dog or bring yours over or something like that if you don't want another dog. I know another dog is a huge responsibility that should not be taken lightly but a shock collar is imo a form of abuse and he'll likely express his separation anxiety in other ways that you won't find any more desirable than what you're getting now.

mckayleesmom replied: I do check on craigslist all the time for another animal, but usually it's mostly pitt bulls out here.

I don't wan't another puppy...I would rather take an older dog that is already housetrained...and so far I haven't had any luck.

mckayleesmom replied:
I did do this and it helped...I have never left him home for a long period of time by himself....Since we have had him we have only taken one long day trip and I left him with my neighbor who has dogs....He did well over there. I don't want her dogs over at my house though because they are pitt bulls. I believe that most pitt's get a bad rap because of their breed, but I still don't want to take a chance with them being near my kids...Oh..also, I really don't want to use her again because that is the neighbor that I now know is nuts, plus one of her male dogs doesn't like Gunner. She has 3 dogs....an older pitt male, an older female mixed dog and a young female pitt that Gunner is in love with....The female pitt is why the older pitt doesn't want Gunner around her.

I guess my best bet would be to find him a friend....But first I'm going to try the stuff Nadia reccomended.

cameragirl21 replied: maybe try petfinder? Getting an adult dog shouldn't be hard to come by, there are lots who need homes.

Calimama replied: Have you tried the shelter? They have amazing dogs there!

luvbug00 replied: I am an advocate of the coller because it is not a form of abuse or it wouldn'e be on the market. it is not a perment solution but a training tool like the choke and prong collers, you break the behavor and then continue with a more subtle treatment. clicker being a great one, as are invisable sound manual beepers.

mckayleesmom replied:
From time to time I have looked. The problem with this area is it's military and most of the dogs they get are dogs that aren't allowed overseas. We won't be going overseas, but these same dogs are now now welcome in lots of states as well as by some renters. I also don't want a small puppy either. I would rather find a dog that is a little older and not on the WE DON'T RENT TO PEOPLE WITH THESE BREED'S LIST...kwim?

cameragirl21 replied: but don't you also have a pug called Otis or something?

Calimama replied:
Yep, here on base only mixed breed pitbulls are allowed.. I think.

mckayleesmom replied:
We did have a pug named Otis...I miss Otis, but he is doing well. When we moved to Jackson, Alabama....Origionally we couldn't even find housing for ourselves..let alone Otis. Dh's co-worker had bought a dog for his little girl and it attacked her. Since I was already having to go live with my mom because we couldn't find a house available for rent....We gave Otis to that little girl and he is doing really well and is very loved. Mckaylee still talks about him all the time. When we did finally find houseing we could have had pets, but there was no fenced in yard and it was on a main road, plus I didn't feel it would have been right to take him back since their daughter had fallen in love with him. The town we moved to was super small and our house was like the only available rental and it was a huge dump.

mckayleesmom replied:
There were full bloods on Fort Knox. I see people getting rid of full blooded pits in the paper and on craigslist from Cherry point all the time.

cameragirl21 replied: oh, I see, sorry to hear about Otis but I'm glad to hear he's doing well. The first decision you have to make, I think is whether or not you can handle a second dog. If you think you can, then I'm sure there are dogs at shelters and on petfinder in your area, I can help you look if you want. If you're not sure, then like I said, maybe borrow a dog for a couple days and see how that goes.

mckayleesmom replied:
There is one dog right now on Craigslist that is a black lab mix. His owner is a marine and is being stationed somewhere that doesn't allow dogs. It says he loves kids and other dogs. It says he knows basic commands which would be great too.

I'm going to talk to Leithan tonight....although I'm not sure he would go for it.

I'm sure I could handle another dog....but Gunner is very stubborn in nature and I would rather find one that is somewhat already trained and that Gunner could kind of follow their lead..kwim? One of the reasons I don't want a puppy is because I'm afraid Gunner would revert to doing the things he did as a puppy...does that make sense?

cameragirl21 replied: Brianne, you certainly don't have to apologize or explain yourself for not wanting a puppy...I think rescuing a grown dog is much more honorable because most people want a puppy, myself included. Not that I wouldn't rescue the right adult dog, as long as it got along with my cats.
Maybe contact that Marine and ask him if he'd like to bring his dog over just to see if they'd get along?

A&A'smommy replied:
maybe ask if you can have a trial period

Boo&BugsMom replied:
Lucy came with a 7 day trial period, which was really nice. We got her from a foster home/rescue.

I agree about the shock collar. It's really only going to benefit you, not him. He will still be freaked out, he just wont be able to vocalize it. So, even though you wont have to listen to the whining, he will still have the separation anxiety, which really doesn't solve the issue.

I would look into a second dog. An older dog that wont give you too much trouble. A lot of times they have trouble finding older dogs good homes.

whitting713 replied: What kinds of toys does he have. I understand about the stuffed animals. One of mine does that as well. The other loves to cuddle with them. Our big chewer, Abby, loves her kong. I can fill it with different things (sometimes freeze it) and it can keep her busy for hours. They are supposed to be indestructible.

I know they all start out as puppies, but I prefer the older dogs myself. All of ours came from the shelter/rescues in our area.

DVFlyer replied: Only have a second...

Another dog is not the answer.... Dog's do not need other dog's to be happy. They consider you as members of their pack. i.e. they don't distinguish between you and other dogs when it comes to the "pack".

Go to: www.leerburg.com and search on separation anxiety on their forum or in Ed's articles.

You can work through this..... No electric collars needed.... most likely, it'll be something that you slowly get the dog used to.

moped replied: I am no dog whisperer but I don't think getting another dog is the answer to be honest.........it may add to the problem. The bark collar works well and I doubt you would have to use it for long.........