Ok guys I need help with Henna

[TribalRats]

I am really at a loss with her separation anxiety. It is not something I have ever had to deal with to this degree.

When we leave, she poops in the house.....every time. Last night she pooped in the house and ate the blinds. We can not crate her, she has a full on melt down. Tries to chew her way out, dig her way out and has a full blown panic attack. Not to mention I am sure she would reopen her already injured paws.

We make both leaving and coming back a total nonevent. and we do it through out the day....check the mail, out to the car what ever so we can leave and come back to her. However if we are gone longer then about 3 min she poops.

Any help, suggestions anything would be welcome. Thanks guys.

[Rivsky]

The only thing I know about separation anxiety is what you're already doing - which is making coming and going nothing to get excited about.

What about taking her out for a run or walk about 30 minutes before you leave - hopefully by then she's ready for a nap???

Have you tried leaving her with a bone or biscuit so then when you're actually going she's occupied doing something else (I know with a lab it's probably going to be hard finding something that she's not going to devour in 5 seconds flat but it's the only thing I can think of.

Sorry these aren't very good but they're the only things I can remember being suggested for use on separation anxiety. I've heard that some dogs do get it so bad that they actually require sedation - maybe rescue remedy could help as well?

[fancychicken]

Oh my Trin! I didn't realize she had such bad issues. Poor baby! Sounds to me like so far your doing everything right. Can you keep her confined to one room with out total panic? Are your other dogs out or are they crated? Maybe if she had a friend out as well to keep her company? Or at least leave them out for shorter training sessions, like 1/2 hour or so, that way she can realize they aren't panicking, so everything MUST be alright.

[britishbandit]

This is a sticky situation. And because of Henna's injured paws, it really minimizes the things you can try here. I'm not a fan of suggesting medications, but maybe she needs some sort of anti-anxiety pills, at least for now until her paws are healed and you can work with her without the risk of re-opening her wounds.

I don't personally have experience with them, know how effective they are, or even if some are better than others, but I'm sure your vet could direct you to something safe and effective.

[TribalRats]

First of all I REALLY appriciate the feed back...

Rivsky, I agree taking her out for more exercise will most likely help. However she has two paws bandaged up right now and taking her for walks is something we can not do for another week or so. It SUCKS and I am sure it is only compounding the problems.
The idea of leaving her with a big bone or something to that effect is a good one. We may just try that.

Fancy, Nope can't keep her confined to one room. She has a full blown panic attack. Tries to eat or break through th door. Not fun.
We do leave Rasta and Charlie both out with her. Goose is still in his adolescence and would have WAY too much fun tearing up the house. The company does seem to help. With Charlie and Rasta out we can be gone for 45 min to an hour with out coming home to poop or destruction. So it is a step in the right direction. I think you are right in why that helps, they are freaking so maybe she can relax a little

BB, You're so right. The paws are a big deterrent right now. I thought about approaching the vet but really dont want to put her on meds. I mean, I am a stay at home mom so I really dont leave all that often but there are those time I have to go tot eh store or like last night was date night. The kids went to our friends house with the sitter and the four of us went to dinner. Instead of going to the comedy club like we wanted we all came home be with Henna and just played card games here. Thankfully our friends are dog people and understand with out giving us a bad time.

I will let you all know how it goes. We are going out to la grange today and taking Henna with us. We are wrapping her up like no bodies business. Tape, plastic bags, tape. We will have to go slow with her, but the boys really need to get out and we will be gone for housrs so she has to come with.

[Rivsky]

Sorry - totally forgot about her paws when suggesting exercise!!!

[TribalRats]

LOL, not to worry Rivsky.

We have actually decided to forgo LaGrange today because of them. I just dont want to risk it.

[fancychicken]

Do you know where the anxiety stems from? I apologize, I don't remember Henna's history and how she came to live with you. Maybe you can back trak a bit and see if there is an underlying issue there. Maybe it's NOT the fact that your gone and she's afraid you won't be coming back. Did something happen once when she was alone?

Now for the medicatin thing. You all are well aware of what I have been through with Shamous. His way of displaying his anxiety, was much different than Henna's and of course much harder to determine that was the issue. I had exhausted EVERY thing I possibly could b4 making the decision to put him on something. I will say this again, He is a different dog, and it still makes me a little teary to think what he had been going through for so long, could have been fixed so easily, and he could have been a happy guy sooner. Now that being said, use the med's as a last resort. Henna's anxiety is different, specific and focused,(shammie was just a wreck in general) which means there probably is a solution (we just need to figure out what that may be).

[fancychicken]

while I am sure you have done some research, here are a couple of articles I found interesting and may be helpful to you..

http://www.animalhealthchannel.com/s...ty/index.shtml

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer...arationanxiety

[Novel]

Have you considered an Anxiety Wrap? http://www.puplife.com/dogcaretips/a...helpsdogs.html

With the injured paw, you're right, there does not seem to be a way where you can crate her without injury to herself.

How does she do with baby gates vs. closed doors. Our dogs would whine at a door, but the baby gate they accept, even though they could go over it.

Or how about an X-pen. It's much larger than a crate, and if you put enough blankies in there, you may be able to minimize the possiblity of an injury.

[KennelMom]

Have you tried a DAP diffuser. We've also had great results from the Canine lullaby CD. I use it in the kennel and in our house to calm the dogs. If you google it, you'll find lots of places on the web that sell it. Link provided so you'll know which CD I'm referring to

[TribalRats]

Originally Posted by fancychicken

Do you know where the anxiety stems from?

Unfortunately no we don't. She lived with the same family from the time she was 7-8 weeks old until she was 4.5 years old. They then gave her to a friend of theirs...after 24 hours he decided he could not handle having a dog and she came to us. We heard of her through a friend of a friend of a friend type of deal.

She has had the issue since day one of being here. She is a total velcro dog, though over the past week this has gotten slightly better as I imagine most of her issues will do over time with a stable family.

Her first family spent allot of time with her in the first year then they slowly began to forget she existed. She gave them two litters and 4.5 years of her life until they decided and I quote "they (referring to the kids) have out grown her".

Sorry no real background on her life, just a short overall.

I appreciate the articles. We have done some research on it but you can never have too many good articles on a subject. Thanks!
As far as meds go, I am with you. Not 100% opposed but would like to exhaust all other avenues first. I really think she is a good candidate for rehab on this. We have seen a small amount of improvement just in this past week, we have also discovered she loves to fetch. I had the French doors open and was sitting here at the computer. She had gone outside on her own, a HUGE step and as investigating for a little while....10 min or so. Then When I looked again she was standing just outside the door with a tennis ball in her mouth and her eyes all big. I threw it a short distance for her (no running) and she was so excited she almost fell over. This is great, another tool for her to get out some nerves. I can not wait for her paws to heal!

Novel,
She goes absolutely nuts behind a closed door, digging at it, trying to get out the window via eating blinds. We did try the baby gate yesterday and she whined for a while then barreled into it.
We do have an x pen so we could try that out.

Kennel Mom,
We have not tried either of your suggestions and i am off to google both right now!

Once again all of you, Thank You. This is such a great community.

[Novel]

Tribal... If you haven't seen one of those wraps before, make sure to follow the link. It's like a close fitting dog coat, and I have heard great stories about it from people in Weim rescue. Weims are not the easiest to kennel train, as I think you experienced....

You can make one yourself without having to go buy one of the expensive ones, but it has to fit snugly to provide the right kind of sensation.

[mrsgrubby]

Oh Trin, I didn't realize she was this bad. Poor girl.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. When you are home with her and she is being Velcro dog, do you sometimes just totally ignore her for a few hours straight. No looking at her, no talking to her, no touching her for a few hours?

It just seems like if she is velcro dog she is anxious when you are home, so it makes sense she might be more so when you are gone.

Does she cry at the shut bathroom door when you are in there?

Just trying to think up things that will help.

[TribalRats]

Originally Posted by mrsgrubby

Oh Trin, I didn't realize she was this bad. Poor girl.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. When you are home with her and she is being Velcro dog, so you sometimes just totally ignore her for a few hours straight. No looking at her, no talking to her, no touching her for a few hours?

It just seems like if she is velcro dog she is anxious when you are home, so it makes sense she might be more so when you are gone.

Does she cry at the shut bathroom door when you are in there?

Just trying to think up things that will help.

Yes I do ignore her and yes she cries. We actually leave the door cracked so she can peek her head in.

Novel, I had not heard of that before and I will most certainly look into it. YES those pups were SO hard to crate train however int he end persistence on our part paid off and they are doing WONDERFULLY in their new homes!