SA question

Since it appears to have come up in another thread, I figured I'd bring
up something that is causing me a little concern. A dog park friend
asked me yesterday if we could watch her dog while she's on vacation for
about a week and a half. Dog in question is a 128 lb. female Dane named
Pan who is quite the Queen Bitch, but defers to Khan. A few months
back, while Khan was busy playing with another dog, she attempted to
hump him, which is a big No-No in his book, and when he told her off,
she backed off completely. First time she ever attempted anything like
that with him, BTW. In the ensuing months, she kept trying to get Khan
to play, and he would give her the cold shoulder. They appear to have
kissed and made up, and are back to playing with each other.

Back to Pan. As a puppy, she had terrible SA, and would pant, drool,
attempt to chew her way out of the crate or destroy whatever barrier is
hanging in front of the window if her mom went out of sight for more
than 5 minutes. They worked on it for a looong time, and she seems to
have gotten over it. Mom was working standard 8 hour days, and all was
well. Then, mom got laid off, and was home all the time. She now has a
job that lets her work from home, and this of course means that Pan
hasn't been home alone in a very long time, well over 6 months, IIRC.
Question is whether she will be able to handle being home without a
human (or for that matter being separated from mom) for any length of
time. She'll have Khan for company, and my schedule is flexible enough
that I can be home a few days a week, but I am worried about her. She
is very much a mommy's girl, and if her mom leaves her at the dog park
to go get something from the car, she'll just stand by the gate,
awaiting her return. No tantrums or histrionics, but she will receive
mom like she hasn't seen her in years. What can we do to ease the
transition?

Other than this one thing, I have absolutely no qualms about taking her
in. She is well mannered, minds when she is told, low in terms of
energy requirement, isn't too in-your-face/velcro, is terrific
off-leash, and is generally low maintenance.

Suja

"Suja" wrote in message
...

Other than this one thing, I have absolutely no qualms about taking her
in. She is well mannered, minds when she is told, low in terms of
energy requirement, isn't too in-your-face/velcro, is terrific
off-leash, and is generally low maintenance.

You may need a crate for her just as a back-up. SA can return once a
pattern is broken. Since the owner started staying home to work and this
has been going on for a while, its possible that the SA will return..in her
home should she start working outside the home again. In the case of you
watching her at your house, I doubt the SA would come back like a storm or
anything but the change of environment and not seeing "mom" will be
confusing to her which could be a gateway for some form of anxiety to
return. Nothing at all could happen as she may be just fine but I'd have a
back-up plan just in case.

--
Tara

On Wed, 30 Jul 2003, Suja wrote:

She is very much a mommy's girl, and if her mom leaves her at
the dog park to go get something from the car, she'll just
stand by the gate, awaiting her return. No tantrums or
histrionics, but she will receive mom like she hasn't seen
her in years. What can we do to ease the transition?

harriet is weirded out about being left with other people in
strange places. she's absolutely not interested in
interacting with strangers if i'm not around. while she's
waiting for me to return, she acts stressed--no barking or
destructiveness, but constantly watches for me while pacing
and occasionally whining.

for this reason, when i've absolutely had to leave her when
i'm out of town, i leave her at home and have a neighbor come
visit her. it's *much* less stressful for her than being away
from me *and* her own territory. i'm sure that, left with
someone she liked, she'd acclimate and her stress level would
diminish, but i've been too chicken to chance it.

Other than this one thing, I have absolutely no qualms about
taking her in. She is well mannered, minds when she is told,
low in terms of energy requirement, isn't too
in-your-face/velcro, is terrific off-leash, and is generally
low maintenance.

can you do a dry run? i would suggest having her over for an
overnight stay, or maybe even for a weekend. that way you can
leave her for a few minutes, come back and check, and if all
is well, leave for a little longer, etc.

--
shelly (foul wench) and elliott and harriet
http://home.bluemarble.net/~scouvrette

Tara O. wrote:

You may need a crate for her just as a back-up.

She doesn't do well in a crate. She would hurt herself attempting to
get out, and has knocked the crate over on its side.

SA can return once a
pattern is broken. Since the owner started staying home to work and this
has been going on for a while, its possible that the SA will return..in her
home should she start working outside the home again.

I really wish we could do a trial run this weekend. Too bad I have
exams next week.

In the case of you
watching her at your house, I doubt the SA would come back like a storm or
anything but the change of environment and not seeing "mom" will be
confusing to her which could be a gateway for some form of anxiety to
return. Nothing at all could happen as she may be just fine but I'd have a
back-up plan just in case.

Back up plans so far - Rescue remedy (which works well for her), or
other people with whom she may be more comfortable. The problem is that
no one else will take her for the whole 10 days or so, and I think that
it would be worse for her to be bounced around. I really wish her BF
were more responsible, but mom is pretty sure that the boyfriend would
forget to do really important stuff, like feeding and taking her out.
She's young, but doesn't look or act it, but the BF certainly sounds
like he's very young.

Suja

shelly wrote:

harriet is weirded out about being left with other people in
strange places. she's absolutely not interested in
interacting with strangers if i'm not around. while she's
waiting for me to return, she acts stressed--no barking or
destructiveness, but constantly watches for me while pacing
and occasionally whining.

This is what I'm afraid of. That she'll sit by the door, waiting for
mom to come back, having absolutely no fun for a long period of time.
She has known Khan and I since she was about 7 months old, but she has
never been to our home, and I worry that she'll freak out when she's
left with acquaintences in a new home.


for this reason, when i've absolutely had to leave her when
i'm out of town, i leave her at home and have a neighbor come
visit her. it's *much* less stressful for her than being away
from me *and* her own territory. i'm sure that, left with
someone she liked, she'd acclimate and her stress level would
diminish, but i've been too chicken to chance it.

I wish she could stay at home. Her BF (whose home it is) has agreed to
care for the 2 cats and 2 ferrets while she is away, but doesn't want to
take care of the dog for more than a couple of days. I don't know
what's worse, being some place new and scary with people who care, or
some place familiar with minimal human interaction.


can you do a dry run? i would suggest having her over for an
overnight stay, or maybe even for a weekend. that way you can
leave her for a few minutes, come back and check, and if all
is well, leave for a little longer, etc.

This will have to get done at some point. I don't want her mom to feel
like I'm freaking out or doing this under duress, because I am not. I
just haven't dealt with a dog that has SA, and her well being is the
primary consideration. Maybe one afternoon, I can pick her up from
home, bring her over, see how she acts for a few hours and drop her back
home with mom. If she is unusually freaked out, mom might just have to
take her on the vacation.

Suja

She doesn't do well in a crate. She would hurt herself attempting to
get out, and has knocked the crate over on its side.

The crate is not an option here. Crates can often make SA worse.

Does this dog like food? If so, you can try babygating a room off and giving
her a stuffed Kong toy whenever you leave. Start off with short time
increments don't go out of sight at first. Gradually lengthen the time and
see what happens. The dog only gets this special treat whenever you leave the
house.

Heres a link to Kong, I used to pass the printed out recipes to my classes and
got toss of postive feedback from the users.

http://www.kongcompany.com/how2use.html
Dogstar716
Come see Gunnars Life: http://hometown.aol.com/dogstar716/index.html

"Suja" wrote in message
...

I wish she could stay at home. Her BF (whose home it is) has agreed to
care for the 2 cats and 2 ferrets while she is away, but doesn't want to
take care of the dog for more than a couple of days. I don't know
what's worse, being some place new and scary with people who care, or
some place familiar with minimal human interaction.



I think this girl needs a new boyfriend. How much trouble is it to take
care of a dog that you already live with, while the primary caregiver is
away? If he loves her, he should also love her dog enough to want to make
the experience as painless for the dog as possible. JMO.

Robin

The crate is not an option here. Crates can often make SA worse.

This hasn't been my experience.

I didn't say crates ALWAYS make it worse, but often they can.

If a dog is consistently freaking out in a crate (heavy drooling, bloody mouth
from trying to chew out, actually chewing out, moving the crate by rocking,
etc.) you should try an alterntae method of confinement, regardles of whether
or not you think it's true SA. Often times larger confinement areas are more
comfortable for a dog. Not to mention this dog just might have confinement
anxiety all by itself. Perhaps a larger area and a stuffed Kong will be all it
takes. Never know unless you try

Dogstar716
Come see Gunnars Life: http://hometown.aol.com/dogstar716/index.html

DogStar716 wrote:

Does this dog like food?

I'm not sure. She's a little picky about her kibble, but I'm not sure
if she'd be quite as picky about 'something yummy'.

If so, you can try babygating a room off and giving
her a stuffed Kong toy whenever you leave. Start off with short time
increments don't go out of sight at first. Gradually lengthen the time and
see what happens. The dog only gets this special treat whenever you leave the
house.

Will do. Khan doesn't like his Kong, and it is just sitting around
gathering dust. Good thing I don't have to worry whether Khan'll
attempt to take it away from her or whether she'll food guard. Mom
tells me that the most likely response is going to be howling. For a
few hours. Followed by being extra whiney for the first couple of
days. If her bark is any indication, the howling is going to be a lot
of fun.

Suja

Robin wrote:
I think this girl needs a new boyfriend. How much trouble is it to take
care of a dog that you already live with, while the primary caregiver is
away? If he loves her, he should also love her dog enough to want to make
the experience as painless for the dog as possible. JMO.

Not that I'm disagreeing, but she got the dog on the condition that it
was going to be HER dog. The cats are his. The ferrets are theirs. He
loves the dog, pets her, but doesn't do anything else with her.

Suja