Hello y'all. My name is Kristi and this is my first time to visit your forum. Before posting this thread, I searched for my answer in the one's already posted, but found nothing.

My boyfriend has a female, 9 year old half Pit Bull and half Bird dog. She is EXTREMELY attached to him; he can't go to the bathroom without her becoming distraught from worrying about whether or not he is okay. This is not the real problem though. My boyfriend will be leaving next week for work related issues and will be gone approximately 6-9 months. I am severely concerned for her health, considering that when he leaves the home for a couple of hours, she immediately goes to her bed and sleeps until he gets back. This happens without fail, everytime he walks out the front door. He has never been away for longer than a day and I am seeking advice and ideas of how to alleviate the distress she is more than likely fixing to go through. I would certainly hate for anything to happen to her, especially while he is away.

Any and all input is greatly appreciated,
Kristi Love

On Sat, 4 Nov 2006 08:22:38 +0000, Kristi Love
wrote:

My boyfriend has a female, 9 year old half Pit Bull and half Bird dog.
She is EXTREMELY attached to him; he can't go to the bathroom without
her becoming distraught from worrying about whether or not he is okay.
This is not the real problem though. My boyfriend will be leaving next
week for work related issues and will be gone approximately 6-9 months.
I am severely concerned for her health, considering that when he leaves
the home for a couple of hours, she immediately goes to her bed and
sleeps until he gets back. This happens without fail, everytime he
walks out the front door...

The dog is *not* worried about Him: she is worried about herself! Not to
mention that she has been allowed to develop an inconvenient habit.

I believe it is reasonable for her to miss him over "6-9 months", but
she will survive. Have your boyfriend to leave a shirt, or something
with his scent on it, and use that item to sooth/reward her. *Do Not*
leave that item in her bed! Period. And don't give her attention, when
she is in her bed. Let her come to you. Let her realize that her bed is
not the only safe place.

It would probably help [her and you, too], if you could show her some
extra attention, as a proxy. If she doesn't know any "tricks", teach her
some. Develop her self confidence. In "6-9 month", she might not even
need your boyfriend! As always, the goal is moderation.

I hope you will report on your/her progress, because this could be a
real learning experience for some of us!




__________________________
When I count my blessings, I count my dog twice.

On 4 Nov 2006 06:38:50 -0800,

kissed my bunghole and whined:

SHUT UP PERVERT!


/'¯/)
,/¯ /
/ /
/´¯ /' '/´¯¯ ·¸
/'/ / / /¨ /¯\
('( ´ ´ ¯/' ')
'\' \ _.·´
\ (
\ \

Kristi
I know it is going to be tough sledding at least at first. I agree
with the others. Keep her busy. (exercised). I like what Michael said
about keeping one of your boyfriend's shirts. My suggestion would be to
do some different things with her. I don't mean to be discouraging. I
know she will be alright after awhile, but I imagine you will be missing
your boyfriend too and when you watch her pining away for him. You
girls are gonna have the blues. It will get better as time goes on. I
know it will be toough to watch. Look forward to the homecoming....She
will be sooooooo happy..Good Luck and do let us know how it goes.


Be Free.....Judy

[quote=Michael A. Ball]

The dog is *not* worried about Him: she is worried about herself! Not to
mention that she has been allowed to develop an inconvenient habit.

I believe it is reasonable for her to miss him over "6-9 months", but
she will survive. Have your boyfriend to leave a shirt, or something
with his scent on it, and use that item to sooth/reward her. *Do Not*
leave that item in her bed! Period. And don't give her attention, when
she is in her bed. Let her come to you. Let her realize that her bed is
not the only safe place.

I hope you will report on your/her progress, because this could be a
real learning experience for some of us!


Please do give more explanation about her being worried about herself. I believe you completely, just would appreciate a bit more insight on the subject. I am well aware that he developed these unnecessary behaviors she has, however, not intentionally, just out of, hmmm... how do I say this nicely... ignorance.

I figured that a shirt with his scent would be helpful but didn't know if the scent would last for that long a period or would be sufficient. I will, instead, have several shirts!

I will be keeping y'all posted on our successes because I am quite sure that we will run into some obstacles that I will quickly relay to y'all in hopes of some advice!

Thank you so much for caring enough to answer,
Kristi Love

[quote=Kristi Love][quote=Michael A. Ball]

The dog is *not* worried about Him: she is worried about herself! Not to
mention that she has been allowed to develop an inconvenient habit.

I believe it is reasonable for her to miss him over "6-9 months", but
she will survive. Have your boyfriend to leave a shirt, or something
with his scent on it, and use that item to sooth/reward her. *Do Not*
leave that item in her bed! Period. And don't give her attention, when
she is in her bed. Let her come to you. Let her realize that her bed is
not the only safe place.

I hope you will report on your/her progress, because this could be a
real learning experience for some of us!

I am quite sorry about the last post and the possible confusion I caused with the quoted text. I do not know how to do this properly but am positive that I will learn quickly!

See, this idiot can't even produce a single piece of evidence that he
claims I'm a child abuser. He can claim that I'm a dog abuser for
using pinch collars and stupid bitter apple - but, he'll sit there and
say I'm a child abuser.

The point here is that he's simply, utterly insane.

He doesn't seem to mention his groping of children. That's kind of
funny.

Ask him about it - it's public records.

Ask him about spiking dogs' temps to 106 that is deadly.

Go on...ask him.

Ask him why he puts "XXX" anywhere possible.

Go on...ASK him. There's a reason for that - he's a pervert of the
worst kind.

He's a child molester posing as a "dog trainer." Kinda funny since his
OWN dogs aren't trained!

Kristi Love wrote:
Hello y'all. My name is Kristi and this is my first time to visit your
forum. Before posting this thread, I searched for my answer in the
one's already posted, but found nothing.

My boyfriend has a female, 9 year old half Pit Bull and half Bird dog.
She is EXTREMELY attached to him; he can't go to the bathroom without
her becoming distraught from worrying about whether or not he is okay.
This is not the real problem though. My boyfriend will be leaving next
week for work related issues and will be gone approximately 6-9 months.
I am severely concerned for her health, considering that when he leaves
the home for a couple of hours, she immediately goes to her bed and
sleeps until he gets back.

A week is not much time to change habits. I think you might want to
start taking her for walks and interacting with her right now. And
also, have your BF transfer the care for all her needs to you right
now. You need to feed her, to let her out, to exercise her BEFORE he
leaves. This will be very difficult for him, since I know he cares
about his dog and feels bad about leaving her, but he needs to act
neutrally towards her until he leaves. Not ignore her. Acknowledge her,
be pleasant to her, but avoid big emotional interactions. A teary
goodbye to his loved dog might be theraputic for him, but he needs to
be thinking about what is good for the dog. You may want to move her
bed, or give her other sleeping arrangements to break the habit of
going to her "place" and sulking. Create new habits. Keep her occupied.
Avoid a lot of attention or sympathy when she is acting sully. Dogs can
be loyal, but also are very resilient. I suspect she won't mourn for
too long, especially if you make her life interesting while he is gone.
Sandy in OK.

[quote=A week is not much time to change habits. I think you might want to
start taking her for walks and interacting with her right now. And
also, have your BF transfer the care for all her needs to you right
now. You need to feed her, to let her out, to exercise her BEFORE he
leaves. You may want to move her bed, or give her other sleeping
arrangements to break the habit of going to her "place" and sulking.
Create new habits. Keep her occupied. Avoid a lot of attention or sympathy
when she is acting sully. I suspect she won't mourn for too long, especially if
you make her life interesting while he is gone.
Sandy in OK.[/QUOTE]


Thank you, Sandy in OK! Considering that the "five of us" have been sharing the same home for almost three years, she and I are already practiced at interaction and most of the time I am the one that feeds, waters, and goes along with on potty breaks. So, I have all of that working for me! I like the moving of her bed idea and am very positive that it will help. Should I move it now, or after he leaves? I am guessing that I should do this now so that it is considered by her a normal move instead of a complete change.

Also, I had a revelation of sorts yesterday while discussing this issue with a friend: dogs don't have the same sense of time that we do so I am thinking that this will work on my behalf as well.

Y'all wish me the best of luck and Lucy and I will keep you posted on all of our progress, not to mention all of the fun that we will be having while experiencing this "crazy" transition!!

Kristi Love

Kristi Love wrote:
So, I have all of that
working for me! I like the moving of her bed idea and am very positive
that it will help. Should I move it now, or after he leaves? I am
guessing that I should do this now so that it is considered by her a
normal move instead of a complete change.


Maybe move it a few times. And change her routine up a bit. I wouldn't
be doing highly emotional stuff like really high energy games - fetch
the ball, etc. but give her stuff to think about - ask her to use her
nose, solve puzzles. Give her things interesting mind games to work on
now and when BF leaves. Sandy in OK