[Dailydrool] Separation Anxiety as posted by Marty Needham

[Nadine Mysker]

Please recall, Jill the Bagel was my velcro dog from the minute we got
her.  She was by my side doing laundry, loading the dishwasher, even
during vacuuming and cooking (and she didn't even beg) for the first
three months we had her.  That dog went EVERYWHERE with me. It took
Jill three months to stay in a room if I left and six months to leave
a room on her own volition.  It took a full year before she would go
to another level of the house without me and she still follows me from
one level to another if I choose to do so.   It took a year to
convince everyone she was not a service dog.  Jill used to cry the
whole time the first few weeks she was left home alone (in the laundry
room which we learned  to use after the first time we left her alone
in the house for more than 2 hours and she got into mega trouble (ie.
kitchen cabinets, top of the fridge, into the fridge, pantry, trash,
atop the desk, table, etc.) ).  After two years of liking this
arrangement she suddenly turned and destroyed the baseboard and door
in the laundry room and we had to switch to a cage/kennel which she
also tried to destroy.  Now that she is kennel trained however, she
goes into it on command, even putting her clean blankets in it on
laundry day.  Yes she whines for all of two seconds now and talks up a
storm upon our return telling us about every leave that fell from the
tree, every bird that flew within a mile or our property,etc. It took
about six weeks to convince her the kennel was safe.  You just have to
have the patience of Job.  And, we never leave her in the kennel
during storms or fireworks as she is terrified of those.  We just stay
home and dose her with Benedryl as does our professional kennel folks
when she "goes to jail".

Nadine Mysker