Dog people...A little help

[Andrea73]

Okay, we have two dogs. They are both about 2.5 years old, a male pitbull and a female Rott/Terrier mix. I have had Zeus, the pitbull since I could hold him in my hands and rescued Roxi (the mix) from a kill shelter last summer.

They always go with us when we travel to my family's home in FL. I stay with my brother and SIL who have a German Shepherd and a Pomeranian and the dogs get along great. The Shepherd and my Zeus actually get the blues after our trips. They wuv eachother.

We are heading to WDW next month for 10 days. My brother has offered to watch Zeus while I take Roxi to my parents, both in Jacksonville.

Zeus is VERY attached to me. It's almost abnormal the way he follows me from room to room all day and paces when I am not around. (I am a SAHM and home most of the day) I mean, if I stand, he stands. If I sit, he sits. He needs a doggie shrink or something, it's like I am the object of some obsession. He is my personal 4 legged secret service agent.

Today we got the carpets cleaned and I made the dogs stay in the yard most of the day. (They still are restricted while the carpet dries) Zeus has barked at the door all day, broken the gate to the fence to go to the front door and earned a time out in the crate for a bit. I just took him out and he has diarrhea. I assume it is from the stress of not being right next to me for all of 4 hours.

I am now worried if we take him to my brother's he is basically going freak out, get the runs from the stress and make a hot mess of their home. They could crate him while they are at work but he is known to have accidents at night when he is having tummy troubles.

I can board them at my Vet where I am sure he will be even more stressed, but at least I am not putting someone's white carpet on the line. It will set me back $500. If I board one, I may as well board them both and save myself the extra drive out of my way when we go to WDW, plus they can be together.

What would you do? Risk a stressed dog with an upset tummy at a relative's home where at least he will be in a semi-familiar place, or board him knowing at least he can't ruin a boarding kennel.

 

[abdmom]

I would board him at the vet's. If he can break your gate down in your own backyard, then he can do the same thing at your brother's.... and then go looking for you.

My sister babysat our puppy for 10 days this past summer. She developed the runs while there. They were not happy.

 

[yoopermom]

Separation anxiety with a dog that big is not something to be taken lightly (unless you want to be brotherless). I would consult with both a vet and/or an animal behaviorist. Our Boston Terrier is on a 2X daily pill (like doggy prozac, but that's not it), which does help, but you couldn't just start him on it on the trip, it has to build up in their system. He really does need to learn to be away from you, though, because what if you were hospitalized or had an emergency and had to be away?

Good luck!
Terri

 

[RunningGirl]

I have a dog that's the same way with me! My dog gets sick (the runs) if we board her. She's fine if she stays at my dad's house, but he lives in the same town and she's over there quite a bit. I've also had her stay at someone else's house and she was fine. Using my experience, your brother's would be the better choice. Then again, it's not my carpets we're talking about! Good luck.

 

[walden]

Zeus sounds to have classic separation anxiety.

This is the best ever article I found on separation anxiety and dealing with it. The techniques described here worked for us in a similar situation, but we had a bit more time. It does take WORK!

Here you go: http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002/sa.htm

I'd have been scared to have left my SA pup with my brother too. My brother would have gone ballistic if my dog busted up his home.

FYI, It took 2 weeks to get our SA pup under control, and 3-5 weeks to be truly reliable. But it all depends on the dog. Others have reported shorter times.

 

[minkydog]

My old Minkydog has separation anxiety. He started up with it about 3 years ago, not as bad as the OPs dog, but bad enough to be a pest. Leaving him with the vet makes him MUCH worse--like, he'll have a seizure while he's there! We haven't tried him on any anxiety meds because one of us is nearly always home with him. The rub comes when we need to go out of town without him. He is far too anxious to leave at home with an in & out sitter, but we have found that he does pretty well with the groomer and her dogs. They are BIG dog people. In fact, he trains dogs so they've been very helpful with the whole anxiety issue. Minky still gets a little anxious, but he really does love these people and they treat him like a king so it works out pretty well. When we pick him up he's Velcro Dog for a day or so, but then it's all back to normal.

 

[JessicaR]

My male Mastiff is the same way. UGH! He breaks my heart sometimes. We have a pet-sitter come when we go away. Is this an option for you? It's great because they get to stay in their own house and he does very well with her. Just an option to explore to ease the stress.

 

[Andrea73]

Thanks everyone. You are right, he does have SA. We don't have a pet sitter because he pretty much always travels with us. We boarded him once for a weekend and that was it. I am going to have to take this up with his Vet.

The funny thing is we got Roxi hoping it would help. She seemed like a calm dog when we got her. We found out when we took her to the vet she had heartworms. We could have taken her back to the shelter but we knew they would have put her down. So we paid for the treatment and when she got well, she was just as hyper as Zeus is. To top it off, she follows me too, but not to the extreme as he does. For her I think it's a "Oh....in this house we worship that one" more than the frantic need Zeus has.

I am going to think it over and try to figure it out. If we do take him to FL, they are going to have to crate him when they are not there and at night. They have very light carpet and somehow keep it very clean.