SearchGoing from a 2 dog house to 1
I am seeking some help and advice on how to help ease my dog into the new living situation. So far she has been doing ok. Soleil is 3.5 year old Dobie girl who has ALWAYS had the company of her "brother" a 4.5 Golden Retirever. Long story short the dogs the dogs got split up 
and my girl and I now have moved to new apartment and she is trying to adjust. So far... she has been.... ok. I am looking for ways to keep her occupied during the day and what worked for other people whose dogs suffer from seperation anxiety. I know she cries when I leave... she has not destroyed anything but I want to make this as easy on her as possible. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
DobieMom - vey good points.
Soleil - I take it that Soleil is not crated. That would make it easier, but it would be traumatic if you transistioned her now on top of a location change.
Remember that while Tucker was her playmate and pal, it is you who are her Alpha and to whom she has bonded.
Thanks for the advice!
I need to get into the habit of morning walks... we to do long evening walks now but a it think I can manage morning walks too most days.
No Rgreen she is not crated anymore. I used to crate her at best all I could say is she was "ok" with it. She never really loved her crate like some dogs. Spoiled girl prefers a dogbed at the foot of my bed. I have experimented in trying to gate of sections of the apartment for her but she seems most settled when she is allowed to enter my room.
Today was the first day I left that I did not hear her whining in the house for me... I have my fingers crossed everyday! So far she is doing pretty well. I get VERY HAPPY greeting when I get home from work.
Thanks!
Awww. that's so good to hear.. I'm glad you had a better day.. Are you sad? Maybe Soleil senses that and being the incredibly senstive beings that they are.. they sometimes take on our mood...
Do you show anxiety when you leave or is it just a "okay see you in a few"?
I was sad... but I am ok now... I try not to show anxiety when I leave. I am pretty sure I failed miserably with that the first few times I left her alone because I was so uncertian as to how she would react. Now I am much more confident that I will not come home to a scredded sofa or anything like that.
I try to just calmly give her pet and walk out. She used to rush the door but that stopped. I hear her when I get home. I think she hears me drive up and while I am walking to the door she runs down the steps to greet me.
I think she is getting settled in but I feel so guilty with her being alone now....
But I am counting my blessings because I found a landlord willing to accept a full grown Dobie within 2 weeks of looking for a place.... She so won him him over!
It sounds as if you have a fantastic girl. Sure she whined a bit at the beginning, but since you both have settled in I agree with your arrangement.
It is quite the norm for them to greet you at the door when they are loose. And, yes, she can hear you when you come home. I don't know how far away you have to park your vehicle, but within several hundred feet, even through the walls, they can hear and recognize individual vehicles as well as your walk.
I was putting together several computers for a friend and was getting packages from UPS and the delivery truck was here about 4 times in a 10 day span. On the last one, Red was laying on the floor and then got up and started barking. Now he always barks when the UPS truck or any other vehicle come here. But this time it was about two minutes before I even saw the truck coming up the intersecting road over 1/2 mile away.
This did not surprise me for back in the mid-90's I had taken one of my Dobies over to my late Sister and left her there with sis. My sister at the time lived out in the country and the neighboring houses were in a turnover mode and there was no one in several miles. Sis had three Schnauzers, but she asked if she could have my smallest Dobie, Betsy. Within a week she told me on the phone that Betsy did not get along with her Schnauzers. Actually, it was the snobby Schnauzers that either growled at Betsy (the interloper) or ignored her, so we agreed that when I came over the next month I would pick up Betsy. When I turned the corner, Sis was standing at the end of the drive to greet me. She informed me that about 3 minutes before, Betsy started getting all excited and yipping and whirling and in fact Betsy was at the fence just jumping up and down. During the week I was there, she slept on a pad beside my bed in the guest room.
She and her older sister Gretyl were two that I could trust emphatically loose in the house. Neither ever chewed anything or had any other incident once they got past the "little" puppy stage. Unfortunately they did not get along. Gretyl was the Alpha female once their momma passed away, and Betsy was the Omega. Both were littermate sisters. I would alternate one loose inside and one outside in the pen.
Thanks R. for such an endearing story.. You've been enamored by the breed for long long time, and your wonderful tales tell of your devotion to them and vice versa..Thanks!!
Sofia hears Mike's truck come home even before I do..
Hi Soleil's mom. Just one suggestion that I have been doing for a while now. When I come home, (although I am so happy to see my babies!!!), I greet them matter of factly and calmly until I am well into the house. I then let them out happily but calmly. I save any excitement until after I have been in the house for a while. I used to come in and be over the top with my greeting. I would whip them into a frenzy and now I am learning that I can be calm - and happy to see them. To me, happiness used to translate to excitement, which isn't so great for them down the line. It promotes instability. I think if you make your going and comings very matter-of-fact, it will become a routine part of the day and lessen Soleil's anxiety.
Hi Gingersmommy. I have been trying to come home and greet her calmly. She is making it difficult but we will keep working on it. Today she was a good girl when I left for work. No whineing! Yippee! She is too funny when I get home. She literally jumps for joy. I taught her not to jump on me only to be outsmarted by her... she learned not to jump on me but instead leaps into the air... Trying to get her to keep all 4 paws on the ground work in progress...
She has taken to a new habit... she has been stealing my shoes and socks. She doesn't chew them. She just moves them around the house. I thought I was loosing my mind I kept coming home finding my sneakers on the sofa. They were matched pair and lined up. It happened a few times and I was wondering why I kept putting my shoes down on the sofa... Then she started bringing them to her dog bed which was a give away that it wasn't me moving the shoes. She is too funny!
Awww, what a sweetie bear!!! I love it! Greet her with a hello when you come in and just walk past her as she's jumping. Don't even give her your attention until she is calm (at least quiet and on the ground). Ginger got in trouble for chewing my slippers a few times (as my husband reminded me, my fault for leaving them on the floor). After that, now she will take one slipper and mouth it and get it all spitty, but she will not chew it. Cracks me up every time. I find them all over the house. Lots of times, she does this when she is in a snit.
A long time ago, someone told me a great story about a Doberman (I always loved them but never had one until Ginger six years ago). He said his friends had a Doberman and it was their baby. Someone had given them a picture of the two of them which they had put on the coffee table or some place accessible. They left the house for a long while and when they came back, the picture was on the floor and their dobie had licked the faces right off of their picture, he was so upset that they were gone. I love that story.
Soliel - Only one who has ever had a jumping Doberman can fully understand what you are describing. I once had a Fawn female that I had loaned my neice because of where she was living at the time. When I came back to pick her up, she was in the back yard and there was about a four foot fence, and she was jumping flat footed and almost clearing the fence going straight up. My late father called her Leaping Lena and it stuck. Her actual name was Heidi.
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Hello, Good Afternoon,
My Harley has sever separation anxiety, but after getting into a routine, it does not affect him as bad as it did.
I have read lots of article about this. If you can, walk Soleil in the morning, before you leave the house. I go by the mantra, a tired dog is a well behaved dog. Since you have physically and mentally stimulated her, that should help.
I have also read to feed your dog twice a day (some only do one feeding a day), once in the morning, once in the evening. A dog with a full belly will be less lickley to root around the house looking for things to get into.
When we first got Harley, I would like broken up treats in random places ( I would hide them while he ate) then leave. He was too busy looking for treats to care about me leaving.
Also, rawhides have been my savior. Again, he is too preoccupied with his treat to notice what I am doing.
And yeah we had to do the whole, leave for 10 min, come back, then leave for 30 min then come back and so on. He is used to our daily work schedule, but he still gets "upset/angry" if he is left longer then that. We get puddles left. And they aren't I had to go our really bad puddles, they are I was made cuz you left me all day and all night puddles. But sometimes it has to be done.
Cesar Milan offers good advice.