SPDoggie

Oh my gosh... too much many prayers for you

Just scanned thru the posts, but thought I would ask... do you know that she continues to whine/bark the whole time you are gone, or is she just doing this when she hears you returning? I ask cause our non-SA dogs whine up-a-storm when they hear us pull in to the driveway or if we have gone outside without them (how dare we?!?) Best of luck... you're getting lots of good ideas

I'll second (or third) the opinion that our dogs' schedule is quite different days someone is home, versus not. While they are fine to be alone 6+ hours... if someone is at home with them, they may want to go out every couple hours for a quick tinkle. I think your easy solution is to take him out more-often (don't wait for him to ask) when you are at home. Good luck!

Oh, to see her happily lying in her sandbox brings tears to my eyes... I cannot imagine having to make this decision. Prayers for you

While in time you may be fine to walk both at once, maybe for now you need to walk separately so that the young one can get tired, and she can learn how to walk and not get too excited by other critters. I bet in time you'll be able to walk both, but maybe take a breather and work up to it... sounds like they are still new to you? I'll second harnesses, as I have found that to give much more control to our high prey-drive girl.

So glad it sounds like progress is being made!

Another reply to say, please tale him out of the crate before he really hurts himself. Our boy Kingsley let us know in no uncertain terms after about a month that he hated his crate. He would destroy anything left in the crate with him, but once we allowed him free-reign of the house while we were gone, he has never destroyed anything. Do some alone training with him out of the crate and hopefully that will ease his stress.

Since you know he does not NEED to go out, do your best to ignore him, maybe say, "lie down" and in time he should get the hang of sleeping later. Our boy Kingsley gets up at 3am. He used to come over and look at us like, "you wanna get up and play?" But has learned that he can just re-adjust and then stay asleep longer! (we've had him going on 5 years now)

Our Kingsley destroyed anything left in the crate with him but never destroyed anything once he was allowed free-reign of the house... so hopefully your boy will be the same.... sounds like you are already making good strides.

I will second Kamsmom's suggestion... have you tried leaving him out of the crate? And then time and patience and lots more alone-training. You need to come-and-go a whole bunch... maybe do a focused day of in-and-out leaving for 5 mins at a time and building up from there. Hope if you can explain to your neighbors and landlord, and maybe have a fruitful weekend of training things will look better. Good luck

How horrible and now encouraging.... will await more updates.... just horrible, and amazing... wow (can you tell I am speechless?)

We met an ophthalmologist at the Emergency Referral Vet Hospital in Woburn... am blanking on her name at the moment... Marion something? Your vet should be able to recommend one close to you, as I think they are more prevalent that you might think. Bets of luck to you and Tatam

Our boy Kingsley let us know within a month that he Hated his crate... we were fortunate that he never destroyed anything or had any accidents once we left him with free-roam of the house. Since the weekend is upon us, do some alone-training, coming-and-going a lot on Sat/Sun with him allowed to stay out of the crate and see how he does. Ask your neighbors to listen and see if he calms down after you've come and gone a few times. Good luck If he "needs" to be in the crate, start feeding him in there to build positive associations with it.

And I'd do Batmom's suggestions BEFORE the vet visit, so that he can get some positive associations with the van prior to having the vet be what time in the van means!

I would second the "basic house-breaking" suggestions... keep her close to you so that you can pick up on her subtle signs that she needs to go, go out with her and praise like crazy when she goes outside. If she does seem to go in a particular location inside we had great success with feeding our dog in that location so that she knew that was not an appropriate place to go.

You may find that Harry does just fine in the transition because it is a slow transition. You are not bringing home a 2 year-old. you are bringing home a new baby that will make sounds but the baby will not be able to get to Harry at all, so any interactions will be cause Harry initiates them. Harry will continue to get used to and grow while the baby grows and it is very easy (says the mom of a newly crawling 9 month old) to keep them separated. Our dogs have beds in every room and are able to "escape" if they need to, and we don't put the baby down on the floor unless that room is empty of dogs. If a dog comes in while Elsie's on the floor, we monitor the exchange. Our 2 greys did very well in transitioning to their new positions below the baby. As Elsie continues to grow we will continue to be consistent with rules of interacting with the dogs and hope it continues to go so well. Best to you... be healthy!

Could his "no appetite" just be nerves, and maybe he really is hungry and hence is tummy is gurgling? Ours get gurgley tummies sometimes at night and we have found a piece of bread calms the noises down.

If I remember correctly, it took Kingsley, our shy boy, 3-4 months before he would pick up a toy. And about a year before he would come over to greet guest who would come over (he would normally stand in another room and peer around the corner at them) Just time... often much more than you could have imagined! But, oh, I would adopt another shy one in a heartbeat.

Kingsley was/is somewhat like this he still, (after almost 5 years with us) looks over his shoulder all the time, and we often have to wait for a walker to pass us before he will continue on. I think your idea of just hanging in the lobby some and doing some other out-and-about but low-key things is a good one. We have found if allowed to stand and wait-it-out for a few moments he often (not always) will come-around, and he does do better when the whole pack (another grey and my husband and I) are all together. Not much advice, but wanted you to know you were not alone. Kingsley also likes other dogs a lot, so always walks with other hounds well... have any friends who could come meet you right at your building to walk from there... show Buffy the world is not always so scary?

Sounds like you are making great strides. Just so you know you are not alone, it took our shy/scared boy about 6 months to consistently leave the property and walk with us. Then he would still have week to month-long periods of fear when something would happen outside (like construction noise or a blowing garbage can) And after 4.5 years in our home he still has his off moments, and we have learned when we can "push" it and when it is best to let him stay in the comfort of his own yard. So in less than a month, you are doing great!

I think you're doing great using the suitcase method to develop his confidence with stairs... he just needs some more time. Our shy boy Kingsley took almost a month to really do our stairs (now, in his defense, we do have scary stairs)

bet they could do a fine needle aspirate right at your vets and that is no anesthesia.

Your dog might also be getting up cause they are cold... have you seen if they will sleep all-night-long if they have some jimjams or a blanket to snuggle-in? Kingsley got up at 3am for years and we quickly learned he did not need to go out, just wanted to be up at that time (something must have happened at the kennel at that time).

you are making big strides very quickly, so you and Bella will be just fine! I just wanted to assure you that it took us about 6 months before Kingsley would walk with any regularity, and he would be thrown off by noises or-the-like which might happen while we were out. So know this might always be a battle for her to be totally comfortable out-and-about. We also found he walked away-from-the-house better than having to leave from the front door, so for a period of time we would drive him (just down the street) and then get out and walk. Who knows!

I was going to say that, 'cause my George was diagnosed with LS. He hasn't gotten to that point yet, but that's what the vet told me. Not really looking forward to it, but what can you do? I didn't know George had been diagnosed with LS... I'm sorry but glad you know what is coming.