Help! What Can I Do?

[Guest sdaniw]

My 7 year old greyhound, Maddie has never had a problem with my husband and I going to work and being home alone with her greyhound brother Indy for most of the day. My husband is a teacher so he is home a lot during the summer. Once school started Maddie started to pee in the house every day we went to work. Now she has started peeing in the house when we go out even if its for only a half hour. The vet has looked at her and she is medically fine. The Vets behaviorist said that 7 year old dogs who never had separation anxiety before just don’t get it all of a sudden. I have started locking the 2 dogs up in my room (where their beds are) when we go to work in hopes that she won’t pee where she sleeps. I am finding that she does pee in the room but it’s very little and is almost completely dry by the time I get home which leads me to believe that she is doing it as soon as we leave her. My mother in law spent the night at our house recently and once we left for work she said Maddie peed in the house with in 10 mins of us leaving. My question for you is she having separation anxiety? If so I would like to put her on meds but my behaviorist keeps saying that there are no kinds of meds that you can use for behavior problems. What should I do? I can’t live with the pee in my house anymore, its disgusting!!!

[Guest mountain4greys]

I would guess separation anxiety. Greyhounds can get it at any time, mostly when there is a change of any kind in there routine. To me, it sounds like your husband set it off by going back to work. Now, Maddie doesn't want anyone to leave her.

 

I've seen this before with school teachers. Not just in greyhounds, but other breeds. They get used to it's owner being home, then one day they are gone all day.

 

Sounds like you need to do alone training again.

 

But others will chime in with better ways to deal with this than me.

 

Good luck! And hang in there. This is definitely fixable.

[greysmom]

Nope. Drugs probably won't help in this situation. For behavior issues you need a behavior solution. I agree that your husband going back to school was probably the trigger, but do a thorough inventory of your house and neighborhood to see what else may have changed. Any new construction she can hear? New neighbors home during the day? A lawn service? New food or a new feeding schedule? Any additions to your house like furniture or anything else?

 

Start at the beginning with her alone training. Be diligent and consistent. Don't make a big deal about leaving and coming home. Get a good enzymatic rug cleaner and throughly clean the places she's gone. If you feel you need to clean further, invest in a home carpet cleaner, as you will always have a need for it if you have dogs. Consider some "bad girl panties" if she continues to have issues.

 

Please try and not stress about it. She is likely picking it up from you which will not help her. Gppd luck.

[Batmom]

What tests did the vet do? I'd want CBC, urinalysis (including specific gravity on a first-of-the-morning midstream catch), and a blood pressure check.

[KF_in_Georgia]

...I would like to put her on meds but my behaviorist keeps saying that there are no kinds of meds that you can use for behavior problems.

 

Has your behaviorist never heard of Clomicalm (clomipromine)? I adopted a dog with severe SA. One month on Valium, two months on Clomicalm, with her crated when I wasn't home (so any peeing in the house was in the crate, not everywhere else), and she was fine. She realized I could leave the house, stay gone several hours, and come home, and her universe wouldn't come to an end. The drugs didn't make her dopey. They just took the edge off while she learned she could survive not having a person at her beck and call. (She didn't care that she had another dog in the house with her; she wanted a person.)

 

You also might try a DAP diffuser. That product reports success with three out of four dogs. (My girl is a #4.)

 

And you might look for a new behaviorist. Any behaviorist who isn't aware that drugs can be used to help deal with behavioral problems is a behaviorist who's not using all the tools available.

[GeorgeofNE]

Are you leaving her with a Kong?? Is she getting a good LONG walk every morning before you leave her? Both of these things helped my boy tremendously--he had a terrible time adjusting to life out of the track kennel.

 

I also used a DAP diffuser; not sure it worked, but it certainly didn't hurt.

 

I'm in agreement with just about everything said above, including the comment about the behaviorist not being aware that there ARE medications for S.A.

[rascalsmom]

We have a similar problem with Jack from time to time. I am home with them most of the day (SAHM), but on occasion when we/I leave we'll return to a puddle. We have gated the living/dining room so the dogs can't go in there, since he would frequently use that room , and we keep our daughter's bedroom door shut, too, for the same reason. So he has access to kitchen, family room, our bedroom, sewing room, and the finished basement.

 

I have found that leaving the TV or a radio on seems to help. Also, making SURE he goes outside to pee right before I leave also helps.

[greysmom]

...I would like to put her on meds but my behaviorist keeps saying that there are no kinds of meds that you can use for behavior problems.

 

Has your behaviorist never heard of Clomicalm (clomipromine)? I adopted a dog with severe SA. One month on Valium, two months on Clomicalm, with her crated when I wasn't home (so any peeing in the house was in the crate, not everywhere else), and she was fine. She realized I could leave the house, stay gone several hours, and come home, and her universe wouldn't come to an end. The drugs didn't make her dopey. They just took the edge off while she learned she could survive not having a person at her beck and call. (She didn't care that she had another dog in the house with her; she wanted a person.)

 

You also might try a DAP diffuser. That product reports success with three out of four dogs. (My girl is a #4.)

 

And you might look for a new behaviorist. Any behaviorist who isn't aware that drugs can be used to help deal with behavioral problems is a behaviorist who's not using all the tools available.

 

 

For *severe* SA yes, I agree. But I think it's overkill to put this greyhound on a high powered drug for a little pee puddle when some further training and consistency and exercise could solve the problem. The dog isn't chewing, isn't crapping or peeing all over the house, isn't injuring herself or another dog, isn't tearing down curtains, and she isn't completely freaking when they leave. If they can't help her through this then, yes, clomicalm or another medication may be needed. I just don't think it's necessary at this point.

 

I agree that the behaviorist should have known about anti-anxiety meds - assuming this person is a trained and certified behaviorist and not just a dog trainer who calls herself "behaviorist." Even then, there are many people who simply don't believe that drugs a) are appropriate at any time, and can really help animals in the long run. If this is not a certified Behaviorist, s/he may not be able to prescribe drugs and so try and pass them off as unuseable.