Preparing To Leave Teddi Alone With The Run Of The House...

[Guest kkaiser104]

As many of you know, Teddi's had a few little seperation anxiety issues. Mostly shredding things while in his crate (he's no longer crated...) and A LOT of barking. He's been baby gated into my room for the past 2 weeks or so with a muzzle on to avoid any more "incidents". While he's no longer capable of shredding things, he's been barking a lot these past few days and banging himself into the door. FWIW--I tried leaving the door open and just baby gating him, but that made his behavior worse.

 

He absolutely dreads going into my room in the morning before I leave--lays down in his bed in the living room, refuses to get up, etc.. This morning, after seeing him act like this, my roommate suggested leaving him with the run of the house. Obviously, I'm very nervous about that. But, I know that not being confined can sometimes fix all of the problems. We have an open concept house, so I can't just give him a few rooms at a time.

 

Here are my concerns:

 

1) I'm afraid he'll throw himself against the doors still. If he somehow got through them, he would have access to the outside world.

2) What if he gets out when we come home? We don't have double doors, and he's so thin and powerful that he could push past easily.

3) I would still have to muzzle him, for his own safety as well as mine. Are there any dangers of leaving him muzzled in the whole house like that? We don't have any drawer pulls or handles he could get stuck on.

 

I'm just a worrier! I left him with the run at my parents house and he didn't do a thing--but I don't know if that was because he had other dogs around who may have calmed him down. I want to help him sooo much, it's just causing me a lot of anxiety right now. Obviously I would have to work him up to this, just like I worked him up to being alone in my bedroom.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

1) I'm afraid he'll throw himself against the doors still. If he somehow got through them, he would have access to the outside world.

 

I don't have any answer for this one, except that it doesn't sound like a very likely scenario, unless your doors are particularly weak. Interior doors are generally weaker than exterior doors, so if he's broken through an interior door, I wouldn't automatically think him capable of the same feat with an exterior door.

 

2) What if he gets out when we come home? We don't have double doors, and he's so thin and powerful that he could push past easily.

 

Can you set up something to block access to the door? I'm thinking a wall of furniture or something (you said open concept), or if your entry is a bit of a separate room, a baby gate to keep him back. I would also invest time and energy in training him to wait at the door. Leash him up and go to the door, open it, but every time he tries to walk through tell him to wait and closed the door again. Repeat until he no longer moves toward the door when it opens, but waits until you release him. I can stand with my door wide open and even pull gently on Jayne's leash, but she won't set foot out until I say OK, because she's trained not to. When I come home her nose pokes out as the door cracks open, but the rest of her stays inside and she backs up as I walk in the door.

 

 

3) I would still have to muzzle him, for his own safety as well as mine. Are there any dangers of leaving him muzzled in the whole house like that? We don't have any drawer pulls or handles he could get stuck on.

 

Muzzles don't have the chocking hazard that collars do. If it got stuck it would most likely just pull right off his head. I know many, many people leave theirs on all day without incident.

[Guest kkaiser104]

1) I'm afraid he'll throw himself against the doors still. If he somehow got through them, he would have access to the outside world.

 

I don't have any answer for this one, except that it doesn't sound like a very likely scenario, unless your doors are particularly weak. Interior doors are generally weaker than exterior doors, so if he's broken through an interior door, I wouldn't automatically think him capable of the same feat with an exterior door.

 

2) What if he gets out when we come home? We don't have double doors, and he's so thin and powerful that he could push past easily.

 

Can you set up something to block access to the door? I'm thinking a wall of furniture or something (you said open concept), or if your entry is a bit of a separate room, a baby gate to keep him back. I would also invest time and energy in training him to wait at the door. Leash him up and go to the door, open it, but every time he tries to walk through tell him to wait and closed the door again. Repeat until he no longer moves toward the door when it opens, but waits until you release him. I can stand with my door wide open and even pull gently on Jayne's leash, but she won't set foot out until I say OK, because she's trained not to. When I come home her nose pokes out as the door cracks open, but the rest of her stays inside and she backs up as I walk in the door.

 

 

3) I would still have to muzzle him, for his own safety as well as mine. Are there any dangers of leaving him muzzled in the whole house like that? We don't have any drawer pulls or handles he could get stuck on.

 

Muzzles don't have the chocking hazard that collars do. If it got stuck it would most likely just pull right off his head. I know many, many people leave theirs on all day without incident.

 

Thanks for responding Jayne. I left him in the house last night while we ran to the store, and he was just fine. Doesn't look like he tried to get into anything, no pottying in the house, and when we came home he responded just fine to "back" when we walked in. Guess I worried a lot for nothing!

[Guest TBSFlame]

There are inside fences you can build around the door with a walk through gate.

[Guest kkaiser104]

There are inside fences you can build around the door with a walk through gate.

 

Ooooohh---do you have a link or something? I've never heard of these. I bought a baby gate for this purpose originally, but of course it doesn't fit! He wouldn't be able to get to my room, but he could learn to deal with that I think.

[FountainLady]

You can use an X-Pen and configure it anyway you need. They are wonderful for blocking off areas, or containing dogs.

[fliggie]

When my Carolina dog passed last February, I was so, so worried about leaving Sam alone--thunderphobic, separation anxiety--and he's getting up there. He'd never lived in the house without Ginger. Alpha until the first sound of thunder--then he hid behind his sister. Turns out, he really has done very fine on his own, although we have since adopted another dog. But I don't think that made a difference. Good luck, its frustrating stuff, but I'm sure you will work through it with him.

[sarabz]

I don't have much advice as I haven't had to deal with anything like this, but for what it's worth - the first couple of weeks we had Bella we baby-gated her into the bedroom during the day. We'd come home to scattered items, shredded paper, etc. From the day we trusted her with the run of the apartment, nothing has been shredded or disturbed since.

 

As others have mentioned, maybe something like an x-pen to block off the access to the door would give you some peace of mind.

 

Good luck!

[Ragsysmum]

We leave all our own new dogs and fosters with the run of the house except for the bathroom from the start. The first day with a new dog we follow wherever it goes, the second day we start with 'alone' training and outsde toiletting breaks every 1-2 hours. Then we just extend the time alone gradually and normally by the second week we can go out for a couple of hours with no problems. They are always well walked before being left so they are tired and have emptied out. Must admit though it is a while since we had an 'only' dog but then we did just the same but extended the alone training for longer if it looked liked there might be problems.

[cleptogrey]

"I'm just a worrier! I left him with the run at my parents house and he didn't do a thing--but I don't know if that was because he had other dogs around who may have calmed him down. I want to help him sooo much, it's just causing me a lot of anxiety right now. Obviously I would have to work him up to this, just like I worked him up to being alone in my bedroom."

 

you just posted the main problem- you are such a worrier!

it might not be time for YOU to leave your pup loose in the house! you need to feel comfortable with the idea, your pup will pick up on all of your worries, the do read minds:) if you are really determined to start leaving him alone and loose, try short, short segments of time:

when you shower, leave him loose

when you run downstairs to get the mail or do the laundry

when you quick run out to the car for something

work your way up to 1 hr departures, and add time on to that.

 

if they are going to get into something it happens pretty quickly. i remember velcro attacking antique books and vintage fishing lure boxes....the instant i jumped into the shower!

some dogs love paper...felix ate his therapy dog certification(on the counter) instantly. he also attacked various papers left on the kitchen table, needless to say anything important is put away. being alone is a time to learn to counter surf for some dogs, unmake the bed, and on and on. muzzled there might be more damage since your pup won't have the opportunity to lick a kong, chew up some large biskets and play w/ some toys. i personally don't like leaving a dog muzzled in the house- the exterior of the house is scratched by the muzzle. i but i do agree w/ taking the collar off(even though i'm too lazy and if there is an emergency and the fire dept needs to get in i would rather a dog escape w// a collar).do post on your door that there is a dog in the house!

 

do exercise your dog well before attempting to leave

if your dog is a chewer- i had a foster who chewed what ever she was next to, then i would leave the dog crated w/ kongs, etc. as to running out when you return- time to start some training and shape your dog's greeting into what YOU want. you can shape the behavior of your pup. don't let anyone say you are crating your dog, leaving them in a litimed area(baby gateing) them too long, it's as long as YOU need to leave them contained, your the owner. take your time, do some obedience training and feel comfortable handleing your dog, when the time is right you will know. in other words, take your time~

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Edited August 2, 2012 by cleptogrey

[Guest kkaiser104]

Teddi has been left out several times now with only a few little issues. However, I have a roommate (thank god she's moving out!) who sent me a very long text complaining about him this morning. Claiming he was running up and down the stairs, barking, blah blah blah. The roommate should be moving out next week, so I think tomorrow while I'm at work he will have to stay in the room again. Once she moves out I'll feel better about leaving him with the run of the house. She's one of those people that claims to love animals but you can tell she just doesn't get it. She thinks Teddi's upstairs to bother her. He's not--he's trying to comfort the puppy who is up in his crate barking. #rant over

 

Thanks for all of your suggestions! We're still working on it, but he's definitely getting SO MUCH better. His anxiety is already lower, I can tell, and he looks a lot less miserable when I leave the house. Tomorrow I'll put him back in the room, and then we'll be visiting my parents for the next week so he can stay out there. I'm hoping maybe seeing my parents dogs and how calm they are at home when we leave might help? Hopefully when I return C (roommate #1) will have moved out and our new roommate will have moved in. He's just crazy about the dogs and I know he'll handle them a lot better.

[cleptogrey]

roomates suck

who's dog is crated? will the dog be gone?

if he's fine at your parent's house then it's the other people in your house, not the dog.

[Guest kkaiser104]

roomates suck

who's dog is crated? will the dog be gone?

if he's fine at your parent's house then it's the other people in your house, not the dog.

 

The roommate that I like's (S) dog is crated, and she understands that Teddi is a dog...he's going to bark. He's bored. I'd freaking bark too. The puppy will still be here once C moves out, and then we can get on with our lives. She also texted S about her puppy. The puppy is 3 months old--it's normal for them to bark. He's afraid of being left alone...he's just a baby! Roommates do suck, and I'm ready for her to leave.