So very frustrated with destruction of my house

[iateabear]

My dog, he’s about 4-5 the shelter was unsure of his age exactly, was moved shelter from shelter plus survived parvo & Lyme. Which means he had to be isolated for at least 3 weeks in the shelter for the parvo, I gave him antibiotics for the Lyme due to the shelter “missing it.” So basically when I got him, he was not labeled aggresive at all, which I’m totally aware aggression is always a risk you’re taking with an animal. But the point being, I got him and he was sooooo chill…because he was sooooo sick and almost dead. I’d walk him and he’d walk a few steps and just sit down . 3 days of antibiotics and he changed entirely. He became entergetic, playful etc . Don’t get me wrong my dog isn’t mean, I just genuinely think he’s been through some shit. Like when I do laundry, I lift hangers to put them in clothes and he gets scared. He’s scared of knives too, which I think is so odd for a dog to be scared of a blade. And he hates meeting new people, going to the park is super hard, and the vet is incredibly difficult. He has to be muzzled & medicated for the vet. Another thing is when I leave for work he’s in a kennel, he’s a small, maybe considers medium dog? He’s 25 lb and in a kennel large enough for a German Shepard. Lots of toys, blankets etc. I had to get a $300 hunting dog kennel for him because the other kennels despite being big enough, he kept breaking out of. When he’d break out he’d demolish the house. So I tried leaving him out? I thought maybe he just hated the kennel. So he chewed the doorframe completely off the door. Chewed holes in everything. And it’s not that I’m mad, I mean yea I’m frustrated but god I feel so bad for him. I can’t imagine being so anxious you chew through the doorframe trying to find your mom. I just wanna fix it and I don’t know how.

 

[withby]

@iateabear It Must be extremely hard to deal with his severe separation anxiety =( you need a behaviourist vet, or at least if someone came to me as a trainer with these problems I would have them seek help from a behaviourist vet. Training isn't going to help here until the anxiety is dealt with.

 

[sincerious1]

@iateabear I had a dog like this that was also confined for a long time when he was younger.
I'd say meds for now, but our dog eventually grew out of it and was super chill.

When I say he was like this, he literally ate a wooden banister, mattress, all the underwear, and anything else in his path. By the end he could be walked off leash and didn't chew anything, so there is hope.

 

[kevin43]

@iateabear Hi! So I completely understand! We had a similar story with our buddy. He had heartworm and Ehrlichia when we brought him home. We also have what we lovingly call the jail cell, because he busted out of all the other crates. As we progressed through his treatment, we hired a behaviorist trainer who helped us immensely. His first recommendation were meds. He was clear that we have a good dog, but his anxiety gets the best of him in situations. So we worked with our vet who started him on fluoxetine. It took about 60 days to notice a change. It didn't necessarily make a huge difference with the separation, but he is so much better on walks, when we have guests over, etc. They also gave us a crate cocktail for while we are working on the separation anxiety. It includes trazadone, clonidine, and clonezepam. It's been a lot of work with our trainer, but our dog can handle the crate for less than 4 hours without the cocktail now. It's been about a year, and we still have work to do. But it's very rewarding to see our guy make such progress. I know how stressful it is, we've been there. But with the right help and some work, it can get better.

 

[tubgirl_309]

@iateabear Separation anxiety to the hilt