Paddo Pup

Thanks I've spoken to R Lea and emailed Jo. Wish us luck. Thanks everyone!

It took us two months to properly understand what was going on and recognise this as S.A. as we thought she just didn't know where we wanted her to toilet. Hubby has been ok with paying things up to date, she's cost us a small fortune. He draws the line at their fees though. I understand they are meant to be the best but it's too high for now

Yes I think Burn Out sounds about right. This week has been a bad week carpet wise. We hafe a two week holiday cming up next month and she is staying with friends who work from home and have a rescue dog of their own who plays well with our dog. It's the best place for our dog but I am feeling very guilty about the mess they have to clean up when they need to go go out too.

I'm not trying to put down either because I don't know who they are and what you've been through, but if you're really serious about helping her I would see someone at Sydney Animal Behaviour Service in Seaforth. They are extraordinarily expensive, but no one in NSW is better qualified to help you handle this than Kersti Seksal. If she or one of her co-workers can't help you find a solution that will improve your dog's emotional state when you have to leave her, I doubt anyone can. If you can't afford them and are not already seeing her, my second choice would be Jo Righetti. She is not a vet behaviourist, but is very experienced and All Natural Vet Care in Russell Lea work with her. She possibly works with a few other vets as well. I get that you are probably feeling pretty despairing at this point and that you have tried everything. Hang in there. I agree that if she is content and happy when you are with her it seems you should go above and beyond to try to help her for those times when she can't be with you. It is very exhausting, though, and it gets harder and harder to find the will to try yet another thing when nothing yet has really made a significant improvement. But I don't think managing the toileting issue is a solution. Thank you, we were advised to contact the Sydney Animal Behaviour Service in Seaforth and my husband refused to pay such high fees. I will try Jo today. I am defintely feeling exhausted by it as we've had a particularly BAD week and she has only been alone for about 3 hours total. It's only Friday! Putting her down doesn't feel like the right answer but I am starting to think depsite all the effort we have put in maybe she needs to be homed with someone who almost never goes out? Then put ito a large backyard with no neighbours when she is left alone. We've had a few complaints from our neighbours so leaving heroutside is not an option. She is too active for an eldery person so I dont know if I am even thinking along the right track here! We'd be devastated to let her go too.

We are in the Eastern suburbs and we have had numerous discussions with our vet and our behaviour therapist. My issue is that she is so content and easy when we are with her that putting her down just seems so extreme and sad. Her story before us in not good, she had cherry eye and numerous operations, at least 3 homes that we know of after she was dumped and then rescued.

I dont wish to sound like a know it all but the kind suggestions regarding exercise, food, zoning.... we've honestly tried it all. She goes to dog day care 1-2 days a week to socialise with other dogs and our local dog parks every day. My husband and I are very active and our dog is taken for daily morning runs and long walks as we notice she is much calmer if she has been allowed to burn out her energy. I cannot imagine putting her down, she's only 3 years old and so full of life, playful and affectionate. She's touched all our friends and family so much since we got her. My father for example always hated dogs (crazy!) and I have overheard him babytalking to her! I really am at my wits end though. I just dont know what else to try besides dog diapers and more drugs. I have printed off the very helpful notes from Great Dane Rescue and there are some new ideas in there we can try especially regarding leadership. We so wanted to do the right thing by adopting a rescue dog and whilst we love her to bits our journey has been very difficult. We didn't even know what separation anxiety was until 2 months after we adopted her and now it seems to rule our life.

Her advice: *Obedience school which we did. *Start toilet training from the very beginning, if we can make 4 weeks without an accident we have succeded. If we have one accident we start from the beginning. The longest we've ever made it was 4 days. She had us us try crating but I dont think she understood how distressed the dog got inside the crate when we were not home. Last night I went out for 1 hour and put her in the bathroom in her bed with a gym shirt of my husband's. I came home and she had shredded the bathroom door. We've been told not to reprimand her for accidents as it is like car sickness and childern, she can't help it. It's pretty hard walking inside to find numerous wet spots and worse on the carpet each week though.

Thank you. I will ask our vet about Clomicalm. I've been hesitanmt to try more drugs as we found with the Reconcile she was subdued but spent a lot of time hiding under the bed and would behave in a submissive manner for no apparent reason (ie on our way to the car when she is usually excited she would behave timidly) Also worth noting we were paying AUD$86 a monthy for Reconcile only to be told the company had sold out for a few months and would have no stock until April. We were then given a prescription for human Prozac and told to give her this instead at a cost of $11 a month, The vet promised us it was exactly the same thing just not flavoured. Hmmmm. She was very antisocial on Reconcile and it didnt stop the peeing or anxiety so we took her of it after 9 months and noticed she seemed happier

We are definitely not ready for another dog while we are working through this! We have started toilet training from the beginning so many times but as soon as we go out, she pees inside

Yes we tried crating and having her bed inside the crate while we were home and she rolled over and peed every time we went to put her in it, tried to feed her in there and she refused to eat. We dog sat for a friend to see if another dog would help and he ended up peeing over her wet spots so we had double the wee to clean up and he apparenlty never wees inside at his own home. Our behaviour therapist said her anxiety would only rub off on another dog as she is so focussed on humans. We try to ignore her for hours at a time when we are home and give her time out on patio so she doesnt only associate it with when we are not home but she still wees inside every time she is left alone. She panicks and walks through her urine so her prints are up and down the hallway. I've watched her from outside and she is pacing and crying in distress. It's heartbreaking to see.

Thanks for replies. To clarify she only has accidents when left alone. If we are home she knows to go outside on the patio area and happily takes herself to the right place. She spends hours in my office with me and have never once had an accident there as she has never been left alone for a minute. We tried crating and she got so distressed her paws were bleeding from trying to get out. She is the most loveable happy little dog AS LONG as we are around. She has a lovely life with us but this is a big problem as we can't leave her with friends and family if we go away. We've tried confining her to the bathroom and she scratches at the door and howls, shakes. She needs to be able to see us to relax. Example - I took her to the park for 45 minutes Wednesday morning then came home, put her Thunder Shirt on (she wears this when we are home too) I came back 45 minutes later to 2 wees and a poo on the carpet, the patio door was open the whole time. We've tried puppy pads for months at a time but she used them as a matt to lie on, we also have a pet loo outside. Our behaviour therapist said she has incomplete toilet training, separation anxiety and anxiety with toilet training. A great combination! The vet thinks this is most likely why she ended up dumped at the pound. She is terrified if we use stern voices with her and rolls over and submissive wees - essentially she pees herself if we tell her NO "toilet outside". I think she has been treated badly by her past owners in regards to peeing inside.

Hi there, We adopted a maltese,shitzu x jack russel in November 2011. We ADORE her but she suffers from pretty bad seaparation anxiety and nothing we have done has solved this to date. We've tried it all and we've read up on everything we can, we've seen behaviour therapists, been on Reconcile, Thunder Shirts you name it! We've also completely changed our working weeks to be at home more, or take her into the office so she has minimal time at home alone. We are committed to keeping our dog despite the fact that she wees/poos inside even when left alone for even 30 mins. This happens 3-5 times a week. We can't put her outside alone when we got out as she yelps and disturbs the neighbours. SO as a final resort we are trying dog diapers. Has anyone else had to put their dog in these? Will this be a permanent thing? Will she be stressed if she wets/soils them and is in them for a period of time? Has anyone else had this kind of issue? We found Reconcile just made her dopey and antisocial, she is a much more energetic and social dog off this (she was on it for 9 months) Any advice really appreciated, we are at our wits end and our cream carpet is destroyed!

Thanks so much for all the info. I have printed it out and attahed to our fridge. I think we are definitely giving her too much affection and making her needy. It's SO hard not to but I must be firmer. I think the doage may need adjusting, there have been some good changes with it, she has stopped following me from room to room and is content to be on her own a bit more at home which is good. She is definitely not needing to be put t sleep or anythign like that, we just have to keep working through this. She is worth it!

Hi there. Sorry if this topic has been thrashed already! I have read everything I can find on these forums regarding separation anxiety and it has been really helpful! I just wanted to know a little more about dogs who have been prescribed Reconcile/Prozac and what to expect. We adopted our little 2 year old terrier cross rescue dog 5 months ago and discovered she had spearation anxiety within the first few weeks. We have since had sessions with dog trainers, been to obedience school, been crating her and made sure she is at home alone for minimal times a week but she urinates inside, cries, scratches, paces and pants when she is by herself. We went to the vet and as a last resort have put her on Reconcile to combine with her training as we received a complaint from a neighbour threating to contact strata (we have permission to have our dog in the building as long as she does not distrub others). She has plenty of space and toys, we leave her a bone etc when we go out and never leave her for more than 4-5 hours at a time. She often comes to work with me too. She has been on the medication for 4 weeks now and she just seems out of sorts. She doesnt play as often and now growls and refuses to socialise with other small dogs she was previously very friendly with. She also spends a fair bit of time hiding under the bed. I have also noticed she seems to be licking herself around her bottom to the point of bleeding. I have also noticed her shaking which is said to be a side effect. We absolutely adore our dog and will never give her up and are trying to be the pack leaders and do all the right things but I am wondering if there is something esle we can do better? Any help greatly appreciated!