Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Any help much appreciated!

62 replies

SamanthaH92 · 06/04/2018 14:29

We have an 8 year old staffy. I am at my witts end and unsure what to do. He suffers with seperation anxiety. Not with me but my partner. Since having DD almost 2 years ago he has slowly got worse. Over the past 6 months its got out of control, if OH comes home and goes out again he will wee and poo in the kitchen. I'm sometimes up cleaning the left overs of poo of the kitchen floor in the early hours. I say left overs because he has started eating it!! I have been told to put pineapple in his food and he should stop that so going to try that. But he can be let out and walked and still do it in the house. He's also started chewing DDs toys even if we put them away, he will always have chewed something if we go out. He is on steriods and special food so cannot change his food. Can anyone offer any advice?

OP posts:
Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 07/04/2018 20:17

He is on some special dry food. Unfortunetly money is tight so he has to have what we can afford and what agrees with him. I'll see about that when we see the vet x

OP posts:
Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 07/04/2018 20:19

He is in the dining room when we all eat our meals because if you shut him out he howls and scratches to get to you. Incase LO drops any food. He hates to think he is missing out! Like i said i would rather there was no howling. We live in a rented property and i don't want complaints of our neighbourghs the walls are thin as they are x

OP posts:
FrangipaniBlue · 07/04/2018 20:38

Struggling to see why one of you can't get up earlier in the morning to take him for a longer walk or why you don't have time at night, surely one of you could just take him late on before you go to bed?

The not having time to walk him and money being tight re:giving him a decent diet excuses all sounds like you are can't really be bothered with him.

Or maybe I'm just sensitive because I'm facing having my 15yr old girl PTS in a few days and I would literally give my last breath to see her comfortable and happy.....

missbattenburg · 07/04/2018 20:43

OP, genuine question... do you LIKE the dog?

Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 07/04/2018 21:05

Yes i do like the dog. He is brilliant with my DD, she loves him to bits. He is a big softie and very loving. He is DDs best friend.

OP posts:
Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 07/04/2018 21:08

He is on the dog food he can eat and what we can afford. Of course we are bothered but i cannot magic money out of no where for expensive food. I cannot walk him as stated before. He pulls and i have fairly bad spd atm so even walking to the top of the street hurts me. We are busy with the LO and OH is having to help out a lot more than usual.

OP posts:
ChardonnaysPrettySister · 07/04/2018 21:17

Sorry OP, but 10 mins in the morning and half an hour in the evening just aren't enough.

Dogs live for their walks.

Can you take him to a local park and stay there with him and your DD? he can run around and sniff while your DD has a nap? The weather is getting better now too.

A harness might help with the pulling.

katmarie · 07/04/2018 21:58

How big is your garden? Can you take him out there and play games with him? Mentally stimulating stuff like hiding treats for him to find, mixed in with simpler stuff like throwing a ball to help him burn off energy.

strayducks18 · 07/04/2018 21:59

Poor dog what a miserable existence for him. Maybe you should consider rehoming him

missbattenburg · 07/04/2018 22:09

It's great that the dog has a loving home - that is a good foundation to work from.

The mental stim stuff suggested can help, not least because everyone sleeps better when they have been busy during the day, and is good for the dog anyway because in all honesty it doesn't sound like he gets very much - so please look at that. It's not, however, a silver bullet.

At the heart of it, it sounds like the dog is scared to be left - this may be relatively new in a dog that was previously ok with it but that doesn't change the fact that it is how he feels now. It you come at it from that angle, it may help. If the dog is scared at night and you don't want him upstairs then can someone sleep downstairs with him for a few nights to see if that helps? Perhaps the full nights to start with but then leaving him about 6am, 5am, 4am and so on...

If that's not a goer then think about other things that help reassure when left alone. I had a dog that started crying at night as he got older and found leaving a light on for him really helped him. Leaving some relaxing music or a low level radio.

Giving him something he is allowed to chew can help. This will be even more effective if it smells of you (or your oh) so try spending a few days handling a chew to let it absorb some of your natural smell. Dogs chew because the very action of doing so is relaxing to them, it soothes the nerves.

There are plenty of people who think smells can help, just like with humans. Lavender scented oils left in the kitchen at night may help.

Dorwest herbs sell Scullcap and Valerian tablets and tincture which many people speak very favourably of (though I have never used them myself).

DaisyChainsForever · 07/04/2018 23:59

Following with interest as we are in a similar situation with our new rescue dog. weeing and pooing in the kitchen and crying when left downstairs (with ddog1) although not when we go out of the house(?) Am going to re-read everyone's comments to see if i can pick up any helpful tips.

Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 08/04/2018 08:01

missbattenburg thank you for your advise. We will look in to what you all suggested. I shall book a vets appointment also on monday. When i got up this morning he had not wee'd or poo'd anywhere! So very happy about that lol x

OP posts:
lynmilne65 · 08/04/2018 10:21

Get rid

mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 08/04/2018 14:47

Lynmilne65: "Get Rid"
Not at all helpful advice. OP loves her dog, her daughter ADORES the dog - OP wants to stop him being distressed and address his problems, which is praiseworthy. She is also reading all the responses, including the ones that are a bit critical of how the dog is presently passing his days, with an open mind. I hope it all works out well.

lynmilne65 · 08/04/2018 15:21

Rehome

Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 08/04/2018 15:24

Rehoming is definetly not an option. Although it has been brought up previously we both agreed we wouldn't. He is OHs dog and very much a big part of the family. DD does indeed adore him very much. OH would never let him go to somebody else as he is his dog. We need to do some work with him and i am reading everybodys comments. I'm very happy with him today. Left for 2 hours alone and came home to no chewing or mess. Hoping we can move forward and improve the behaviour and work on what needs to be worked on but I'm not expecting it to be easy or quick lol xx

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 08/04/2018 15:31

This dog needs more exercise. 10 minutes in the morning is far too short a time.
Why can't you walk it?
If it's separation anxiety proper you can't leave this dog for longer than it is happy with. Even if that is a second or two. Leaving a dog to get distressed reinforces rhe anxiety.
If it isn't SA then thundershirt, radio on and adaptil may help. You must ensure the dog can't get anything it shouldn't chew.

Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 08/04/2018 16:04

Wolfiefan i cannot walk the dog because i have pretty bad SPD. I can barley walk to the top of our street without been in pain atm. He also pulls so its a definite no for me walking him right now

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 08/04/2018 16:17

He pulls because he isn't trained not to and isn't getting enough exercise. That needs sorting.

Anchovies12 · 08/04/2018 16:25

You can look at other ways of tiring him out. When our rescue lab had hurt his hip we did tonnes of clicker training (just using his regular food) and taught him loads of tricks. Seemed to tire him out more than an hour of running in the hills with dh! Also all food was used to occupy him while we weren't with him - frozen into kongs, puzzle boards or even just hidden in cardboard tubes or cereal boxes.

Definitely think your first stop should be the vets though.

Mol1628 · 08/04/2018 16:32

You need to find a way to get him more exercise. Either me or OH gets up an hour earlier each day so our dog can get a long walk in, then we do two shorter walks and she runs in the garden too.

Have you considered crate training? Only problem being your dog needs to have had plenty of exercise before crating for any lengthy periods of time.

My nervous dog loves her crate, she’s happy to go in and calmly waits for me to come home. I leave the radio on for her which helps too.

BiteyShark · 08/04/2018 16:32

As well as vet check and also trying to get him to settle when left alone I also agree with tiring him mentally with tricks etc especially if you can't up his physical walks. Just to give you an idea of how tiring it can be, I spent around 5-10 mins trying to lure my dog to stop in the right position on a mat for agility training. He was panting and out of breath afterwards as he was totally mentally shattered from trying to work out what to do to get the treats out of my hand.

It will also help if you could train him to do the tricks if you think he is fixating on your DH.

Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 08/04/2018 16:44

@wolfiefan he pulls because he was run over as a puppy so hates cars and we unfortunetly live in a town now

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 08/04/2018 16:46

So you need to find places to walk that don't put him under so much stress.

Original poster
SamanthaH92 · 08/04/2018 16:52

We still have to walk down busy roads to get to parks. We don't have much of an option there.

OP posts:
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread