I need patience!!!!! *rant*

[Amanda]

[Amanda]

We have an older golden retriever, she is maybe 11-12. We got her a few years ago. She has always had trouble with thunderstorms, mostly shaking and panting…..Now, suddenly, within the last month she has become extremely thunderstorm phobic & developed severe seperation anxiety.

It started gradually, first peeing at night, then on vacation, she ripped out a window in our camper and jumped almost 6 feet to the ground. A freind cuaght her and sat with her until we arrived. Nxt day, no storm, but she decided to eat a blind, rip a big hole in the camper couch, aND ripped out one tent end(we have a hybrid camper) and jumped out, dug herself a nice hole to lay in until we returned. So, then we start crating her ans she started peeing in her crate. Bla bla bla, took her to the vet. Vet thought maybe a UTI + anxiety. So, antibiotics and we chose to put her on Clomiprime. It’s been 10 days and lately she has been doing ok. We had bad storms yesterday and she wasn’t any worse then normal, and she has been fine at night. Well, I just went to the grocery store literally for 20 minutes and came back to a badly chewed crate and pee all over her and the crate and the floor. I’m SO pissed off right now. You know, we have a new house and I want to keep it new and nice. She has already damaged 2 window frames, pissed all over the place(excuse my language) and now she has startd all over again. I know I have to be patient with her because otherwise I’ll just make her more anxious, but seriously, this is starting to get on my nerves. 4 more days and we can increase the dose of her clomiprime and hopefully that will help, but it could be another month before we see any improvement…..if she responds to this medication at all. I feel so bad, she is the sweetest dog and great with the kids and the cats and is alot of fun to have. I mad at myself for getting mad at her. Please, I need help being patient….

[mamawolf544]

Oh I feel for you. we have 5 10+ in years dogs and storms make them nuts. They cry follow us everywhere, we have one that throws up. 🙁 It seems the older they get the more child like they are.
Just hang in there and I hope the meds kick in for her. I think I would call the vet back tho and see if their is something else you can give.

[Kristen]

I feel for you, ouch.

I think our cat gets separation anxiety, she comes and bugs us to wake us up if we aren’t up fast enough, and if we leave for a long enough time, she will sometimes poo on the carpet (at night so we step in it) as some kind of punishment. Hasn’t done it in a while, but that’s probably because I’m home all the time. 🙄

[Pamela]

It’s not unusual for dogs to develop separation anxiety or have the storm phobia get worse as they get older. Hopefully the clomipramine will help. Sometimes leaving the radio or TV (Animal Planet?) on for her can help. Or a toy with peanut butter in it to distract her. Your vet should have some behavior modification suggestions. In really bad cases (such as T-storms) Xanax might help but you would need to check with your vet if you can use that with the clomipramine.

It also helps sometimes to increase the size of her “pack” – ie get her a puppy. A radical suggestion that might not work and I would only recommend if you had been thinking of getting another dog anyway. You might end up with twice as many problems. 🙄

Good luck. I don’t blame you for getting frustrated. But hopefully she will get better.

[Amanda]

Thanks guys. I’m still really upset. I can’t give her anything else while she is on the clomipromine, so thats out. I have been thinking about getting another dog, but I don’t want to end up with the new dog getting anxiety issues because of Delilah.

I guess what I’m upset about is the fact that I can’t just fix it. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and hopefully a better one…

[Alyssa]

Have you tried to watch “Its me or the dog” on Animal Planet?

Here is the link:

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/its-me-or-the-dog/its-me-or-the-dog.html
They talk a lot about dogs having issues with owners leaving and talk about how to fix it so the dog stops that behavior.

[Starbreeze]

That looks like a great show. 😀 My Pugs already have me well trained, so I guess it’s too late. 😆

[Alyssa]

starbreeze wrote:

That looks like a great show. 😀 My Pugs already have me well trained, so I guess it’s too late. 😆

haha, I love that show. I like to turn on the tv to wake up a little bit before I start to get ready for work.

[Lokie]

I’m sorry your having such a hard time with your dog, asinnamon. I wish I could offer some helpful remarks, but I have no experience with such behaviour and it seems like you understand not to blame the dog for his actions. I can only hope the drugs help, hang in there!

I think someone posted a link for an article on seperation anxiety for dogs, I’ll go see if I can dig it up.

Edit: Here is the link to the article and this is the thread were another member (DC) was having difficulties with her own dog. Maybe these can be of use to you.

dragonessjade wrote:

Have you tried to watch “Its me or the dog” on Animal Planet?

That’s a great show and I learn a new training technique every time I watch it.

[Kristen]

I heard something on the weather network that might help with her thunderstorm problem, basically record or buy a recording of a thunderstorm, then play it really low, and increase the volume of it daily so that they get used to it.

Might help, saw it and thought of you (my cat LIKES thunderstorms. She wants to go outside and watch when they are going off). 🙄

[Amanda]

thanks you guys! I’ll check out the links! I may try the desensitization training, but not until after her meds kick in more. I think she is so keyed up right now that it would justr cause more anxiety.

[Author]

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