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Hi All,

We are having problems with our monsters. Sapphire who is now 17 weeks has started messing and urinating on top of the sofas and our older dog then sprays over whatever she has done. Sapphire is still in and out of the vets for IV fluids and seems to have developed separation anxiety. She will mess even when left alone for 30 minutes and cries like she is being murdered.

We have kept Sapphire inside because she has been so ill and needed to be watched closely and kept our older dog in with her to help with the separation anxiety.

Any advice and help would be very much appreciated!!!!

Ange :confused:

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Hey ya,

We had the same kinda prob when we first got Grey ( We rehomed himat 7 months) He would mess all over the house and would get in the bedroom and jump on the bed and mess all over the duvet.

We had a chat with the vet and they said he might have developed separation anxiety and didnt like to be left alone and plus he was also needing time to settle in to his new home and family.

Grey's poo was very wet and runny and woud not eat his food so the vet gave us somting to relax him and to harden his poo.

To get him to sellte in more quickley we got him lots of his fav toys and hand feed him to eat so that that he could see we wasnt going to hurt him and after a couple weeks all of this stopped and am glad to say he is a happy chappy now (4months on)

Maybe you should have a chat with your vet and see what they suggest??? but Little things like hand feeding and lots of cuddles & play done the trick for us.

Have you thought of crate training???? We did with Grey and it really helps!!! work it up day by day by leaving him in the crate for 5 mins and go out of the room and come back in giving lots of praise and reward and the next day go out of the room a little longer and do the same thing again etc......

Slowly the msg will sink in and will see being left alone is not such a bad thing. Also you could try leaving the the tv on low or radio so that he can hear a little noise and this can help settle him.

we also get plastic bottles & boxes and cut holes in them and fill them up with treats so that it keeps Grey busy trying to get the treats out.

Hope Iv been some help. Good luck :D

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Its gonna take a commitment from you. Do not give up. Had some of this happen with mine. Need to limit area dogs can go. Also get a blanket for them to sleep on and rub on you, so that your scent is there for them.

Try these:

http://www.wpahumane.org/separation.html

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/separationanxiety.htm

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html

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Thanks everyone :o)

We have had a chat with the vet about it but they didn't come up with anything useful, although they have suggested a DAP collar for the separation anxiety.

We are going to try her with a crate and will do as suggested and introduce her to it slowly. I am hoping that as she is used to sleeping in a crate at the vets she might take to it. I have also had a chat with my neighbours and explained that if during the night they hear lots of crying its just the pup and nothing is wrong.

Toys are another problem, she eats everything (has even tried having a munch at some paving slabs!!) but because of her bowel operations i have to be extra careful she doesn't swallow anything she shouldn't as she cannot have any further tummy problems. She is a bouncy loving little monster but well worth the effort, however i have a feeling i will be grey before she reaches her first birthday! lol

Ange xx

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with regards 2 her chewing things she shouldnt is there anyway that instead ov havin toys 2 chew, cud she have sum chews or bones instead ?

Vet has said no bones of any kind and same for raw-hide chews :( The only thing i have found so far are some very hard baked biscuit type bones that don't fragment. It would be great to find her some variety while still keeping her safe.

Ange xx

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We had a huge problem with Kremlin, he did pee on our beds a couple of times and at a certain moment he had started to mark inside the house, namely on two closets that were in the hall. We had a really hard time solving that and it almost drove us all crazy, I mean, it had gotten to the point where if Kremlin did something wrong and was taken out of the room, 2 secs later he peed on a closet. And it was obvious he could hold it, since there were no huge quantities, but enough to be noticed.

Anyway, we established a new rule - no access to beds and sofas, unless invited (and no access to any room other than the hall unsupervised), which of course helped a lot and we also emphasized the NILIF method and slowly, it's gotten better and now, even if he sometimes has accidents in the house, it's obviously not a reaction to some of our actions.

I would definitely restrict her access in some rooms of the house - this way she will be given less opportunities to urinate on stuff.

I think that starting to do little training sessions with her would help a lot too - you can bond and it also teaches her that she can trust you and that you are in charge. NILIF is a good method too:

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Even if that is not your main issue now, I am definitely convinced that starting training with her would help a lot! It certainly helped fix some of Kremlin's problems.

Regarding separation anxiety, I have never faced this. We always leave stuff for Kremlin, either a Kong or his rope toy or other toys. We used to leave rawhides too when he was smaller, but now that he has gotten to chew a huge bone in 1 hour, I think it's too dangerous to leave him unsupervised with rawhide.

You can also use cheese and frozen yougurt for Kongs! Kremlin absolutely loves it when we put yogurt in and then freeze the Kong. I heard peanut butter also works well as Kong filler, though it's too expensive for me to give it to the dog. If you give it to him with yogurt, you can also put in there small bits of cheese or meat or even carrots or fruits if he likes it (gotta check what dogs are allowed to eat out of fruits and veggies though).

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We all managed to survive night 1 of Sapphire in the crate, although i nearly caved in and released her because she used those watery blue eyes of hers along with a pathetic sad cry. However after about an hour she settled for the night and was good as gold. I spent the evening cuddling a small blanket and put that in with her when i put her to bed.

There's been an extra benefit of her being in the crate, our older boy "Indy" who really likes his sleep didn't get chewed and pounced all night so he seems to be a much happier boy today.

At the moment i have a Kong full of yoghurt and small chunks of chicken in the freezer and will introduce her to it later.

Thank you all for your support, it has helped a great deal.

Ange xx

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great advise everyone, added to reps :)

I haven'y had this problem myself before but have also heard that the DAP products are usually very good to use with nervous/anxious dogs, a friend of mine used one for her dog and it really helped him :)

Im not sure if it would help or not but will probably prevent the furniture getting destroyed. Have you thought of shutting the doors and leaving her with Indy in one room? You could empy a room so it becomes their 'play' room for when your out.

Another thing you can put in the kong is things like Tuna or other tinned fish and freeze that. Ive yet to find a dog that refuses fish! Its very smelly and easily attracts dogs and can make a nice tasty treat. My 3 LOVE fish and its doesnt take them long to reaslise when they get it for tea! Also sandwhich paste/pate can also keep them amused too

You can also buy brain teasing toys for dogs also, but with Sapphire being young I dont know if they would be suitable. Ive just bought a Chuckle from pets at home. Its made from solid rubber and you can also put treats into either end for them to throw about and now and then they get rewarded when the treat comes out :) You can also buy treat balls which would be safe for puppies :)

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Sapphire loved the frozen yoghurt and bits in the Kong so that is a definate winner. The crate training is going really well also.

I realised that i have probably been more lenient with her because of how very ill she has been so i am now working on being firmer with her training also. Time to remind her who the pack leader is ~grin~

As for the camping trip, all being well, we certainly hope to be going :D

I am so glad i found the group and joined, you have all been so helpful and friendly. Thank You!

Ange xx

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