by BigDogBuford » February 16th, 2006, 11:54 pm
Maybe a little more history is in order:
This is a Katrina dog that spent lots of time caged at Lamar Dixon....weeks. He was then sent to a dog collector where he spent a week in a cage, sitting in urine and feces, outisde in the cold. Then he was flown up here to WA and spent a week at a nice kennel before I brought him home. He's been with me almost three months now. His teeth were checked out and they're just fine.
He was crated per my vet's instructions during HW treatment. The treatment alone kills 20% of dogs and I wasn't willing to take a chance. He spent about 4 weeks of that treatment in a crate and 4 weeks tethered so he couldn't run around and play. He wasn't allowed any walks, but I do have a 1/3 acre fenced that we could go relax in.
Just to make things clear, he's not crated for extended periods. He's crated at night (because he'd eat the kitties) and he's crated every once ina while during the day ususally for no more than three hours. I take him to work with me almost every day, so he's just leashed behind the desk with me. If we put him in one of the deluxe runs in the back, the fountain is on again. He can chew through a chain link dog run so I don't think any of the other containment options would work. I do have him in the jumbo size crate. He's got a bit of a chewing problem that's getting better but I wouldn't trust him not crated without anyone there.
I'm wondering if he's here long enough, that he'll relax a bit and start to realize that nothing bad is going to happen. I put a DAP diffuser in the spare room where he sleeps at night and I was wondering if Melatonin might be worth a shot. I'm also wondering about relaxation exercises. Is a rigid schedule best for him right now? Any other suggestions? I hate to go the med route before I've exhausted all other options... I honestly think he's afraid of being abandonded again like he was during the hurricane.
Thanks in advance!
~Jeanine
You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.