Hey there Melissa,
Generally I don't talk about this, I find it embarrassing, as if I failed my dog but you have got to know that you are not alone, so here goes.
My boy Seamus, as much of a love bug as he was had separation anxiety so severe that it would shake us to our core. When we had an apartment with a sliding glass door, he would bash himself against it trying to get out. Once the glass shook so badly that I feared it would shatter.
We tried crating him but he bashed the crate with his body. We tried EVERYTHING but nothing worked. When we moved to Jersey it didn't stop either. We were exhausted by Seamus, fearful that he would really hurt himself, and a couple of times he came damn close.
No one could figure out Seamus, least of all us. So what happened was that we put shutters on all the windows here. Yes, he would try to get out of the windows also. Whenever we would leave he would spin like a top and bash up against the door, jumping in the way so that we could not leave. My husband and I reacted with exasperation. I would yell out of frustration. It was just a miserable situation.
The embarrassing part is that I feel that there was a part of him that was never sure that he wasn't going to be left, again. I wondered what kind of message I was sending him that he didn't trust that we would return.
Seamus was found by his Daddy in one of those mobile SPCA vans. His appearance was a scandal and I wrote letters to the SPCA and they cleaned up their act when the Mayor saw the letter. That was a good thing.
Seamus was perfect in every other way he just couldn't stand to be away from us. When we 'Seamus proofed' this house I felt good that he wouldn't hurt himself but it broke my heart that he never did settle down on his high anxiety. It would start when I would put on my clothes in the morning, that simple task would put him on high alert as he would wait for me to leave.
His favorite thing in the world was driving with us. That was his thing. I wish that I could have eased him more, found a way to combat the anxiety he suffered from each and every day and I hated to see him so unhappy.
I am speaking to you now, to show you that you are not alone and I really know what you are going through. Some shelties, nee dogs are prone to these attacks. Modifying your own behavior is key maybe. With Seamus, if I was going out, I would change some of my routine, tricking him into not knowing I was leaving. We would sit quietly and dash out the door at the last minute, and tho we heard him bashing the door with his body, it was less severe in duration that way. We used to hang around to make sure he quieted down and he always did quiet down.
When we got Harper Lee, as much as Seamus loved to ride with us,was as much as she hated to ride. Her first time out she would bounce off of the windows and try to bite the passing traffic through the windows, yelping in a shriek so high, it was deafening. So I had ying and yang for a very loooong time. With Harper Lee it was simple, I bought ear plugs and we tether her to the bottom of the floor. She whimpers but it is so much better for her not to see traffic at all and her anxiety is greatly reduced.
One would love to ask these gentle babies, what happened to them in their former lives before they came to live in their forever homes.
I thought about giving up Seamus also, for a minute but like you wouldn't and couldn't.
Was it all worth it to us? I would give anything in the world to have him back twirling and bashing, anything.
oooo's
Kate
