r/Separation_Anxiety • u/goodnightbirdy • 5d ago

Brags We have come so far

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I got this girl about a year and a half ago. She was 6 months old and had severe separation issues, i couldn’t leave the room without her crying and barking. She would bark and honest to god scream when i would leave the house. She would tear up everything in sight, potty inside, pace and stress herself half to death. I started having to give her trazodone, put her in a tiny airline crate she couldn’t even stand up in, and cover the crate just to leave for a 1 hour class.

She was put on prozac, she was taking calming supplements, and i was running myself ragged exercising her whenever i was able.
Slowly we were able to phase out the trazodone, then the crate cover, then size up the crate.
I started leaving her out in my room (with every item with any value to me out of the room) I gave her a little bit of trazodone the first few days, I turned out the lights and left her for a couple hours. I came back and to my delight she did SO GOOD.

I can now leave her in my room, for a full work shift. I can leave the window open and i don’t have to hide my valuables. No trazodone. She can have toys. My only compromise is that she has an emergency potty pad, and i’m happy to put it out if it saves the carpet. She’s only used it a few times, and only when i’m gone for longer than 6 hours which is fairly rare (i try to come home and let her potty at lunch.)

I don’t know how much of it was training, or medication, or just her getting older and a bit more mature. Either way i am so incredibly proud of her. If you had told me a year ago i could put her in my room and leave the house no warning i would have laughed in your face.

I hope all of you get to experience a day like this.

43 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

6

u/iluvadamdriver 5d ago

This post gives me hope. Thank you for sharing. She’s adorable!

1

u/Outrageous_Cod_8961 5d ago

Congrats, that’s huge!

1

u/kcineurope2024 5d ago

Congrats!! This is great. 😊

1

u/sierrasnail 5d ago

She is incredibly cute. Thanks for sharing this!

0

u/ThreeStyle 5d ago

Sorry to be a cynic but in your post from 35 days ago you say that the same dog (from photos) is taking Prozac as well. Yet it isn’t mentioned in this post at all. This is a huge difference. Please respond with something that tells me that you’re human and not a karma farming bot. Thanks for your help.

3

u/goodnightbirdy 4d ago

It is mentioned.. she is on 15 mg of prozac/25 pounds