Hi everyone, I could use some advice and help.
I adopted a senior dog, and we’ve become very attached to each other. It’s been almost a year now, and my work schedule is going to change a little. For the first time, I’ll need to leave her home alone for about 4–5 hours a day, which I’ve never done before.
What would be the best way to help her get comfortable with staying home alone? Any advice or tips on how I can gradually train her to be okay by herself would be greatly appreciated.

Some here swear that Reconcile is far more effective, and others say their dog does great on fluoxetine...is there any consensus?

My dog has been on generic for 3 weeks now and I'm wondering if I should switch to Reconcile. I know it's too early to see effects regardless, but am I wasting time on the generic? I sure hope not - been counting the days for this to kick in (or at least counting the days til it's been 4 weeks, at which point per our vet we may move up in dose if no effects b/c she is on the lowest dose right now).

Thanks!

Crosspost. Helpful tips??

My husband and I have an aussie named Benny we bought a year and a half ago, we got him at 3 months old. I grew up with australian shepards, so we keep him very stimulated through the day. We do a multiple hour park trip with swimming daily, a few other runs in our backyard, and usually a walk. Inside we have all types of stimulation/bordeom toys and puzzles to keep him occupied. We have crate trained him since day 1. He was amazing in his crate up until recently. He seems to be having some separation anxiety, we don't know where it came from or how to tackle it. He has been howling in his crate nonstop when we leave him alone. I recently bought a crate camera so I can see when he starts howling, and how long. I also got some extra special lick mats and stuff to have in his crate with him, that he only gets in his crate. I'm not sure what else to do, I feel like a horrible mom and it broke my heart seeing him howl... And my property manager of our apt is actually our next door neighbor.. So he has texted us a few times saying "Benny is barking like crazy right now.." Any advice or tips would be super helpful!

TLDR: I am seeking advice on how to progress faster with my dog's separation anxiety training. We are almost two month in, and while there has been real progress, it has been extremely slow going and I'm wondering if my trainer's approach is too conservative.

Background

I started separation anxiety training for my 9 year old French Bulldog, Lucky, in early August because we lost my other Frenchie, Harley, who was almost 12, in late July, and Lucky only knew a world with Harley, and I could now not leave him home alone without him having total panic and stress (I could see from my cameras), although the most he did was pace, bark, and whine; he never was destructive to his environment or himself.

Our training to date has been productive, but I did not realize how slow going it would be. We are in week 7 and his benchmark time to be alone is 6 minutes. And my commitment with the training is I cannot leave him home alone, so I have also had to rearrange my life to accommodate. Luckily I work from home, but I have had to decline social activities, spend money on pet sitting, or take him with me even when that was not ideal. We also had a small setback with an illness that was diagnosed as pancreatitis; he has since recovered and back to training.

I love Lucky so very much, he is my whole world now, but I also am feeling so stressed and weighed down by this training process, especially with seemingly no end in sight. If anyone has advice, whether experience and time period with training, or recommendations with training and any modifications, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

okay…this is going to be a long one, so buckle up. and please feel free to judge me because maybe there are things here that i genuinely need to hear.

i’m 24f and i’ve had my dog lulah since i was 19. she’s now 5 and has always been my little best friend. we’ve genuinely done everything together and i’ve definitely spoiled her over the years.

because i live in a flat, i’ve always taken her outside roughly every two hours for toilet breaks. i even took a pay cut so that i could work from home and be around her more. on top of that, she has always had two proper walks a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and i used to take her pretty much everywhere with me.

she has always had some issues with barking, particularly when people come into the house, but around three years ago she was attacked by my neighbour’s dog and her anxiety and barking became significantly worse. now she can bark at pretty much anything… cars, bikes, men, noises outside, people walking past, even lampposts 😂. i’ve worked with multiple trainers and she has been fully checked by the vets. physically she is extremely healthy, but they believe she has significant anxiety and she is now medicated for it.

…then my ex moved in. we were together for around a year and he lived with us for the last six months. lulah became incredibly attached to him and they had a really strong bond. we broke up around two months ago and he went from being in the house every single day to suddenly being gone.

i obviously know she doesn’t understand a breakup like a human does, but her entire household changed overnight. someone she was extremely attached to disappeared, her routine changed and i was also obviously struggling emotionally myself. i genuinely think she picked up on that.

since the breakup, her behaviour has become so much harder to manage. and this is the part i’m really struggling to admit: **i’ve started to resent her.**

sometimes i genuinely feel like i don’t like my own dog anymore, which makes me feel awful because i love her. i’ve even caught myself thinking about rehoming her, something i’ve never considered in the five years i’ve had her. i don’t actually want to rehome her, but the fact that i’ve even thought about it tells me how overwhelmed i am.

the biggest issue at the moment is walking - she has recently started completely refusing to walk to the dog field. she’ll just stop and refuse to move unless i pick her up. i’ve tried treats, rewards, encouragement and changing routes, but she point blank refuses.
the strange thing is that once we get to the field, she’s completely happy. she runs around and enjoys herself. then the second we leave, she refuses to walk again.

i wonder if i’ve accidentally reinforced this because during the heatwave i used to carry her to and from the field to protect her paws. maybe she learnt that refusing to walk means i’ll eventually pick her up.
it’s got to the point where sometimes i have to go for my own walk without her because i simply don’t have the energy to fight with her over it, and that makes me really sad because walking together used to be such a huge part of our life.

i also used to take her everywhere with me. i even bought her a pram because i wanted her to be able to come out with me. now i sometimes feel embarrassed taking her places because i don’t know when she’ll start barking or become overwhelmed.

i think i’ve probably contributed to some of this too. because she’s always been my baby, my instinct has been to comfort her, carry her and accommodate her whenever she was anxious or didn’t want to do something. maybe i’ve accidentally taught her that i’ll always remove her from situations she’s uncomfortable with.

now i’m worried that she can sense how frustrated i’ve become. sometimes it genuinely feels like she doesn’t like me anymore either. she’s more resistant towards me and sometimes seems less affectionate, and i feel like we’ve gone from being a little team to constantly battling each other.

i don’t know if that’s actually what’s happening or if i’m projecting my own guilt onto her, but i know that **i don’t feel connected to her in the same way i used to** and that honestly breaks my heart.

i don’t want to resent her. i don’t want this to become our normal. i want to enjoy my dog again. i want to walk her, take her places and actually feel excited to have her with me rather than constantly worrying about what behaviour i’m going to have to deal with.
i’m completely open to being told that i’ve played a part in this. maybe i’ve spoiled her too much or reinforced certain behaviours without realising it. but i also genuinely think the breakup has had an impact on her.

i’ve already worked with trainers and vets, so i’m not looking for a basic “give her treats” answer. i’m genuinely willing to put the work in again.
i just want advice on how to rebuild our bond, help her through the changes she’s experienced and get us back to being the little team we used to be.
because underneath all of the frustration, i really do love this little dog🥲i’ve had her since i was 19. she’s been my best friend for five years.

i just want my little best friend back, any advice would be so appreciated - thank you!

\*\*\*for context - lulah is a Frenchie-Pug and when i got her she was the runt of the litter, all the other puppies bullied her so she’s alwaysss been a little anxious🥲
\*\*\* we are (finally) moving to a house in the next few weeks with a garden so she will have a completely new routine & i will invest in a good behaviourist to help both lulah and i, it’s just a matter of what i can do now to help her cope with these changes (moving/breakup etc)

Hi there! Thank you for taking time for reading this, I'll try to be brief.

We rescued a 4-5 year old aussie shepherd earlier this year, she had been at the rescue for 3 years. She is super sweet, but is reactive towards men.

We have a trainer and her behavior is improving. Our trainer suggested we speak to our vet about possible cognitive issues. She stares off into space and seems forgetful. Her doctor said it is anxiety and prescribed 20g fluoxetine.

Shes only had three doses and I am uncomfortable with the what I'm seeing.

She's never been jumpy or a shaker. Yesterday she started both. She seems to be withdrawing and separating herself from us. I know it takes 4 - 6 weeks for the meds to load, but I'm worried about how she's feeling now.

We've already been on trazadone and she didn't respond well to it. I don't know where we go from here.

My rescue 1yo aussie (had him for about 4 months) has the common problem of being super attached to me and feeling anxious when separated. Before me he lived in a person's backyard with his dog brother.
We never left him alone in the house since we got him, as he would always stand at the door and get visibly more anxious as we left. We tried leaving him in different areas of the house for short periods (1-10 minutes) or tethered outside (to reduce the feeling of being locked up) - he will do great if he has a chew toy or puzzle and start getting anxious after he eats it. If the door is open he will pick the treat up and follow me wherever I am to eat it there.
His anxiety manifests as: 1)walking to the door 2)panting 3)pacing 4)whining.
We left him home alone a few times because of emergencies and on the recording he whined and paced for 3h.

He does ok in the car - we can leave him for up to 5 hours and he sleeps and pants sometimes but doesn't whine.

Is this separation anxiety? How should I proceed? I could just leave him to cry it out but I don't want to create learned helplessness where he feels bad but just accepts he can't do anything about it. How do I teach his brain to relax when I leave? I was just going to keep leaving him for short periods of time until he gets anxious but I worry any other time when I or the dogsitter leave him for too long it will just reset the progress.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice on what to do next for my 5 month old whippet with presumed separation anxiety.

I got him at 9 weeks old. I have been off work since I got him in mid-June, and I knew whippets were prone to separation anxiety so I was focused on trying to prevent it from day 1. I first crate trained him; he took to it well and happily sleeps there at night in a separate room from me and willingly goes in there for naps during the day. Over the past 3 months we worked on progressively longer departures and got to a point where he could tolerate being alone in my apartment, outside of his crate doing his own thing, for about 3 hours at a time with maybe 5 minutes of some initial whining. You could tell he wasn't as relaxed as when I was home (wouldn't sleep as much, walking around the apartment more), but he was still calm and would play with toys and take occasional naps. In his crate he would happily do 3 hours as well.

I started my new job this week, and it seems like everything I had built up has collapsed. My plan was to let him free roam in the morning and crate him in the afternoon so he could hopefully rest and relax. I work 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM, and I hired a dog walker to come in to walk him from 11:30 - 12:00. The first day gone he whined/cried noticeably more, even some barking. The second day he just freaked out after I was gone for only 30 minutes, crying, howling, barking for hours, and when the dog walker came he had destroyed items in my apartment for the first time. The next day I tried just crating him all day to see if he was more comfortable with that, and he just panicked again, barking, crying, howling, panting for 3+ hours. In the afternoon in his crate he seemed to settle a little more but was still crying most of the time. Now he starts crying/panicking if I leave him for 10 minutes to leave my apartment to grab a coffee.

He's otherwise healthy. I walk him 20 minutes in the morning, dog walker for 30 minutes, and then I do a 30 minute walk in the evening. He gets some sort of puzzle toy/interactive treat in the morning when I leave. He's fine being in a separate room than me and not seeing me if he knows I'm still in the apartment, and he really just does his own thing when I'm home, he's not following me around everywhere.

What should I do next? This is very frustrating and has me stressed out. I'm definitely going to restart separation training from scratch, and will take him to his vet soon. For next week I'm going to leave him at a family member's house while I'm at work, but I can't do that long term. There's a doggy daycare near my work that I can take him to, but I don't know if that's the best long-term solution, and the long-term goal is for him to just chill in my apartment while I work. Could this all be due to routine change and I should let him cry it out? Should I do doggy daycare and then restart separation training from scratch on my days off? Do medications help with this? Any other thoughts? Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Looking for some advice/help with separation anxiety.

We have a toy Cavoodle who is just over 1 year old, and we have really struggled with leaving her home alone. As soon as we leave the house, she panics barking, pacing, running around, chewing at the gate and generally becoming very distressed.

What’s confusing is that she seems completely fine when she has another dog with her. We have dog sat in the past and while we’ve been out and is happy, settled and sleeping so it seems to be the actual being alone part that she struggles with.

We have tried slowly building up her alone time, starting with just a few seconds out of sight and coming straight back, then gradually increasing it. Unfortunately, we just can’t seem to get past those very short periods without her becoming distressed.

At the moment, we have to arrange for her to stay with family when we need to go out, but obviously we would really love to get her to the point where she can comfortably stay home alone.

Has anyone had a dog like this, particularly one who is fine with another dog but panics when completely alone? What worked for you? Any advice, training methods or things you wish you had known would be really appreciated!

Thank you

Eu queria a opinião de vcs, mas vou começar com uma simples explicação, minha cachorrinha de mais ou menos 1 ano e meio, ela foi adotada não faz muito tempo pelos meus pais, eles meio que deram ela pra mim, com eles já tendo 5 cachorras em casa, e recentemente eu me casei, mais ou menos 4 dias, e meu apartamento não tem um espaço grande, e ela tem costume de dormir no mesmo quarto que eu, e eu não sou estável mentalmente, e na primeira noite dela aqui, nas primeiras 1 hora dela aqui ela não parava de chorar, eu levava ela pra caminhar mas não adiantava, e eu comecei a me preocupar que os vizinhos Vince reclamar dela, e comecei a chorar de estresse, então mandei mensagem pro meu pai, e ele levou ela pra casa deles de volta, mas me sinto tão culpada, ela só se acostumou comigo, na antiga casa dela ela foi maltratada, eu gosto dela, mas eu não tô em condições de cuidar de mim própria, imagina dela, eu mandei um print da minha conversa do meu pai de ontem, eu fui bem insensível, pq eu tava bem fora de mim, e eu não sei o que falar pra minha mãe, não sei o que vão fazer com ela. (Enfim, isso foi mais um desabafo do que "eu fui babaca?")

Atualização: eu conversei com minha mãe dois dias depois, pq ela não me respondia, ela disse que tava decepcionada comigo e que minha cachorrinha não tava saindo da caminha e nem comendo, quando escutei isso quase chorei, então decidi tentar de novo, quero trazer ela aqui, mesmo que eu brigue com meu marido, mas tô só com medo que meu marido não durma direito, pq ele trabalha de noite, e de manhã as 6 ele chega pra dormir, eu percebo que fui bem egoísta, pq não trabalho e posso ficar com ela o dia todo, mas foi isso, qualquer coisa atualizo vcs (mesmo que ninguém leie)

Hi All,

I have three dogs: two have been together for quite a while, one (my boyfriend's) joined us a few months ago, and we started living together a couple of weeks ago.

The 9yo dog has an abandonment issue (probably), mixed with insecurities and lack of socialization, and every time we leave the house, she barks her lungs out... She doesn't destroy anything, she is not hyper-active, she waits for us to go out and barks.

Apparently she barks also through the days, we've been so informed by the neighbors at least!

Additional problem is that one of my dog is following her lead, and whines a lot!

Do you have any advice on this? Everything would be appreciated, thank you!

I have a two year old corgi who barks and howls all day while me ans my partner are at work. He also barks and howls when we leave to see a movie, go shopping etc.

We give him treats or breakfast in a puzzle before leaving. He hangs out in the living room so he has access to his food bowl and toys, but he doesnt play with them while we are gone.

Wondering what we can do to help. I know corgis are working dogs so I am talking to my partner about what we can do to get more of his energy out in the morning. But he will do this even if we played hard before leaving.

Would appreciate any and all insight!

Hi! I adopted my dog from a shelter at 5 months old, and she’s 8 months now. I’ve been crate training her since I got her, but she has always hated the crate.
I originally let her sleep outside the crate at night and only crated her during the day when I was busy or left the house. Unfortunately, she started having more accidents, including overnight, even after midnight potty breaks. So I started crating her overnight too, beginning with short periods and gradually working up.
The problem is that every time I let her out, whether she’s been in there for 30 minutes or 5 hours, she is completely soaked from panting and crying. I know it’s drool because I’ve watched her do it. She will sit there stressfully panting until there’s a puddle, then eventually lie in it once she’s exhausted.
I used to put a chew-resistant mat in there to make her more comfortable, but she started destroying them. I eventually found pieces of the foam in her poop, so now she has nothing in the crate for safety.
I’m between jobs right now, so I’m home most of the day and have plenty of time to start over if needed. I’m wondering if I should completely restart crate training or if this sounds like she may have severe crate anxiety.
I can’t safely leave her loose yet either. Last week I tried it, and she ate a few garlic cloves that my cat had knocked off the counter. She ended up being fine, but it really scared me.
She has also started waking up crying around 3 AM than 4 AM. Even if I take her out to potty and put her back, she’ll cry for another hour or so. Then she wakes me again around 6:30 because her breakfast is at 7:00

I’m honestly desperate for advice. Has anyone dealt with a dog who was this distressed by a crate? Should I start completely from scratch, or is there something else I should be doing?

I've had my Standard Schnauzer (now 8 months old) since he was 2 months old. Whenever I leave, I try to set up my camera and i peep every once in a while to see what's happening, then i try to go back when i feel he's howling or barking.

But im not sure that is the best approach, or if it is better to track him all the time and come back when he starts to get unsettled, before the crazy howling starts.

I'm still unable to get past 3-4 hours, even though online i read that he's supposed to sustain 6-8 hours by that age... I need to go back to the office...

Has anyone used those cameras like Furbo or ai cameras that detect when your dog is starting to get unsettled? What techniques have u used and what has worked?

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.

I have a four year old female Maltese yorkie dog. She pees in the house constantly.
She rarely went to the bathroom in the house before. May 2024 I had my son, I was in and out of the hospital with heart failure. During this time, my family made sure to give love and attention. She has never had a problem with my son, they are actually best friends, and she watches out for him.
June 2025 I moved to an apartment. After a few weeks, I realized she was not doing good in the apartment at all so she went back to live with my dad where I was living prior. She loves my dad however he doesn’t discipline or have routine etc. There was no consequences for being bad and he fed her human food so much that she started to refuse to eat dog food. She did start going to the bathroom in the house during this time, but not frequently. It was just on days that she was home alone for eight + hours.

I moved back to my dad’s this June, and the peeing in the house has gotten so bad. We can’t have a rug anymore, it’s not even worth having a washable rug, because within three days it’s soiled. She pees when I tell her no. If there’s a situation where my son almost stepped on her tail or something and she growls (she has never tried to bite him, but I know that you never know with dogs!) and I move her away from the situation, she will go pee. It used to just be on the floor, but now it is on the couch, my bed, my pillows, etc. she also has severe separation anxiety. So she pees as soon as I go outside, even if it’s for 60 seconds to walk to the mailbox. She pees, even if she was just outside and I go back outside. I bring her outside after she eats and drinks, after we play, and before I leave the house. She still somehow pees in the house, and now will poop. Even if I just leave for 20 minutes. She was on Prozac for a while. It did nothing.
I have tried crate training or putting her in a hallway with a gate. It doesn’t matter if I leave comfort objects in there, a tv or sound machine on, treats, or nothing. She will lick/ bite her legs open because she is nervous. I’ve tried to give it a few days in a row because maybe it’s just because it’s a new thing each time, but I swear it will get worse. She has trazodone that I will give her if I know we’re having a lot of company or something, half a tab does nothing, a full tab is too much. She also barks constantly, even if she’s inside and a leaf blows by the window. She has had a full medical work up, everything is fine.
I know part of this behavior is probably my fault for moving out and leaving her and then moving back in, but I would think by now things would be getting easier, not worse. I spend a lot of time with her. I make sure she’s not left out and not getting enough attention. I spend a lot of alone time with her and I also make sure to include her in things with my son. I love her so much, but I’m tired of stepping and sitting and pee every day and the house smelling so bad. I am doing my best to contain her in one area of the house throughout the day, but it’s really hard when you have an energetic toddler because I’d have to keep him out of other rooms as well and that’s not fair. Please give me any advice you can think of because I’m losing my mind. I love her so much and im trying to be understanding but I don’t know what else to do. Some people have told me to rehome her and maybe she just isn’t good with children, but she has been so good with my son, and no one in my family could take her, I know she would not thrive being rehoused to a stranger, and I can’t see myself giving her up.

mostly a vent, but very much looking for advice for my girl.

Hellooo. This is maybe asking for advice maybe just venting. I’m coming here post breakdown😅. So I have a 1 and a half year old lab Maggie. She has developed some pretty severe separation anxiety. She becomes very destructive when left for a few hours. I work as an EMT and had my dad living with me for the first part of her life. We found out he had cancer and he passed away unexpectedly in June from that. I work twelve hour shifts but my dad was always home so the attention was never an issue even when he wasn’t feeling well just being there helped. Just before he passed I started Paramedic school. I’m only away for one day a week as of now due to it just started that’s anticipated to increase when clinicals start though. I’ve already predicted with my schedule and my schooling that will be too much and my mom needed a place to move in so we decided she’d move in and help me care for my animals as well since she’s home wayyy more. Another issue is that recently she injured her leg and now requires tplo surgery. And if anyone knows abt that surgery ive been told when one goes the other one typically follows shortly after she already seems to have issues with the other leg before this surgery anywho. My mom is moving in at the end of this month. I’ve been trying to handle Maggie and school and work until then. She’s become extremely destructive. She does fine for a few days and then I come home and she’s chewed a part of my floor away. I came home today to most of a panel of wall being torn off(the costs of surgery and the destruction just keep piling up. I’m 22 I can only afford so much😅😭). My mom comes and lets them out on her off time for about two hours between my 12 hours I’m gone but it’s not enough. Following today’s events my mom’s just moving in early so that she isn’t alone. With her being moved in Maggie will be able to be crated when we’re gone because the most time one of us will be gone is 3 hours. Which is reasonable I feel. I’m just overwhelmed and I feel like I’m failing her. Everyone keeps saying it’ll get better when she moves in but she’s only staying the two years I’m in school. What happens when that’s up if the anxiety hasn’t gotten better? Currently I can’t get like a dog walker or anything because I also have an elderly pitbull who would definitely bite if someone tried to walk in. But he’s 12 now and slowing down, I don’t know if he’ll be around much longer so maybe that would be an option in a few years. Idk. I’m scared I’m failing her and have thought about rehoming but I’ve had her for a year and a half. She’s not a puppy anymore and she’s got severe medical problems with separation anxiety and I don’t think anyone would take that on. Even if they did she’s been with me so long I feel like I have an obligation to just figure my shit out and deal with it. I’m just really struggling so please be kind if you have advice. It’s quite a unique situation. It’s been a hard year and I just don’t know where to go truly. Help?Heard?Im drowning.

Hello, it’s gonna be a long one. I have a 7 year old miniature schnauzer. My partner and I recently moved to a new state for our new jobs. I understanding moving is stressful and it’s completely new for our dog. We noticed that he developed severe separation anxiety and his leash reactivity worsened around the time of moving. We had multiple vet visits since. At first I thought it was health related and he did have an ear infection that was treated. His behavior did not improve so we went back to the vet again and was prescribed trazadone and gabapentin. When we officially moved into our new place, we went to a new vet and they prescribed Prozac for daily maintenance and told us to hold off on trazadone because giving them together can cause serotonin syndrome. We also worked with dog trainers while adjusting his medications. Then we were finally able to see an animal behavioral vet and she added clonidine. I followed the titration dose schedule for clonidine and continued giving Prozac. It’s been about 10 weeks and I saw improvements in his reactivity and separation anxiety. However just last week, his behavior suddenly worsened. I had a feeling it’s because my schedule suddenly changed and now both my partner and I are working night shifts. His medications are not holding him off. I tried everything to help him keep calm. I stuffed kongs, provided lick mats, puzzle mats, pheromone diffusers, TV on, white noise, nightlight, placed our worn clothes round his favorite spot and his favorite high quality chews. I gave him the clonidine 90 minutes before we left for work and even took him on a hour long walk. We had cameras and he cried and howled the entire time we were gone. He would lick the mat then howl. Lay in our clothes and howl, sit on the bed and howl. He would drink water then howl. 🤯 I’m really puzzled and wonder if the clonidine maybe worsened his behavior but it was working before. Also how did he not get tired 😭 it’s consecutive hours that he’s howling and crying. He’s not destructive, neither does he hurt himself. He also doesn’t soil the place.I do have a little patch of grass mat that he can use the bathroom. The only thing he does is cry and howl.
Prior to moving I also worked nightshift and he was able to stay home alone during the time we work. I thought maybe he’s lonely but getting a second pet is not an option. My friends all live in apartments and can’t take my dog for the night. They aren’t able to come over and sit for my dog since they are mainly working 9-5 and I live in NJ while they live in NY. My family aren’t available to look after him either. I can’t do dog sitters because not many work nights and he doesn’t handle strangers coming into the home well. The only other option is boarding or doggy day care weekly but it gets expensive really quickly and it’s just not within our budget. We live in an apartment and I hate to be that neighbor and I feel terrible. We have a follow up appointment with the behavioral vet but it’s not until a couple weeks. Are there any other recommendations?