BosMom

Our Basset Bo who is a year old is having very bad anxiety. We can not leave him alone at home or he FREAKS out! He will whine,bark,run throughout the place for literally hours!! Our neighbors are now complaining. We take him with us and if we leave him in the car he FREAKS out, whining,barking,howling..making us look like we abuse him or something! Which is far from the case.We make him lay and stay when we eat dinner or whatever and he will sit and literally shake until its almost seizure like! Hes starting to shake if we are getting ready to go somewhere,and his shaking is starting to worry me! Does anyone else have this anxiety or separations issues? Sorry if this was posted before i have yet gone through all of the forums! Please help!! I have owned dogs before..rottweilers.. and have never had this issue!

P.S. We got Bo when he was 7 months from a solider that was being sent overseas and could no longer take care of him! Maybe hes got issues of being taking to someone elses home???

Mikey T

Basset are very social animals and more prone than most breed to a behavior /medical issure reffered to as Seperation anxiety. For many basset barking and distructive behavior are the norm when they suffer form this but there are many many cases where urination and defication are the only real signs, as well. I would high strongly suggest you contact an animal behaviorist. there are treatment protocal that work quite well but often times it also require the use of antianxiety medication in conjuction with behavior modification to get the desired result. It is why you will find most basset owners one more than one pet it does not necessarily need to be a basset or even a dog to keep her company

Bring another pet into the household simply to keep her company and solve the seperation issue well not really solve mut rather manage the situation so she is never really alone is certainally not fail safe. There is no guranantee it will work. Rather than help her she could rub of on the other pet and now you have double the problems but it has worked for many as well.

You may want to look into doogie daycare or possibly renting a neighbor dog when you are away to see if it has a positive effect

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BosMom

Thanks.. you are very informative Mikey T!! We have an appt with the vet on Monday to see about options! We live in a small place and getting another animal isnt an option. I guess we will have to see what the vet says! We have a long trip coming up at the end of the month and im hoping to atleast get some form of medicine to ease the pain on our two state journey!Working on this behavior is gonna take a long time! I know there is no fast answer to his problem! I feel bad.. he loves us so much he doesnt want to leave us. I will investigate the doggie daycare. It would be a good idea to have him around other dogs! We do go to a park were other dogs are but its not a long time play thing! Thanks again for the advice!!

Wworm

Oh yes, i goes to doggie daycare once a week, and it is quite an adventure every time. i am really really tired those nights and sleep lots when i get home that night & the next morning too. and i don't miss my person that much when i go. not because she isn't nice but because there's so much to see & do, i don't have time to miss her.

Here are some pics. these were from earlier this year in March. you can see i HAD a black saddle; these days i have a big brown stripe running down the middle of my back.

Welcome, Bo! and please post some pics soon, if you can.
--Worm

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
see what the Worm is up to: http://bassetworm.blogspot.com/

henry'smum

Hi Bo!

I seem to be the universal advertiser for Thundershirts on here! Henry suffers from seperation anxiety - generally when i leave him in the horse trailer - so we tried a thundershirt. Henry wears it now whenever i leave him alone and it REALLY has helped us a great deal. He is by no means perfect but alot less vocal.
He also has a play pen, a 10x10 pen that is now in the garage as it has got colder, where he has inteactive toys, a bed, favourite treats etc. This way he is familiar with 'his' area and this has settled him immensley. If you can make on i think it would realy help. We started off spending a few minutes in the pen with him and increasing the time, then leaving him alone in it etc. He now loves his pen- especially now its winter and he can dig in the straw etc!
Also the DAP plugs worked for us. For the barking Henry has a citronella spray collar, he wore it twice when we where at big competitions and now doesnt need it. We dont wear it at home because the only person his yelling annoys is his dad!
Worm and Mikey are right. Day care is genius and could help him to be more independent.
Good Luck!!!
Good luck with Bo

BosMom

Not sure about this and how it works?? Is it just pressure? Is it like a heartbeat of his mom or something?? It really calms your dog??

henry'smum

Its the same principle as is used with autistic children. Pressure, a bit like a hug. It doesnt work for some people but has really helped with Henry

B.R.O.O.D.

The thunder shirt has worked for several of our Board members and foster homes too. I don't have any experience with them (we just got more hounds to keep each other company), but many I know swear by them.

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Twilla Miller
BROOD Fundraising Coordinator
www.brood-va.org

Mikey T

thundershirs do come with a money back quarantee.