Dear all..

As some of u might know we took in Storm a few months ago...

The story in short:

Storm is about 16-ish months old, had his injections, I did the booster and I chipped him..

Storm was bought as a puppy by someone I know via a forum who could not look after him at all..
My mate in Cornwall took him in at 4 months but he has two parrots, 2 more dogs and Storm did not fit in very well due to his active nature..
Right from the start they tried to re-home him..
We saw storm at about 10 months and then again at 3 months when we decided to take him home as they still had not re-homed him..

I was going to run a butty van so Storm would have been able to come with me and lay on the side of it so he would have been with me all the time..

Due to a lot of bad luck and the trailer being written of on the way back here by the recovery company I am now having to do different things for money..

Now here comes the problem...

Storm just can not be alone..
I have been putting him in the kitchen short times and slowly longer..
I was up to about 4.5 hours, he was still winching all the time but not wrecking the place..

Then the last few days he has been crying more again..
Scratching the door.

Then today after being away on a job I had a nasty surprise..
He has pooped all over the kitchen, scratched up the lino and paint off the doors..

Apparently he has been barking and crying the whole time.

He has to learn to be on his own quick because I can not be home all the time..
I need to work and get some money in as we are in trouble until the insurance pays out for the butty van.

Outside the house he listens so well now we have really managed to train him well in the little time he has been here..
I never have to shout at him on the field, he just listens and comes..

I really don't wanna resort to re-homing him as we love him and other than not coping with being alone he is great...

But I have to get out there and make some money otherwise we are not gonna cope and in order to do that Storm needs to either be on his own or with someone who has time to be around him full time..

Please if theres anyone out there with some advice it would be a great help otherwise we will have to look at re-homing our Storm..

Can he not come with you in the car while you are out for 4-5 hours, thats a very long time for a dog to be left especially one showing seperation stress symptoms, you can't train a dog quickly to be left it's as simple as that, it sounds to me like you were doing really well with him but you've gone to quickly with the training now he's being left for longer more often he's resorted to not being able to cope, if you can't give him the time he needs to go back to basics with the training or if distraction techniques such as kongs and treat balls don't work then you have to face reality.

I am more than happy to send you an advice sheet on seperation problems with dogs but if you're saying you're not there to do the training you have already answered your question.

Have you changed your routine when you leave him, most of these problems have a trigger, if you have changed your pattern this could be the trigger, go back to what you were doing initially and start again with him, this time take thing's a little slower until you are really sure he is coping with the longer length of time he is left.

If you want a help sheet just pm me your email address.

As Selina says, do you leave him with anything at all, music/tv, toys, interactve toys to keep him busy??

Is a neighbour/dog walker out of the question?

Thanks for your reply's..

Selina & partly GillyB:

He does come with me a lot of the time, but due to the rubbish with the trailer I had to stick to what I did for a while, Design, Print & IT..

This means that I go to peoples houses and set up their internet and stuff, every time he comes and then has to stay in the truck for a while he just goes mental in there..

I know 4-5 hours are a long time... My previous dog (Shorty) wud stay home for hours and hours tho without any problems after a few months.
I was doing really well, to be honest the reason being that he is of course not the first dog I have trained in my life..
I grew up with various dogs and farm animals..
I do know what I am doing sorta..

my e-mail address is:

info@providingprint.com

He has been for longer periods alone recently a few times without doing anything like this. He does bark and goes mental apparently but that is as far as it goes..
Surely he knows by now that I come back to him..
He is very smart and trains well so I am sure he knows..

I do not really have a routine at all with him other than getting up at roughly the same time and bringing the better half to work..

I walk him different times every day, I feed him different times everyday, sometimes I go out sometimes not..
I have tried from the start to have as little of a routine as possible..

I do give him toys etc when I go out..
I do not leave the telly on as when he knows I am there, or thinks I am there due to the noise he just goes even more mental....

I just need some more income and I need to be able to go out and find some work..

Vic:

Nope a neighbour/dog walker would be good as long as it is for free.
I can't afford to pay for one..

Unfortunately I am not sure who would wanna take him on during the hours I might be gone specially seen as there is no routine in my schedule..

I know I am ranting I am sorry everyone I am just a little lost as to what on earth to do..

Can i ask where abouts in the country you are? If your anywhere near me i could help you Buddy would love another Springer to play with

was just about to ask where you were

Really feel for you, sep anx can be worked with but will take time.

What about a radio on, radio 4. Have you tried a food pyramid at all ?

I am in Cheshire..

Weston Village to be more precise. (Runcorn)

It would be nice if there was someone near that could help a little here and there when I am out or just to go for walks together with other dogs...

A friends 10 year old daughter takes him for walks sometimes when I am gone but they are now back in school..
I know of a lady in Widnes who looks after them but she wants between £10 and £20 every time he stays...
That is nearly £100 a week..

Fuddles food does not work lol he'll either eat it before I am gone or when he know's I am going he won't eat it till I am back...

The problem with leaving the radio on is that he thinks that I am still there and just locking him out so he barks and cries even more...

The days that I am in doing design he is just brilliant..
Anyway I better get ready and will take him with me today after yesterday..
Not a great solution either but better than having the whole kitchen wrecked again...

Aw that's a shame your a LONG way from me

Hope you find someone to help you, what about family?

Am emailing you some sep anx stuff.
You are forgetting ai think that seperatin anxiety is a form of stress when a human is really stressed and haveing a panic attack which is what Storm is going through you don't think rationally and hence NO he doesn't know that you're coming back.
panic and being frightened does not let you think rationally, food, nope my dog wouldn't eat any type of food either when I was away until I made it a fun game when I was there and got him used to the foody type games and treat balls when I was there, and then started using them while I was out, he just tremembered them being fun then and got on with it.

You're up against a brick wall, sadly, if you haven't got the time to work with it then i don't know what else to advise

i'm too far away to offer practical help too...

Thanks everyone..

Yeah well the whole family thing is a little complicated hehe..

I am from Holland so all my family is in Holland.
And my dad is Irish so I guess the closest family is in Dublin...

Anyway I will have a think over the next few days how and what and see if I can find someone in area to take storm for a bit while I am working..

Thanks again everyone for ur help and advice..

I will keep u all up to date..

Do you know anyone with a quiet dog that would "baby sit" Storm at your house? Of course it does depend on the dog and how Storm would feel at letting someone else into his house!

Sorry I can't offer practical help - I live in North Wales, but work full time and only have time to nip home to my dog at lunchtime - I am afraid I couldn't manage a trip in the other direction.

Hi im not an expert at all but we got dusty a big cage its for a weimarar ( i dont know how to spell that) and he has his doogy house in it and his water, toys etc, he goes in there at night etc, i wouldnt shut him in for any length of time but its like his sanctury now, its his wee safe place before it he was having accidents on the floor etc and crying a lot but now he's great its like his own little home. It really worked for us maybe worth a go??