Thank goodness for GOOGLE ALERTS! I discovered the wonderful blog www.thephillydog.com – because she mentioned my radio show and the recommendation to use Platinum Performance joint supplement. Then I saw she even had a link to the DOG TALK® podcast, which was super cool. And I told her about the new food Proportions, for her little Yorkie Dash, who I learned from her blog has separation anxiety. I invited her to come on the show as a guest — when she replied I learned that ThePhillyDog was really Rebecca)
First off, I can’t tell you how flattered I am that you like my site, but I’m even more excited to get to meet you in person! I actually got The Dog Bible before I got Dash and read it front to back. I even passed it on to a friend when she got a puppy, it was such a lifesaver! I got really interested in pet nutrition after I lost my cat (unfortunately, I fed her cans of the tainted Iams after that melamine scandal). When I started listening to Dog Talk® I became obsessed about what Dash was eating. I actually called into the show a long, long time ago — I called about Dash’s awful problem with humping other dogs in the dog park! How funny is it that now I get to be on the show!!
I will sign up for the Proportions. I’m ALWAYS on the look out for new products, etc. Funny — I did get the anxiety wrap (the Thundershirt) and it cut down a little bit on Dash’s shaking (he now shakes when he senses I’m leaving. sigh) but didn’t seem to help otherwise. But I only tried it a few times, so I’m going to give it a few more tries. This separation anxiety really got out of control when I got laid off from work and was home all the time. He is literally a “velcro” dog. He is now staying with my parents out in the suburbs (too many complaints to my landlord about the barking). He has NO separation anxiety problems there. He is calmer, more secure. It’s frustrating. When I go out to visit, within a few days he’s back to his anxious, hyper self. So clearly the problem is me. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. We’ve taken training classes together and even agility class — he was such a superstar! I’m sure that now I’m totally doing the “dance” with him, which isn’t helping — he senses I’m leaving, I sense he’s getting panicked, I start feeling anxious about that, he senses my anxiety, etc. You know, aside from the separation anxiety he is an amazing little dog and the inspiration behind everything I’ve been doing! Going to go sign up for the Proportions right now…
So I wrote her back:
I do remember you calling in about the humping!! Too funny… and small world, as they say. First of all, Anxiety Wrap is a brand name and a unique design and not the Thundershirt which is a pretender and not a well-designed product as it is really just a coat — it misses the whole scientific basis of the design of the Anxiety Wrap, which is compression of the whole torso and back legs (like a continuous hug). You need to call Susan the designer of AW who will spend time on the phone with you discussing handling the problem, which I think you can overcome with the Wrap and some Spirit Essences and behavior modification.
Rebecca replied:
I will give Anxiety Wrap a call. There really isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to help him overcome this issue. Ha — well except anything Cesar Milan recommended. A friend called me last night to tell me that Cesar was dealing with a dog who had separation anxiety and to turn it on. I shudder to think what he might do to a poor dog that had separation anxiety…
Wow. Just listened to your show on iTunes about anxiety (don’t know how I missed it). I actually cried, because I realized I really am crippled by Dash’s separation anxiety. When I leave, his barks sound as though someone is literally skinning him alive. And so I completely structured my life around it. When he is with me I don’t go out, I end up only going to places where I can take him, etc. And I swear I don’t baby him, don’t let him sleep with me, don’t let him in the bathroom or let him be near me when I get dressed. I completely ignore him for almost 15 minutes when I get home until he calms down. He always gets at least 1/2 hour walk before I leave. Crating seemed to make the barking much worse, so I stopped crating him. The Clomicalm (along with doing all of these things) seemed to take an edge off, but when I didn’t see a significant improvement I stopped giving it to him.
Interestingly, when I was working there were days that he held it together and didn’t freak out (I started taping him). If I kept to an EXACT routine when getting ready for work he would slink under the bed and stay there until I got home. And not bark all day. However, if I ever were to just pick up and leave to run an errand he would absolutely go nuclear. I would never just come and go as I pleased because he would freak out.
So, I’m looking forward to meeting The Philly Dog on the air and sharing some more tips for her separation anxiety management — and seeing how Dash liked Proportions.
—Tracie Hotchner
