Ok so I'm dog sitting for my special lady friend this week. This friend recently rescued a small dog (not sure of the bread) and also had an emergency come up which required her to leave the country for a week. Now I'm dog sitting and I'm realizing that her dog doesn't know how to be alone. Basically won't stop barking when I leave. Not cool since I live in a fourplex. Any tips on how to help the dog coup with being alone. I think it might have gone through some trauma since it's a very skinny dog (starting to gain weight) and follows me everywhere I go. I mean if I walk into the bathroom to shower and close the door the dog sits outside the door and begins to cry. My dog sitting is only for this week so I'm not too concerned about the short term issue but I'd like to help my friend. TL;dr Cleverly disguised thread about my special lady friend:grin: Jk any tips would be much appreciated.
Yeah that's what I think too. I guess I'll need to do some online research for different types of treatment that might help.
no quick fix... just let the dog follow you around everywhere and take it to as many places as you can when you leave.
Let it accidentally run away. No more barking. No dog equals sad lady friend. Sad lady friend equals you console. When you console you score. Win all around.
Yell at it. And then hire someone to deal with your problem. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/CyVFv7AdJ-0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
My sister's dog still does this. It used to be bad when he was a puppy, but it still happens when she leaves and I have to watch him. Its this separation anxiety as others pointed out. Because he is not with his familiar owner, he latches onto the next closest person he has to cope. Dogs are amazing animals, he'll be fine
I've tried the ThunderShirt, a sonic device, walks and behavior changes. Most things reduced the barking for a short time. But it never went away and always came back full force. Eventually I got some citronella spray collars. It has worked miraculously. They aren't cheap, but it did work for me.
Agreed with most others, there is no quick fix, usually it takes a long time to reduce it, especially if it is an older dog. What sometimes helps is turning on music or the tv when you are away. But that rarely helps and when it helps it only works for the symptoms, and ususaly after a short time the barking starts again.
