Dog Behaviour Advice - Dog Advice Articles
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Rocky continued and separation anxiety
Retraining Rocky showed up an interesting point about the speed a dog can come to rely upon us and then to show symptoms of separation anxiety. Had I not had to travel to Torrevieja on the Wednesday so that Rocky had to return to the shelter for a day such anxiety symptoms would, I feel sure, not have shown themselves. This also was a concern of APASA members who had seen Rocky after I returned him to his kennel and as I walked away, he was barking at me not to leave him. This raised the question was it right to show a dog a new world of affection and companionship and then return him to the shelter or is it better for him to be ignorant of such a life until someone adopts him.
From his history, it seems he was not use to the sort of what we imagine as a homely life. Though some think that those who saw him say he was always friendly, he never had the normal doggy freedoms or life style. Dogs are very good at survival and will adapt to being a couch potato or to being the most aggressive guard dog, you have ever seen but it is the environment and the owners that design this and how a dog lives. With such normal home rules lacking and with such heavy-duty heelwork I doubt there would be many people prepared to take him home.
My understanding is that before someone took him to the shelter it appears he had to spend a long time down in a cellar but this had not diminished his friendly character. Any signs of aggression at those in the shelter advancing on him to take blood were purely generated from fear of being in a new trap and no one can explain that such medical treatment was for his benefit. He was trapped, fearful and so showed warning aggression to try to keep the vets away and it worked.
How might we feel trapped in a foreign country with medics advancing towards you and unable to understand their intentions would we not act in a fearful manner? Though he did no harm, his message was loud and clear; keep away from me. This was indeed the choice of actions proposed by those at the shelter to give him time and let him settle to become once again a friendly dog that they though he was. A little later, they asked me if I could speed up his rehabilitation and so this is why I took him home on the Tuesday.
On arrival at my home and to meet up with Winston Rocky took an instant liking to this new environment. It soon became obvious that what he was looking for was affection together with companionship. This I think has always been his character even though living in a difficult environment it had not diminished this need at all. Having heard his possibly history I was still a little weary but it was important to try to show him I meant him no harm though to see him playing with Winston like two young puppies was lovely to watch. I think Winston had the upper hand yet Rocky was pleased to play.
Apart from his incredible pulling power when on a lead, he had a few other problems that needed sorting like ripping up an old pair of underpants of mine plus a pair of my socks. Also having both dogs wear each other out playing he then wanted to sleep with me. I woke up at 4pm with the feeling of his huge front paws standing on the edge of my bed and I must admit to feeling a little nervous. What did he want? I called Winston over to come in between us but he just stood at the door useless. Fortunately, I pointed at the floor saying, "get off" and this worked. After that, my bedroom door then remained closed even when rocky tried knocking on the door some time later that night.
On the Wednesday and following one day of my retraining Rocky to try to reduce his pulling on a lead, I had to return him to the Shelter. On leaving him, this once quiet dog now was jumping up and barking, "Do not leave me".
Certainly seeing this reaction to his return to the Shelter the organisers were correct to question was this in his best interests. Rocky had not had a good life and this much we know. No prospective owners would wish to take him to their home with heelwork like a dray horse. Nor to find out he tore up clothes. He had no real idea of the parameters prospective owners expect of their incoming pets.
Is it not better to treat him to some skilful fostering, teach all the important requirements, and retrain out any problems in order that he will find a home more quickly?
People like to see a dog come up to them to seek attention and to seemingly say "please take me home". Rocky now with socialisation training will go up to anybody for a love and a pat and to see if there are any titbits but not quite as bad as Winston.
What was interesting to me was that because I had to take him back for the one day he had such an attachment to me that had grown in only one and half days. I would not have normally returned him but at that time, I could not get Winston and Rocky in my car together and as this was a long trip, I took him to his kennel at the shelter and even I was surprised at his reaction.
For all of us who take a dog into our home we can see that in some dog's separation anxiety can build in a very short time. Imagine how this can be after two weeks of taking a dog home then suddenly you try to go out and find your dog so utterly attached to you it will not let you out of the door.
The problem was in having to take rocky back on the Wednesday. When I took him home, again on the Thursday I was able to sort this problem. As leaders of our human/dog pack, we need our personal space. This is normal even for a dog's way of socialisation but we humans with our caring ways we over fuss our dogs thinking it helps to introduce them into our home.
It is important to show your dog when you wish to be alone or for you to be somewhere else in a way they understand. I know it sounds cruel or unkind to have to turn away from our dogs in order to say I wish to get on with my work or anything else. When I go to bed, my dog should not accompany me. When I eat my meal, I do not expect my dog to sit by my side begging for food. Winston please will take note. My dog must know the rules that our family lives by and being able to go out on our own is most important. Dogs are use to this as pups dating back to wolves when their parents left them all day whilst they searched for food. The pups knew that eventually they would return. We must train our dogs from the outset that we will return. When we leave, we should just go and close the door or the gate and we are gone.
Winston was very good as his first lesson of me leaving him. The Taxi arrived and I simply walked out the gate closed it and I was gone. He knows now when I have my bag, say nothing to him and walk to the car closing the tailgate down he is not coming with me. He watches me drive out and goes inside the house to go to sleep.
Rocky was my shadow just as Winston had been at the beginning. I could not go anywhere without him and I mean anywhere. Having shown him, I ignore him when I am working and go to bed without him even if he does bang on the door the question was now how do I get out of the house on my own.
One interesting point was with Winston I could now leave my bedroom door open and he would only come in occasionally to see if I were awake. My bedroom was a converted garage so it had big patio doors and gates. I slept with one door open and having denied them both access to the bedroom Winston started to sleep outside the patio door on the sharp gravel. There is love for you. The following morning he had dragged his blanket from the kitchen to outside the door to make himself more comfortable. Now that is a cleaver dog.
My first attempt at leaving him was to put both dogs in the kitchen and then drive the car out leaving the gates ajar. I would then dash back in and open the door hoping I could get to the gate before Rocky and close it. That was no good as he could out run me. I even thought of climbing over the gates but I am too old for that now. Neither did I wish to teach him how to escape. Certainly once I had gone both of them just went back into the house to sleep as they had had a good long walk. In the end, it was simple to leave my car outside of the gate and to walk their legs off in the morning. On our return, they went through the gates to go into the kitchen for water, and I was gone.
After the third day with Rocky watching Winston he soon realised he did not always need to be with me or to need to come with me when I went out. For the last, few days he learned like Winston to recognise my body language that I was going out and they just stood by the house and watched me drive out of the gates.
It is important that when you take a dog into your home you do not make it become so reliant upon you. You must teach it you need your space and privacy and positively train your dog that when you do go out you expect your dog to stay at home. This is particularly important with our summer heat where we cannot possibly take our dogs everywhere with us.
One of the easiest ways to teach this is prior to your departure you give your dog a good long walk that tires them out so much that they could not even face going out again. If you do this when it is in the heat of the day, it will add to your dog feeling that it does not wish to go out again. As I have said earlier start with short periods and gradually build this up so your dog knows you will return as normal but do not look at your dog as you depart. Simply appear to ignore your dog and go.