We did it! We made it to our goal of 30 days of 'tails from home'! We made our goal due to the help of all of you! To that we say Thank You! (hint, hint: check back tomorrow for day 31!)
Today we hear from Quartz's family. Enjoy!
This is a tale of Separation Anxiety, and how we are working to give our dog the support he needs to be happy and have a little more independence. Jace and I adopted Quartz (2 years old) just before Christmas. He is exactly the dog we wanted--quiet, docile, sweet and loving, a great walking partner, great with other dogs, big (close to 80 lbs) and full of expression.
We fell in love right away, and made the mistake of traveling with him right off the bat. He did great when we traveled, but he barked a lot in his kennel. When we got home, he continued to bark a lot in his kennel even three weeks after being there. We live in an apartment, and my neighbors were less than thrilled. We tried walking extensively in the morning, afternoon, and evening, giving Kongs with treats in the kennel, lots of desensitization training, and nothing worked like magic the way the neighbors needed it to. The apartment manager said we needed to do something, that people were still complaining. After a scary incident of him escaping his kennel, and with a heavy heart, I took him back to NLGA to regroup and try to figure out what we would do to make this work.
My husband and I had some serious heart-to-hearts about what the possibilities were, and eventually, we decided to try to make it work, but it would be a different life from the one most dogs lead--he would go with Jace to North Dakota during the week and live with Jace in the house there Monday through Thursday, then travel back to Little Falls with Jace for the weekend. Just days after calling Donna, we received a call from his former foster mom that he was now on anti-anxiety medication, and was doing much better.
I traveled from our home in Little Falls (40 minutes north of St. Cloud) to Coon Rapids and saw my beautiful boy again! He came home, and I realized quickly that he still did not like me leaving the room one bit. Then I tried something I had not before, mostly because I do not like to scare him, but nothing else had worked. I left him in his area (kennel and space next to the bed) and went to the kitchen. He jumped over my bed to escape and follow me, but this time I made that an unpleasant choice and used a penny can. I walked him back to his area, and then waited down the hall for his next escape attempt. Not 30 seconds later but he tried it again. Once more I used the penny can, and this time he marched himself back to his area with me close behind. I waited in the hall one more time, and heard him jump on the bed. I walked in and shook the can once more, and he jumped down. I then went back to the kitchen and did the dishes without hearing him cry at all for the first time. It took at least 15 minutes to complete, and when I went back to my bedroom, he was laying on my bed, practically asleep. Well, on my bed instead of his was not ideal, but he had received the message so he got lots of praise and was then told to get down.
That first week back Jace was able to stay home with him in Little Falls all week while I was at work. We agreed that his life would need to be in his kennel for awhile, but that he would get long walks and would be free to be in his "area" rather than locked in his kennel at night. We also agreed that we would use the can rather than vocal cues to tell him to stop barking in order to help him not need "us" at all. With this plan he progressed to the point of being able to go a few hours at a time without needing any "reminders" to not bark, and the "reminders" became much softer and from the living room while he stayed in the bedroom. However, it was equally clear he could not make it a full day, and that keeping him in Little Falls with me working full time would set him back in his training rather than ahead, and that he would still bother our neighbors. With that in mind we chose to send him to North Dakota with Jace the following week.
Recently, we took him to Jace's parents house for Easter (he and Jace sometimes sleep there before coming home on Friday so Quartz is familiar). We left for Easter service, and came home to find Quartz greeting the family--apparently he decided that he was not okay staying in his kennel, and his silly dad forgot to zip-tie it, so he made his escape only to find the family shi-tzu upstairs. Quartz decided this made everything okay--especially Gordy's food that was hiding in the kitchen!
He has also started coming out of his shell more and more--playing more vigorously with his toys, jumping around after he does his business, and rolling onto his back feet to the sky whenever he feels like chomping his favorite squeakie stuffy--lion. We are hoping to move to a home where Quartz can stay in the same place every day, but for now he sleeps next to Jace every night no matter where he is, and his kennel and blanket and favorite toys go with him. His behavior continues to improve overall, and we are hopeful that maybe sometime this summer he can make the switch to living full time in Little Falls. For now, we are just so blessed to have him in our lives!
I'd love any feedback you all have, so feel free to comment on the blog or on my chatline post. Happy Spring!
Thank you for sharing Quartz's 'tails'! And thank you for being so dedicated and committed to helping Quartz...your efforts will pay out in spades! We would love for you to share more of his 'tails' as time goes on. If you have any advice or suggestions for Quartz's family, please add a comment to this post!
One more reminder...please RSVP for the annual meeting this Friday! Let's 'fill the house' with NLGA Dog Blog Readers!
No comments:
Post a Comment