Home Alone Solutions

[LovingLola]

My husband and I are trying to figure out what to do when we need to leave Lola alone for a 2-3 hours. What do some of you do?

Lola is "okay" with her crate. She will sleep in it with the door open, happily gets in to eat with the door closed and eat treats the door open or sometimes closed. I think this means we may be able to eventaullly get her to being well behaved in her crate.

For now, if if we crate her and leave, she whines, screams and sometimes pees, even when we took her out before going in. This weekend, my Grandma is visiting from Germany. Every night this weekend, we have plans to see her and both my husband and I want to go. I don't know what we'll do with Lola, though. She'll go berserk in the crate.

Our upstairs is really big and we thought about leaving her up there with her open crate, toys and a kong. She's never been destructive (although we've never left her alone and free in any room), but our upstairs has some musical instruments and I really don't want her to destroy them.

Does anyone have suggestions or has delt with similar situations? Thanks

[tanza]

Can you set up a xpen around the crate? Is there another room that you can close off and put the crate in?….. Have you tried leaving her loose at all yet when you are out? If so, what does she do? Is she typically destructive? Can you try just leaving her loose and see what she does for 1/2 hour or so?

[LovingLola]

We have not tried leaving her loose yet. That's a good idea, to leave her alone for 30 minutes and see what happens. I asked my hisband to try that this afternoon.

Our upstairs is perfect for leavingher alone. It's one large, long room. The only down side is that we have our musical instruments and our computer up there, so I'd like to knwo whether or not she's destructive first. Usually, she hardly acknowledges that they're there.

[tanza]

Can the insturments be put up high, out of reach? Or are they floor instruments..ggg… and as far as the PC, the only concern I would really have is the wires....

[LovingLola]

Well, we left her alone for about 20 minutes and she did fine. She wined a little when we left, but nothing like when we put her in the crate. When we returned she was quiet and just a little growly. The instruments, all on the floor but in cases, were untouched. The computer was fine also. It doesn't surprise me too much, because she's never chewed up wires or anything else before.

Tonight will be the big test. She'll be home alone for 2-3 hours. Here's hoping we come home to a healthy basenji and an intact room.

[Quercus]

<<when we="" returned="" she="" was="" quiet="" and="" just="" a="" little="" growly="">>

Do you mean like 'grrwl..rrwww….rwwwwllll....'? It was probably a happy emotional growl. Just ftr...don't please don't be upset or angry when a Basenji makes a growly greeting noise...sometimes it is what we a "grodel"...they are just happy and excited to see you.

Also, something I thought of was maybe putting an X-pen around the instruments and computer, to ensure their safety?

Here's hoping too!</when>

[tanza]

Yes, mine all "grodel"… all the time.. even if we are gone 5 minutes.. you might think we have been gone for days! Many Basenjis greet in this manner.. as with all the different noise that they make you need to learn each one.... I would bet that she was just greeting you! And thanking you for trusting her loose in the house....

[LovingLola]

Yep, her "grodel" sounds like a happy one It the sound she only makes when I return home from being gone a little longer than usual.

Last night she was home alone upstairs for about 2 hours. When we returned everything was fine except that she had pooped. It was additional poop, per her usual schedule, but I'm not too worried about that. It was probably a nervous reaction to the strange new turn of events. We're leaving her alone for a bit today also, so we'll see what happens.

[tanza]

I would just make sure you give her an extra walk before leaving her.. just in case, as you said very will could have been since it was something new happening…..

[LovingLola]

I certainly think this is anxiety pooping. She was alone for two hours last night and when I got home there were three dozen little quarter sized poops all over the room. (Time for a carpet shampooing ) It's like she was just running around, pooping as she ran. I did put a training pad out, but she didn't use it…probably had no idea what it was for. Other than that, she was fine.

We could crate her, because although she screams to high heaven, she's never pooped when crated. She's not very well crate trained though. I think we're going to have to start close to the beginning with that. In the meantime, giving her this room seems the best solution. She doesn;t wake the neighbors and I feel better knowing she has some room to run around. I'm hoping she just gets used to it.

[dash]

Best of luck LovingLola. I remember those days and they were very frustrating. I am surprised she didn't destroy anything in the room. Dash would have eaten through the instrument cases! An expen works well for us. We also give him plenty of things to destroy in his crate.

[jys1011]

I love the new word…"grodel" LOL LOL Yup both of mine do that when I get home a good grodel to let you know hey glad you're back.

[GriffinsMom]

We had similar issues with our dog Griffin. We used to gate him off in an area outside of our bedroom. And every day for MONTHS, we came home to poop and pee. Well, one day I didn't put the gate up tight enough and he made his way into our bedroom. When I got home, we had NO accidents and he was so much calmer. Ever since, we leave him loose in the house and this Saturday will mark 1 month of accident-free days. At least for my dog, I think it was confinement anxiety and not so much separation anxiety. However, for about a month prior to leaving him loose, we did put him on Colmicalm to treat separation anxiety. It helped a little, but the freedom in the house is what really helped him become the perfect dog. I know it's not the traditional solution, but it worked for me.

[LovingLola]

Thanks, GriffinsMom. It's nice to hear your story and it gives me more hope for Lola.

I've been reading a little about seperation anxiety in dogs and she seems to fit the bill perfectly. She always has to be near us when we're home and follows us everywhere.

When she thinks we're leaving, she starts to get panicky. If we do leave, regardless of whether it's for 5 minutes or 30 minutes, she panicks. It happens every time, whether she's in the crate or left the whole house. She whines, screams, runs around, pees and poops. One time she scratched at the door and windows, destroying the blinds and floor mat.

When we get home, she displays effusive and frantic greeting behavoirs. It usually takes her 5-10 minutes to really calm down.

Recently, we had a relative over who is afraid of dogs. We simply put the gate at our dining room entrance, so Lola was on the other side and had the run of most of the house. She sat at the gate, whining and screaming at us.

Originally, we though she hated her crate, but in fact, she seems to be fine with being in her crate, it's just when the door is closed or she thinks we're leaving when she freaks. Seperation anxiety makes sense. She was with another family for a year in another state. When she left she had to fly alone

So, I think this means we have to gradually get her used to being alone. It's hard because right now she can't take it for very long. It makes it really hard for us to have a life outside the house. I don't want to leave her alone for longer than she's ready, which is under 5 minutes!

[nomrbddgs]

@LovingLola:

Recently, we had a relative over who is afraid of dogs. We simply put the gate at our dining room entrance, so Lola was on the other side and had the run of most of the house. She sat at the gate, whining and screaming at us.

I had a friend who was afraid of the dogs, so I put the baby gate up, Sugar took one look at the gate, sat down, yodeled and promptly sailed over it! Needless to say, I don't worry too much about her anymore!