Grieving basenji on vacation
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PLEASE HELP! My brother's family has taken a greiving female basenji [she lost her mate of 9+years last Oct. to esophageal cancer] on a week long vacation road trip [west Texas-Palo Duro Canyon, Ft. Davis, Marfa]. They left her alone [uncrated] for approx 3 hours the first eve. and she was fine. The next day they left her solo again and she totally freaked out 'basenji' style—tore up the room and bruised herself significantly [bruises on her chest and paws]. The family [mom, dad, 2 boys 7 & 4] and dog are understandibly all traumatized! MY QUESTION is-what course of action should they take re:leaving the dog w/ a pet sitter in the room? Does my brother/family member need to leave a nice, stinky t-shirt or some piece of pheremone/musk loaded garment? How can they reassure her while her 'daddy' is visiting the hospital [for a job prospect] and other places where dogs are not allowed? Any other travel/grieving tips—is it time [now] for a new puppy? My brother is a little concerned about age discrepency. THANKS to all who answer! fifi :confused: :confused:
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Is it possible for mom and kids to stay with her while dad interviews? Then go places where she can go? Or get a sitter if they must leave her. Who knows, maybe there was a cat or barking dog outside, or something that really upset her the second day. As for a new partner, how about an adult rescue form BRAT of a breeder?
Good luck, they might also check out a boarding kennel or doggie day care for her.
Anne in Tampa
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It sounds like she has a case of separation anxiety–not just grieving. I think there are several threads here on handling separation anxiety--which is a pretty difficult situation. I went through the same thing when I had to have Max's lifetime companion put to sleep. I got help from a veterinary behavioral specialist.
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Sorry about your loss. My male (13 years old) recently lost his companion for the last 12 and one half years. Both dogs were in a roaming pen daily and always enjoyed the quiet time while we were at work. After the female (Skylar) passed on he was fine for about 5 days until he realized she was not coming back. We had to start bringing him to day care while we were at work. Just having other dogs close and human interaction seemed to calm him. We went on vacation with him and while we were out during the day we also boarded him at a day care and picked him up several hours later. As he realized that we were not going to disappear on him he has gradually came back to his calm self. We are trying to introduce a 15 week old puppy to him now and it is a challenge. Hope everything works out for your brother and especially the dog.
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It sounds like she has a case of separation anxiety–not just grieving. I think there are several threads here on handling separation anxiety--which is a pretty difficult situation. I went through the same thing when I had to have Max's lifetime companion put to sleep. I got help from a veterinary behavioral specialist.
I agree. She should be through the grieving process by now (5 months later), and it may have developed into SA. Sad to say, it's generally not easy to fix, but it can be done with a lot of time, patience and love. You might want to Google it and see if the symptoms fit her behavior patterns and how one can start on the road to alleviating it.
Poor baby. Good luck.
