
so, in short this is luna and mine story:
she belonged to my neighbors, who had her and her mom and 5 more puppies from different litters. one day she wandered to my land with her sister & brother, saw me, sat in my lap and didn't move for 1/2 an hour, and ever since that day she would run away from her owners every day, 2,3,4 times a day to look for me, at my house, at work, and the coffee shop where i'd have most of my meals... she would just wander around until she'd find me.
that went on for 6 months. then she was at the pound for 2-3 months (a whole different story), and came back, found me again and the story kept going like before, while the owners are complaining to the police i am stealing luna, and the cops in our town are trying to help me adopt her.
which happened, exactly a year ago actually.
now, she was always following me every where, and always seemed to hate being without me, but since i adopted her it seems worse.
i mean, she usually loves wandering around, and we lived in a very small town with barely any cars and mostly open lands, so she could do it being safe, but after i adopted her she almost stopped doing that, she would sit for hours outside of my office just lying there waiting for me.
and to make things harder, we moved from arizona to virginia, usa, it's about 3 days drive, and now she seems even more attached than before. she waits outside of the bathroom when i go in, she sits with me in the kitchen when i cook, she seems to always need me in her sight.
a friend of mine told me that most dogs that has seperation anxieties are actually just feeling that when the owner is away they can't protect them, so that creates a problem. i don't know how to relate to that, to me it just seems that we were seperated so many times until i actually got to adopt her, that she's just scared of being without me again.
so i don't know what to do. should i let her follow me like that, or should i send her to another room when she follows?
i have to say that she does not ruin things in the house when alone, she's not crying (she's a very quiet dog in general). seems like she's fine if i'm not there, but when i am there- she will stay as close as possible.
i also crate-trained her, and she seems to be doing fine with it!
so, what do you think of all this? what's the best way to deal with the situation?
thank you so much
liat
Comments
Not Separation Anxiety
Hi Liat, she sounds like a very good example of the Pit Bull temperament.
It's not Separation Anxiety, but Separation Anxiety is easily learned in dogs with this sort of temperament. My GSD is quite similar, but I don't reinforce her 'clingy' behaviors and I DO reinforce behaviors like waiting quietly in the next room or in her crate.
I also make sure she doesn't come everywhere with me, and she is frequently left alone. I make a point of taking both my dogs out individually at least once a week. If she were to whine when left alone, I would ignore it (but that doesn't happen).
Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com
thank you
i really appreciate your help
i will try rewarding her for staying in other rooms in the house, i didn't really try that before, i always got a bit sad needing to tell her to leave the room i am in, and felt bad for "sending her away", but i guess it needs to be done...
i will keep you posted!
liat
Hi Liat, you don't have to
Hi Liat,
you don't have to send her away, maybe you tell her to wait in a room and leave it by yourself and then reward her for doing so.
I have also tought my dogs the cue "Kudde" (it's german and refers to their beds) and both dogs will immediately go to their beds. They are reinforced for staying there (similar to your crate).
I wouldn't send my dog away because she can see that as punishment. But the fact that she is not together winth you shouldn't be "negative" but "positive".
So show her want you want her to do (like staying in her crate) by reinforcing that behaviour.
Cheers, Anissa