Doodle Rescue??

Hi Doodle friends.

Does anyone know of a doodle rescue in southern Ohio/Northern Ky area. We have a 10 month of Goldendoodle who unfortunately is not working out in our home. After several (and I mean several) attempts, his seperation anxiety is getting to be to much to handle. We have a 2 children (3 & 5) as well as an 8 year old Goldendoodle. He has really become part of our family which makes this decision so heart breaking. He is house trained, follows basic commands and is an excellent dog as long as you are home.

He was never able to be crate trained. He would get so worked up that he would soil himself even after relieving himself outside. The first 4 days, I would end up bathing him in the middle of the night and he would soil himself again. I wondered how he can produce so much!! He barked for hours until he was hoarse. We crate trained our first one....its not new to us. On the 5th day, I called it quits with the crate. We put a baby gate in our room and he never soiled during the night again.

Once the evening situation was taken care of, we moved onto the chewing. We later found out that it was all anxiety driven. If you left something out while you were gone, IT was gone by the time you came back. Eventually, our vet put him on medication to try and help the anxiety. We began crate training again as he could not be trusted when we left the house. He was doing well for about a week. However, he has now broken out of the crate, broken the plastic tray that slides in, and has begun to soil himself. It has been 6 weeks and the vet has changed it to a stronger medication which we will begin tomorrow. I consider myself a patient person especially with my animals. I unfortunately have lost it. If this medication does not work, I am afraid he needs to find a new home. Thus my question regarding a doodle rescue.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jane, Guinness and Murphy on March 9, 2012 at 1:25pm

Jennifer, I did find the information I mentioned on Separation Anxiety. It is from a book named "The Dog Who Loved Too Much" by Dr. Nicholas Dodman who is a Vet and Behaviorist teaching at Tufts. Here are some of the highlights of what he had to say...

About 4% of dogs in the U.S. suffer from SA. Affected dogs are often affectionate, doting and sweet natured. Opinions vary on whether this is acquired or innate but "evidence overwhelmingly suggests that dogs suffering from SA are products of their environment. These dogs appear to lack self esteem and live vicariously through their owners on whom they are totally dependent. It seems that psychological trauma in early puppyhood is largely to blame. If you were to construct a scenario guaranteed to foster the development of SA it would involve the impersonal rearing of batches of dogs in an environment where social contacts are scarce and close bonding with humans is virtually impossible".
He talks about specific cases that he has treated. One common thread is exercise, which he says is very important for reducing stress. He also talks about "independence training", which means distancing yourself from the dog so they can learn that they can survive without you. At least during this phase, there is no sleeping on the bed with the owners, although the dog can sleep in the room on their dog bed. If you use a crate it must be introduced during the day with praise and treats. The dog must be discouraged from following you around. They need to be taught to do something else instead like go to their bed and lie down. Times when you're relaxing or watching TV, the dog should not be on your lap or even laying by your side. They should be taught to go to their bed on the other side of the room.
Because these dogs pick up on everything you do prior to leaving, they need to be desensitized. This involves totally ignoring the dog for 20 minutes before leaving and after returning....no acknowledgment at all. Departures should be paired with some pleasant experience for the dog....a special toy or bone or Kong as examples. Some dogs with SA will not eat anything when the owners leave, and that's where the special toy would come in (you give it 20 minutes before leaving and then ignore). If a crate is going to be used for confinement, the dog needs to be worked up to it by using it several times a day while you're home and always including praise and treats.
He also recommends medication for severe cases. He uses primarily amitriptyline

I don't know if this is helpful, but I thought it provided some guidelines that seem to make sense to me. I'm so hopeful that you will be able to make some progress. You may be his last chance. He is totally dependent on you now, and transitioning him to another home at this point would probably just increase the anxiety. Please know that you have this DK community here to help in any possible way. Please keep us posted.

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Permalink Reply by Adina P on March 9, 2012 at 2:17pm

For what it's worth, sometimes, though it might be rare, a dog does do better in a different home. Please don't flame me for sharing this experience. I'm saying at the get-go that it's probably not common, but not common doesn't mean it doesn't happen. In any case, a very good friend of mine had a poodle mix dog and a great dane puppy (under a year but not a little puppy). This puppy didn't have a great start in life, but nevertheless she adopted it from the humane society and it joined her household with the other dog (which was a tall dog too, though nowhere as big). The two dogs got along great and even were okay crated together in a very large crate. The great dane had separation anxiety. There was no way to take one dog on a walk and leave him behind because you could hear him howl from blocks away. He had diarrhea regularly and was just clingy and had trouble putting on weight. Eventually this friend rehomed her dane. He went to live with a coworker (a guy) who lived in the mountains. Fast forward a wee bit and he filled out and was fine. Something CLEARLY improved in the change from her home to his home. Now I have no idea if this other guy fed him 'better' food or what other specific details of his life changed, but he was doing better in all aspects. So it is possible, now and then, for a dog to simply be a better fit for a different family or person or couple.

That said, I do strongly believe, that with a concerted effort in a long term training program, that you can change this dog's view of the world. That's basically what my trainer did with her first dog as an adult. She rescued (literally found some dogs while hiking or something like that) a pit bull or pit mix with major separation anxiety and a dislike of other dogs. She wasn't going to keep it but decided to increase its chances of finding a good home, she would train it. Train it she did and this dog made such an amazing turn around that she kept it. Separation anxiety gone. Obedience around other dogs, excellent. I think she even has a CGC and CD title now. Pretty cool.

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Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on March 9, 2012 at 2:25pm

There is no denying that occasionally a dog might do better with a different person or environment. Who would ever "flame" you Adina. We try to be kind : )

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Permalink Reply by Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle on March 9, 2012 at 2:32pm

There's no question that some dogs are just not the right "fit" for a particular household and would do better elsewhere. In those cases, though, it's almost always the owner/home situation and not the dog that's to blame. I could tell you a hundred stories about doodles who were obtained by 1st time owners with young children, were given up due to various "behavior problems" and are now thriving in experienced adult households. (It's interesting to note that you never hear of the opposite happening.)

But in cases where an experienced person has really tried "everything", including a behavior specialist and medication, or cases where a dog is being given up because he has a serious illness, it's almost never better for the dog to lose his home.

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Permalink Reply by Adina P on March 9, 2012 at 2:45pm

One person's everything might be 2 things shy of the solution. If it takes x number of hours per day over the course of _____ months to fix something and the current household (NOT saying it does not, but just generally speaking) can't put in that time, then there might be someone out there who wants to help a dog in need and does have the time and energy to put in that time. I really think that when it comes to behavioral issues we often THINK we've tried everything but we just haven't found the 'right' thing. Unless and until a dog is fully trained (think high-level-this-dog-can-earn-an-obedience-title trained) I don't think 'everything' has been tried. And please, Jennifer, know that this is NOT a criticism on your commitment or what you have tried. But the more I hear about training classes that owners attend and the poor results or lack of results that come from them ... the more I believe that there are a lot of sub-par training classes out there where the focus is solely on 'How to teach a dog to sit on command' rather than 'how to train this dog to be a reliable, obedient, canine citizen anywhere you take him'. That fails dogs and owners. So what I'm suggesting is a continued search for an adequate trainer. Call it a 'behaviorist' or a 'really good honest trainer' - if high level obedience has not yet been achieved...I think it makes sense that issues are still there.

Think about what it takes for a dog to obey "sit stay" out of sight. It takes a lot of self-control. By doing the work it takes to achieve that in a methodical and systematic way, step by careful step...you get a dog that can hold a sit stay even if you leave the building. There is no way for a dog to do that AND whine, yip, and display anxiety, it is incompatible. I'm not talking about teaching specific incompatible behaviors for the sake of reducing anxiety. I'm talking about the bigger picture of excellent obedience, reliable obedience, obedience you can hang your hat on and trust your dog's safety to.

Jennifer, if money is not an issue, I think it would money well spent to pay a sitter to watch the 3 and 5 y.o. while you take your doodle out for training every single day. Doggy daycare and dog walkers may tire him out...but they won't build the same foundation. Because I know that if I had JUST gotten Boca now there would be NO way I would have had time to do half the training I'd already done with her (and she's in limbo, not finished, skills withering away) with two kids. There's not enough time in the day. But I would rather pay for my kids to get some one-on-one attention with a good sitter and get to train my dog...than to pay for my dog to just run around with other dogs, learning nothing about how to behave in my house. I actually DID pay a sitter to watch my toddler a number of times so I could take Boca out to train her.