Many changes happening in Murphy's life

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Murphy is 15 months old thursday. He has been with us most of every hour of every day since he was 8 weeks old. He stays within sight or sits with us on beds or couches day and night.He loves to ride in the car with us no matter where we're going, so we take him with us a lot.

He is allowed access to the potty yard every few hours as someones always going in and out and he accompanies, so holding his bladder for more than 4 hours has never been a real issue for him. He has been living with us and our daughters 2 yr old doodle for the past 6 months and they are like 2 peas in a pod. Play, Play and more play, then just lay next to eachother for naps, then play some more.

So here are the changes. We just bought our own house here and will be moving out of daughters house this week, he will have new places to sleep, new doors to have to go to for potty, no Marley with him at least 4 days a week, (we will bring him over to our house 3 days a week while daughter works), AND on top of that I am going back to work and it;s full time, 5 days a week, probably 10 hour days at first too. It;s too far to come home for lunch, and altho DH is retired, there will be long days that he will need to be away too. So he is loosing the house he;s known for 6 months, his best buddy is not there first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and his people are suddenly gone for long chuncks of time and he's home all alone.

He had some really awful seperation anxiety before we moved in with our daughter, and it got gradually better with Marley here for company, but he still goes from window to window waiting for one of us to come home even when Marley and daughter are here with him. I am afraid he will be really stressed by being alone now after so much time with so many adults and another dog in the house. And he really has never held his bladder longer than 4-5 hours without having an accident in the house. Altho he can go from 8-9 pm to 6-7 am with no problem.

There's really nothing I am asking anyone;s advise about, just needed to vent I guess. Add to all this the fact that I'm going to miss him terribly all day and will be racing to get home to see him, even if he;s here with his daddy and Marley's visiting. I hate that I will no longer be taking him for long morning walks everyday and playing catch at the park 1-2 times a day. So I guess we both have lots of changes happening. He;s my best bud, and I think we will know how to help eachother thru it all. Thanks for listening....

[Ann Kendig]

So much change for everyone! Good luck to all of you! Hang in there!!!!!!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Thanks Jane and Karen, I have been looking for a daycare enroute to work as it's about 30 miles from home and I can spend 30+ minutes morning and night with him in the car, which he loves. It seemed like a lot all at once tho and maybe a dog walker coming to his house might be better at first. I don't really know what to expect, but when he was about 8 months old we both had to leave him alone for maybe 4 hours one day and 3-4 another evening, and when we came back the first time, he had peed in 3 different places, by the doors and the second time which was the heartbreaker, is he was howling (crying) so loud that he didn;t hear the garage door go up or me come in. He was huddled in a corner just barking and howling and just wimpered for a good 10 minutes after he finally came out of the corner. It was just awful. We left for Az about a month later and had no other occasion to leave him alone as when we got here, he has been with Marley 24/7. He acts like he's looking for us and stays by the door when we leave, (per my daughter if she's here) but hasn't done the howling. I can only hope that his being older has given him the confidence that we are coming back and all is ok but we never addressed the initial problem and it may be even worse.
So, I will just have to see what happens and take it one step at a time. Moving this weekend and I start work April 5. So sometime for adjustments.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I know it will be as hard for you to be away from Murphy as it will be for Murphy to have you gone. Daycare sounds like a great idea for those days when Marley and Dad aren't around. Good luck with the changes, and give Murphy a big hug from JD & me!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

That is a lot of change....for both of you. On days when your DH is home, I'm thinking he should be fine (although he will certainly miss you). For those times when your husband has to be away all day, have you thought about a Daycare...or maybe a dog walker mid-day? That should take care of the "potty" issue and help with the separation anxiety. These kinds of transition can be difficult, but he clearly knows how much he is loved...