Sad, lonely Vito.
Sigh. Vito has been doing ok with being left home alone for short periods of time but has been getting into a little bit of trouble with finding trash and such. I thought it would be a good idea to try leaving him in just the bedroom since that's normally where he ends up when someone arrives home. Well it didn't work too well.
Vito did ok for the first 25minutes. He seemed a bit confused at first, but then started chewing on one of the bones for a bit. But then some light whining started and then howling. I have only seen/heard him howl once before (well when left alone, he's done it in daycare with the doggy choir) and that was shortly after we first moved to this new place. This time Vito howled for about 2min the first time, and then howled about 3 other times for between 30seconds-1minute. Soft whining off and on in between.
I really don't know what to make of this. He doesn't look terribly anxious. No pacing, no panting, no trembling, eyes don't look dilated, he is lying down, even resting his head on the bed. He wasn't even completely alone either since Lance was also in the bedroom, but in a crate so he won't gorge himself on Vito's bones. But Vito just looks so pitiful and I still can't get over the howling. I guess we won't be locking him in the bedroom anytime soon again. To be honest he hasn't been doing as great as he once was when left with complete free range either. Still no pacing, panting, etc. but he has been doing some light whining and not eating his bones as much. Does anyone have any input on Vito's behavior? Suggestions?
That is just so sad (but he does have a lovely voice). Momma is envious of your spy cam. How do you do that?
Hey, if you don't know what to do, we certainly don't, but will anxiously await your solution.
Slobbers,
Mango
I have to admit, Vito howling cracked me up!! Elo does it too sometimes and I think it's funny as hell. But I have no advice for you on Vito. Lok's "separation anxiety" continue to baffle me. Since he's been on prozac he's been fine in his crate with no more chewing, licking, or drooling. He does bark once in awhile (causing Elo to howl), but that's about it. But if I leave him loose and Elo is crated he will go on a rampage, barking at Elo in his crate and ripping up anything he can get his teeth on. However, if I leave both Lok AND Elo loose when I leave, they are both fine. I don't get it at all.
P.S., Congrats on moving up to Pro the other night! It was good to see you, even if I was too busy to talk much!
Poor wee Vito, so sad. Pepper was feeling very worried about him when she heard him howling too and started whining with him haha.
I am sorry to hear Vito is not happy being left home when you are away, even with Lance in the same room. Have you tried putting Vito's crate with the door open in the same room? I just thought it would be nice to have a small space where he can go in to feel safe. I myself love hiding in a small space!
Love,
Cinnamon
Awww! Poor Vito...my dogs even felt bad for him. They heard that howling and came running to kiss me cuz they thought I was crying!! Gee, I wonder what you could do to help him out. Have you tried leaving him with a KONG?! Always helped with my pups in the beginning.
Oh, poor Vito - you're right, he doesn't look that distressed but the sound of howling does seem so pitiful.
Don't know if this is any help but we've had new neighbours move in next door with 2 Labs that they leave alone in the garden all day (well, actually, they live outside permanently but that's Australia for you - sigh) - anyway, they make an awful racket and I've noticed that aside from barking periodically, they seem to have howling fits which sound very similar to Vito's. Almost every 2hours, throughout the day - it almost sounds in harmony! Would be funny if it wasn't so noisy. Anyway, I get the impression that they're almost doing it out of boredom and/or to see if there is anybody out there kind of thing - sort of like calling?
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth...!
Hsin-Yi
Sounds so much like the troubles I am having with one of my dogs! What have you done so far to address it?
We have been working with desensitization and counter conditioning, but without much luck, yet. I'm going to have some blood tests run on her soon to check the thyroids and stuff...
Nadja- When he was 7 months I went through a sepearation anxiety protocal. It took me 13wks of almost daily work to be able to leave him for 2hrs. I labeled all the posts SA so if you are interested in reading about our work I detailed our weekly progress.
I just found them, thanks Laura. You are motivating me to start over again and actually record my sessions. Wish me luck!