Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Our Escaped Convict

We've taken to crating Norton again since his little "incident." Separation anxiety is a horrible, horrible disorder that most pet owners don't have to deal with. I don't mean mild barking and whining when you leave. I don't mean coming home to chewed up socks and shoes because your dog is lonely.

We spent all day on Sunday at a wedding. As of late, Eric and I can't really enjoy ourselves when we are out. All we do is worry, worry, worry. It's terrible.

So we left Norton in the crate before we left for the wedding. We got home from the wedding and guess who greeted us at the door?

Norton.

Our clever little munkee broke out of his crate. It would almost be funny if not for it being so serious. The last two days, Eric's been padlocking the thing to keep Norton contained.

He's taking meds--Xanax and Clomi-calm. We're using a DAP diffuser.

Today Norton and I have a 2 hour consult with the behaviorist. She's a vet who specializes in behavior and she's highly recommended.

Yesterday, Eric set up his digital camera to videotape what Norton does when we leave. It only taped for three minutes, but I swear it was the saddest three minute video. I have never heard those heartwrenching howls out of him before.

I'm reading this book, Help for Your Fearful Dog. We can use all the help that we can get right now.

2 comments:

Jesser said...

Oh geez. That is one Loki-foible we haven't encountered. He doesn't get lonely when we're gone, he just gets pissed, which means we never leave without crating him. I hope the behavior guy has a good solution for you! Ahh, the things we do for these dogs!

Nicki said...

DON'T GO DIPPING IN THE DOG'S STASH, EITHER!!!!

Seriously, though, I feel for you. I watched my brother's dog at my apartment for a week and realized after she left that she didn't eat a lot of dogfood because she ATE HOLES in MY AFGHAN.