Separation Anxiety and Dogs
We have a 15 month old female Great Dane. She is a wonderful dog, extremely friendly and she's been trained and is very socialized. We had one aggressive incident a few months ago when she was attacked by a little dog - she was on a leash and a little dog came out and bit her on the leg. She bent down, picked up the little dog and shook the crap out of her. With the exception of that dog, she does play with neighbor dogs and does well with them.
She and my husband spent a lot of time together. She's his hiking, rucking, running buddy. He's been gone for a little while (and will be here and gone, a a lot of gone in the future) and I've noticed her getting increasingly skittish and barking a lot more. Sunday night she greeted all the trick or treaters at the door and most of them loved on her and she was her normal self. One kid came up, did nothing wrong but was nervous of her and she about tore his face off. I always have her on a leash so didn't make contact but it scared me to death (and the poor kid). I sort of figured it was isolated and didn't think much of it. But, she did it again to another kid who was nervous of her yesterday. Again, I always have her leashed when she's outside so she didn't get him but it was really scary. So goes fully Cujo for about 3 seconds and then cools down immediately. I took her to the vet this morning because it's not something I can mess with and I need answers. I have kids, the entire neighborhood is filled with them and I can't take the chance she'll hurt anyone. My vet who is good with Danes and he said immediately it was separation anxiety. He's referring me out to a specialist.
I know a lot of you are gone from home a lot and I know a lot of you have dogs that you love and spend time with...
Has anyone had this problem? How have you dealt with it? The vet said worst case scenario is re-homing, but that just would kill the entire family. I'd do it if it came to it because people come first - but I'd like to avoid it at all costs. He also said sometimes doggy Prozac works - but that almost seems silly to me.. but again, I'll try it if that's what the specialist says. I'm just wondering if there are any real world stories out there of dogs who miss their dads and what you've done to help.
I'm trying not to be nervous about having her around people - but that's hard and we're constantly around people. I would love some ideas.
Thanks in advance.
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"I had cast my lot with a soldier, and where he was, was home to me." - Martha Summerhayes Vanished Arizona
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