Hello from Philadelphia!

[MagsP]

Hello! I am so happy that I found you all! I am Maggie and my Frenchie boy is Sir Charles Barkley, but we just call him Charlie. We got Charlie from a rescue just before Christmas. He was a breeder surrender and likely from a puppymill situation. He's 3 years old and just such a love. Although we are no strangers to the brachycephalic breeds (Pugs and Bostons for 20 years), he is our first Frenchie. We have always had a multiple dog household -- mostly Pugs and Bostons -- but have had an horrific year where we have lost 5 dogs within 12 months. Most of them were old and so had old dog health issues that, while extremely sad, were not exactly surprising. However, two of them were very unexpected and very young dogs. It has been super traumatic for my husband, daughter and I. In any event, Charlie has done wonders to mend our broken hearts.

We are dealing with some pretty major separation anxiety issues with Charlie at the moment that have escalated over time. Right now, we cannot leave him alone at all. He cannot be crated or confined or else he becomes very destructive and hurts himself in the process. We are working on some behavioral therapy and training and have, as part of that, enrolled him in doggie daycare, but I will be searching the forums to see if anyone else has had similar issues. We have never had a dog with these kinds of problems before, so it's all very new to us. Other than that separation anxiety, he is a perfect little guy...I mean the absolute perfect dog!

Thank you for this wonderful website and resource. I am excited to be a member of your community.

 

[antbkny]

good luck, hes a good lookin dog!

 

[2bullymama]

:welcome3: to FBN --- thank you for rescuing him!

I'm a Philly native living out near Valley Forge now..... for the separation -- have you tried giving him a t-shirt with your cent on it? Put it in the crate for him to sleep with it when you are gone?

 

[Jakeyjake]

Welcome to you and Charlie. Thank you for rescuing him and giving him a loving home. You could also try a Thundershirt to see if that helps relieve some anxiety. It worked for my duaghters Am. Bulldog rescue.Good luck to you and Charlie.

 

[Alice Kable]

:smileywelcome: to you and Charlie! He is a handsome guy! You've been given some good advice; all I have to add is maybe having a brother or sister would help calm the anxiety!

 

[MagsP]

I'm actually not too far from Gilbertsville. I always say Philly so people know where I'm talking about, but I'm really in Skippack.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions. I have tried the thundershirt and articles of my clothing in the crate. I have tried just about everything including pheromone collars and plug-ins. The separation anxiety is really pretty severe. He scratches the wooden molding around the doors and I can come home to splinters and blood everywhere. When crated, he defecates and urinates immediately and tries to pull apart the plastic and the metal bars to the point where I found two teeth in there! He starts to drool and get nervous when I'm just dressing to leave or go to pick up my keys. I think he's at the point where he needs to be medicated, at least temporarily, to calm him enough to understand some of the behavioral therapy and training that we're trying to do. We are seeing a veterinary behaviorist at the Univ of Penn Vet School. The problem is that Charlie panics so badly that he can't think clearly enough to calm himself down in any way. It's like all reason goes right out the window and he runs around in a blind panic. It's very sad. He comes from a very bad situation so I guess maybe he's afraid this good life won't last. He is extremely attached to me and follows me everywhere...like even from side to side when I make the bed. He lies on the bathmat outside of the shower while I shower. He even gets upset when I leave and other humans are home. It's not as severe if another human is here, but it's still pretty bad. We had another dog who passed away suddenly a few weeks ago, Mason...but even Mason's presence didn't make the anxiety any better. So it seems to be related directly to me and that's the behaviorist is helping us work on...to try to draw some of the affection from me to other members of household by having them walk him, feed him, give him treats, etc. He's such a great dog, so I'm hoping that we can get this worked out for him soon so that he's feeling more confident and that he realizes his true awesomeness!