I imagine there are others here who have been in this boat, so hoping for some guidance – my husband and I split up over the summer. My 12-year-old Shih Tzu preferred her papa but he was moving to an uncertain situation and I am her primary caretaker, so she stayed with me. While we were together, he would take a trip on his own once a year and she would get really sad – sleeping a lot and moping by the door for days – so we thought it would be better if he didn't see her anymore because we thought it would just keep upsetting her. He ended up leaving the area, at any rate.
I took a brief leave of absence from work, but when I started going back to the office, she started howling endlessly. Before that, she'd never howled once in the 7 years we had her. When we first adopted her, she liked to sit by the door when we went out, and would sometimes whine when one of us left, but she got over that years ago. I've been trying to manage her anxiety now with medication and extra walks, but it's been two months and it's not getting better. I hate the idea of keeping her drugged up and don't have the time right now to dedicate to training. She doesn't like other dogs, so day care isn't an option.
I read an anecdote of an adopter from her same rescue whose pup had bad anxiety right after being adopted, but then he went and spent some time with his former foster and was suddenly fine. For sure, something has clicked in her brain where she realizes he isn't just on another trip, so I'm wondering if she at least knows he's alive out there, somewhere, she'll be less anxious. Has anyone whose pups have been separated from their person had this experience? Video calls won't work – she's never been able to figure out the phone screen. Thanks for any ideas!
submitted by /u/Away_Test4537
[link] [comments]