Hello,
Before I dig in, here’s some info/background on the dog to help prevent any suggestions/questions to my query that I’ll already address to help you help me.
So, on April 21st my girlfriend and I adopted a dog from our local shelter. Remi is a male akita mix who is 1 year and 6 months old. The shelter told me he was brought in as a stray this January and has been adopted and returned two times since then before us. We were also told he doesn’t do well with kids or other dogs. On our walks he doesn’t seem to have a problem with other dogs or kids walking by, but we’re still not going to let him interact just yet. He does cry from time to time when another dog is present, but if I tell him “no” or to ignore the other dog, he will obey. With that, he is a friendly dog and loves attention and being petted by our friends when we go to the park. He’s a disciplined dog as he doesn’t beg for food, is house-trained and lets you know when he needs to go “potty” by sitting by the door – he seemingly came from a caring home at one point. Though he needs some work in public when there are distractions around, he knows also the basic commands of “sit,” “lay down,” “come,” etc. We’re still working on “stay” as he’s definitely a velcro dog.
With that, the shelter also (cryptically) said that Remi is a little “mischievous” when left alone. This is where we found out that he’s more than “mischievous,” he’s destructive if left alone. Our first night, since we didn’t know if he was house-trained or not, we put him in the dog crate. He wasn’t thrilled to go in the crate, but after a minute of repeated “go in the crate, bud” he finally went in. He cried and barked for a bit, but eventually went to bed with occasional barks scattered throughout after. The next day we had to go to the store, so we crated him up and left. We were gone for 40 minutes, but when we got home and opened the front door to the house, he busted out and ran down the street. He broke out of his crate while we were gone! I followed him until he returned to me. We found a busted-open crate door and one of the window’s blinders chewed up in the living room. We don’t know how long he was out, it could have been a minute or right after we left. We don’t know the correlation of time to destruction. That night, I reinforced the crate with zip ties and closed the door to the room the crate was in for extra security before going to bed. Maybe little less than an hour later while we were asleep, we were awoken to the sound of scratching and other loud noises. I checked the room and Remi broke out of the crate and dug up a good portion of the carpet near the door and clawed at the door itself in a seemingly attempt to escape. With the velcro dog behavior and destruction without us around, we’re 99% sure Remi has separation anxiety. But, with all of his other good behavior and prior training to commands, we were determined we can work through this. He honestly is a good dog otherwise.
Ever since his destructive night, we have just let him sleep in our room on the floor and everything is golden. We bought a baby gate so he can still see out at night and stay contained when guests are over while being able to “see” us, but not come to us. Every weekday morning, I wake up at 4:30 and Remi and I go on a bike ride and play at the dog park before I have to go to work at 6:00 to help tire him out. We keep him outside so he doesn’t have the opportunity to destroy any more of the house. When outside, we let him have access to our outside laundry room which we bought a box fan to blow air and have water and chew toys placed in case he gets bored/hot. We haven’t had an issue yet of any escape attempts or destruction, just a little digging here and there in the dirt, but after catching him in the act and telling him “no” he has stopped digging. We’re hoping having us be “away” during the day will help him learn that we’re not always going to be around and that our absence is okay. Before we leave, we just ignore him for about ten minutes and simply leave without saying “goodbye” not to make our departure a big deal. The same thing applies when we return. I also check up on him on my lunch break around 11:00 and let him to potty, but he never goes. On his side of the equation, there’s no crying, jumping on us, high energy or attempts to get in the house when we leave/return. The only thing is just a sitting and wagging tail and the look of “oh, can I come inside now?” on his face during returns.
My girlfriend and I are just getting concerned because with the summer heat around the corner, we don’t want to keep him outside forever. We have essential lavender oil that we diluted in a spray bottle, DAP diffuser and Thunder Shirt we occasionally use, but all he really does is just roll around when any of these elements are applied. The crate is also just something we’re training him with by making him eat his dinner in there and keeping his toys/chews in there so he’ll hopefully see the crate as a “good” thing. My question is are we taking the right steps? Will keeping him outside alone have any impact on his separation anxiety? Any personal/similar experiences? Tips? Anything is welcome. Thanks!
Before I dig in, here’s some info/background on the dog to help prevent any suggestions/questions to my query that I’ll already address to help you help me.
So, on April 21st my girlfriend and I adopted a dog from our local shelter. Remi is a male akita mix who is 1 year and 6 months old. The shelter told me he was brought in as a stray this January and has been adopted and returned two times since then before us. We were also told he doesn’t do well with kids or other dogs. On our walks he doesn’t seem to have a problem with other dogs or kids walking by, but we’re still not going to let him interact just yet. He does cry from time to time when another dog is present, but if I tell him “no” or to ignore the other dog, he will obey. With that, he is a friendly dog and loves attention and being petted by our friends when we go to the park. He’s a disciplined dog as he doesn’t beg for food, is house-trained and lets you know when he needs to go “potty” by sitting by the door – he seemingly came from a caring home at one point. Though he needs some work in public when there are distractions around, he knows also the basic commands of “sit,” “lay down,” “come,” etc. We’re still working on “stay” as he’s definitely a velcro dog.
With that, the shelter also (cryptically) said that Remi is a little “mischievous” when left alone. This is where we found out that he’s more than “mischievous,” he’s destructive if left alone. Our first night, since we didn’t know if he was house-trained or not, we put him in the dog crate. He wasn’t thrilled to go in the crate, but after a minute of repeated “go in the crate, bud” he finally went in. He cried and barked for a bit, but eventually went to bed with occasional barks scattered throughout after. The next day we had to go to the store, so we crated him up and left. We were gone for 40 minutes, but when we got home and opened the front door to the house, he busted out and ran down the street. He broke out of his crate while we were gone! I followed him until he returned to me. We found a busted-open crate door and one of the window’s blinders chewed up in the living room. We don’t know how long he was out, it could have been a minute or right after we left. We don’t know the correlation of time to destruction. That night, I reinforced the crate with zip ties and closed the door to the room the crate was in for extra security before going to bed. Maybe little less than an hour later while we were asleep, we were awoken to the sound of scratching and other loud noises. I checked the room and Remi broke out of the crate and dug up a good portion of the carpet near the door and clawed at the door itself in a seemingly attempt to escape. With the velcro dog behavior and destruction without us around, we’re 99% sure Remi has separation anxiety. But, with all of his other good behavior and prior training to commands, we were determined we can work through this. He honestly is a good dog otherwise.
Ever since his destructive night, we have just let him sleep in our room on the floor and everything is golden. We bought a baby gate so he can still see out at night and stay contained when guests are over while being able to “see” us, but not come to us. Every weekday morning, I wake up at 4:30 and Remi and I go on a bike ride and play at the dog park before I have to go to work at 6:00 to help tire him out. We keep him outside so he doesn’t have the opportunity to destroy any more of the house. When outside, we let him have access to our outside laundry room which we bought a box fan to blow air and have water and chew toys placed in case he gets bored/hot. We haven’t had an issue yet of any escape attempts or destruction, just a little digging here and there in the dirt, but after catching him in the act and telling him “no” he has stopped digging. We’re hoping having us be “away” during the day will help him learn that we’re not always going to be around and that our absence is okay. Before we leave, we just ignore him for about ten minutes and simply leave without saying “goodbye” not to make our departure a big deal. The same thing applies when we return. I also check up on him on my lunch break around 11:00 and let him to potty, but he never goes. On his side of the equation, there’s no crying, jumping on us, high energy or attempts to get in the house when we leave/return. The only thing is just a sitting and wagging tail and the look of “oh, can I come inside now?” on his face during returns.
My girlfriend and I are just getting concerned because with the summer heat around the corner, we don’t want to keep him outside forever. We have essential lavender oil that we diluted in a spray bottle, DAP diffuser and Thunder Shirt we occasionally use, but all he really does is just roll around when any of these elements are applied. The crate is also just something we’re training him with by making him eat his dinner in there and keeping his toys/chews in there so he’ll hopefully see the crate as a “good” thing. My question is are we taking the right steps? Will keeping him outside alone have any impact on his separation anxiety? Any personal/similar experiences? Tips? Anything is welcome. Thanks!
