coco22 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 (edited) Hi, Obi has separation anxiety and when nobody's home he barks sometimes. I work rotating shifts and was out working last night. My boyfriend went out for a couple of hours during late night last night. There is always someone home with him usually and that's one of the rare times that he's home alone. This morning, we got a call from the landlord. She said that one of our neighbours complained about Obi barking last night and told us that the dog has to go. My boyfriend said that Obi wasn't barking when he left... and he did stayed outside the apartment for a while before he left. And when he got home, Obi wasn't barking either. Anyway, we have grown attached to Obi and certainly do not wish to give him away. I'm now searching for another place for rent that will allow dogs, preferably a house with a court yard since we now live in an apartment. In the meantime, I was thinking of leaving Obi in a kennel for awhile while we sort things out. But leaving him there would probably cost us some money. We do not have many friends here in Melbourne so I guess that leaves us no choice. Wonder if anyone has any advice or suggestions as to what we can do. Any help is very much appreciated. Thanks. Edited March 12, 2008 by coco22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 What age is Obi? Have you done any independence training with him? Do you leave him a kong or similar to keep him entertained while you're out? Is he crate trained? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 What age is Obi? Have you done any independence training with him? Do you leave him a kong or similar to keep him entertained while you're out? Is he crate trained? Obi's turning 6 months. When he was 10-12 weeks old, we did try leaving him home alone and there were no problems. I bought a kong for him some time ago but he doesnt seem interested in a kong even though I leave nice treats in it. He is crate trained but he does not like to be in the crate alone in my room when there is no one in the house. His crate is just under my work desk and I usually put him in a crate when I am doing work at home. We confine him to the hallway just outside the bedroom when we go out. And before I leave, I would leave him a raw meaty bone for him to chew on and also leave treats around for him to search for while we are away. We also leave him his special toy that he likes to play with only when we go out. Lately I have created a simple puzzle for him to work on by putting treats in the corners of a face towel and tying a knot to hold the treats. He enjoys undoing the knot to retrieve the treats. These are the things I normally leave him when we go out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Can you do some training with him before you go out? A tired dog is a good dog! You could also try leaving the radio or the TV on. Have you done a search in the training section? You'll find heaps of old threads in there that cover barking and SA. PM Erny, she's a font of knowledge on these things! I don't think kenneling is a great solution. Can the breeder take him back for a while. Try talking to your neighbours and explain that you're working on it, they may be more understanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Can you do some training with him before you go out? A tired dog is a good dog! You could also try leaving the radio or the TV on. Have you done a search in the training section? You'll find heaps of old threads in there that cover barking and SA. PM Erny, she's a font of knowledge on these things!I don't think kenneling is a great solution. Can the breeder take him back for a while. Try talking to your neighbours and explain that you're working on it, they may be more understanding. We do leave the TV in the lounge room on when we go out. I did post on the forum about SA just a couple weeks ago and have been trying the suggestions that other fellow members have made. Before we leave the apartment, we normally stand outside the door for 5min to make sure that he doesnt bark and when we get home, he's all well behaved and quiet too. So I guess he probably start barking when he finished with his meaty bones and before we got home. I try to take him out for a walk a few hours before we go out sometimes, but lately i don't know what's wrong but he suddenly seemed afraid of cars and traffic. He would whimper and bark as we get nearer to the main street and look confused. I wonder if it's because recently he got desexed and we kept him him for 2-3 weeks and didn't take him out for walks. I was also reading about the different phases that a puppy goes through and think maybe it's the fear phase that he's going through now. I will do a search regarding barking and see what I can do. I am even thinking of getting some private sessions with a trainer. Do you know any good trainers in Melbourne? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Erny's in Melbourne I've never had young dogs so I really shouldn't be giving advice in case I'm way off the mark. I'll PM Erny and ask her to drop in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Erny's in Melbourne I've never had young dogs so I really shouldn't be giving advice in case I'm way off the mark. I'll PM Erny and ask her to drop in! Thanks a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I would suggest that Obi hasnt had enough independance & on his on time a problem often associated with apartment dogs as they dont get to venture on there own,there more reliant on the humans for stimuli . One of the other causes of issue dogs is the way we treat them,whilst we all love our dogs dearly some people treat them like little humans & the humans feel the need to insist that the dogs need them more than they dothus taking away the ability for a dog to be a dog. If you have a video camera i would set it up & see what the dog does when your out. I would also consider his outside routine,any apartment dog do well but there time outside is a must. Some cavies can become compulsive barkers ,lickers but the key to remember is cavies are sporting spaniels,they are great little working dogs that are highly intelligient & get bored quickly. Kennels could be an option if for example you want to see if the neighbours still complain without knowing the dog is there but a barking dog when your so close to each other would be a pain. It also sounds like time for obedience classes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Have PM'd through to you, Coco22. You're more than welcome to contact me further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 I would suggest that Obi hasnt had enough independance & on his on time a problem often associated with apartment dogs as they dont get to venture on there own,there more reliant on the humans for stimuli .One of the other causes of issue dogs is the way we treat them,whilst we all love our dogs dearly some people treat them like little humans & the humans feel the need to insist that the dogs need them more than they dothus taking away the ability for a dog to be a dog. If you have a video camera i would set it up & see what the dog does when your out. I would also consider his outside routine,any apartment dog do well but there time outside is a must. Some cavies can become compulsive barkers ,lickers but the key to remember is cavies are sporting spaniels,they are great little working dogs that are highly intelligient & get bored quickly. Kennels could be an option if for example you want to see if the neighbours still complain without knowing the dog is there but a barking dog when your so close to each other would be a pain. It also sounds like time for obedience classes My boyfriend did tell me that I was giving Obi too much attention so lately I try not to give him too much attention and let him be on his own more. But he always follow me around the house. He seems more attached to me and when I leave the house, he would whimper and bark.... but when my boyfriend leaves the house, he doesn's show that much reaction. During my off days when I'm home, I would leave him in the lounge room and hallway by himself while i stay in the room to use the computer. He was alright and would play on his own or sit on his cushion in the hallway. He's got a box of toys placed in one corner of the hallway as well. He's free to roam the apartment when we are home and have time to supervise him. When we go out, he'd be confine to the hallway with access to his toilet which is in the laundry room. He only goes into his crate at night time when we sleep or at times when we can't supervise him. Problem now is that we haven't told the landlord that we've got a dog. We have been thinking about moving into a house for some time now so maybe this incident would be the catalyst to start house hunting. I have started to search for a new place to rent and at the same time, i might consider leaving obi with a friend or maybe take him back to the breeder for the time being until we sort things out. I have just booked a consultation with a trainer/behaviourist to assess and diagnose what is the cause of Obi's behaviour so that I can be trained to work on improving his current behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Problem now is that we haven't told the landlord that we've got a dog. Yep, big problem. How much exercise and training would Obi get on a daily basis. I think there's a very high chance he's bored and under stimulated - both physically and mentally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Problem now is that we haven't told the landlord that we've got a dog. Yep, big problem. How much exercise and training would Obi get on a daily basis. I think there's a very high chance he's bored and under stimulated - both physically and mentally. I try to take him out for a walk every morning. but lately he suddenly developed a fear of the traffic in the main roads so we never made it out to the main road always. When we go near it, he seemed scared and confuse and would bark and whimper. So I had to turn back and shorten the walk instead. When at home we play games with him and also train him on the basic commands or teach him new things. He can now identify a few of his toys when we tell him to fetch a certain toy. I cant bear the thoughts of having to give him up. He's my first dog and I grew up being afraid of dogs as I was chased by one when I was young. And I decided to have a dog so that I could get rid of my fear of dogs. He's with with us since Nov last year and we've grown very attached to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odette Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 He's so cute, really. Gorgeous little thing. Seeing the animal behavioural expert is a really good idea, i wouldn't be able to bear the thought of giving up my puppy either. Maybe moving to a house isn't a bad idea! You have thought about it anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Seeing the animal behavioural expert is a really good idea, i wouldn't be able to bear the thought of giving up my puppy either. Maybe moving to a house isn't a bad idea! You have thought about it anyway? yes we have thought about moving into a house for some time now. It's just that our current apartment is very accessible to shops, transport etc and we can even take a short walk to the city. And also the rent is cheaper than other places in the same suburb. So we hv been putting off moving to somewhere else. I've started to search for a new place. Hopefully I can find one soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahona Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Sorry Coco, very off topic, but if you do move house, please tell your new landlords that you have a dog. By not telling your landlord that you have a pet, you make it very difficult for people like me, who own dogs and want to do things above board and the right way, to have pets in rented houses, because all dog owners immediately equal untrustworthy people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I am no expert but it sounds like Obi is going through a fear period (the sudden reaction to the traffic). From what I have read the worst thing to do is turn around and leave - you are better praising him, treating etc as otherwise you are cementing to him that he should be afraid. I am sure that Erny can help further with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Does Obi have any doggy friends he could stay at their place during the day while your at work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 you are better praising him, treating etc BUT ONLY WHEN HE IS CALM AND NOT SCARED..otherwise you are praising him for showing fear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 I am no expert but it sounds like Obi is going through a fear period (the sudden reaction to the traffic). From what I have read the worst thing to do is turn around and leave - you are better praising him, treating etc as otherwise you are cementing to him that he should be afraid. I am sure that Erny can help further with this. i've given a call to Erny and booked a consultation with her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco22 Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 Does Obi have any doggy friends he could stay at their place during the day while your at work? Unfortunately I do not have many friends in melbourne as I have only moved to Melbourne a couple years ago from overseas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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