Dog-Gone Crazy

We haven't had a chance to blog for the past few days because we've been pretty overwhelmed with our new special needs pup, Duncan. What we didn't know when we adopted him from the shelter is that he has an extreme case of separation anxiety, and possibly some seizure activity going on at the same time.

Our nanny-cam cameras had been out of commission for the past several months, but last week I was able to download new software to get them up and running again. Late Friday afternoon, we headed out to do some errands for work and turned them on. When we came home, we were horrified to see that our sweet, little mutt howled for 2 hours straight, and ran through the house as if it were on fire the entire time we were gone.

We had some issues with Prinnie exhibiting some anxiety over us leaving (pacing for hours), but nothing to the extreme of this little guy. We called the neighbors to ask if they had heard him, and apologize for the noise if they had. One said she had heard a dog barking for about 20 minutes, and she was half tempted to come over to make sure we were ok. The second didn't hear anything (thank god) this time.

On Saturday, we set up a test to see if Duncan would react the same way. We put on the cameras, pulled out of the garage, and turned off the car in front of our house to listen. We sat there for over 20 minutes, of which he never once stopped barking. The difference was that we had crated him this time. When we came home to watch the video, we saw a dog in dire straits frantically doing everything he could to get out, all the while screeching to the top of his lungs.

In addition to the behaviors when we leave, he is lifting his leg to nearly everything in the house. Supposedly another classic sign of both marking new territory and separation anxiety. We went to PetsMart yesterday and got another gate (making 2 now) so that we can keep him in whatever room we are in to watch him 24/7.

Duncan also is a klutz . He walks into things, falls often, and has the balance of me in tights on a balance beam (not good!). He stares off frequently, and a few nights ago, I was holding him on my lap and noticed him "shaking" for quite a while. We think he seriously has some brain damage, and may be having peti mal seizures. Can they do neurological testing on dogs??

We called the vet today, and they suggested that since his case of anxiety is so severe, he might well need to be on anxiety medications - puppy prozac of sorts. We agreed, knowing that we want to do everything in our power to give this little charmer a forever home and all the love we can, without getting to the end of our ropes and giving up on him.

Shar and I were laughing yesterday because it seems that we keep getting these "special needs" dogs. I said "what aren't we learning about them that we are supposed to?", begging the question as to why we choose dogs that need a great deal of work. We both believe that every creature is worth the effort - we just prefer 4-legged ones over two!!