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That’s what friends — and crates and Kongs — are for
By Gina Spadafori
November 3, 2007
Young Pippin is showing the double strain of being a sensitive dog — the gift from his German shepherd and border collie ancestors — and of having been without a forever home for all of his first year of life. Although well-cared for by his loving foster families, he seems to accept change with trepidation — and who can blame him? He is clingy (which they told me) and has mild separation anxiety (which they also told me).
These issues will sort themselves out with time and with understanding, consistent handling.
Last night he paced the house nervously as I read and the rest of the furry family snoozed on nearby furniture. (He’s also a counter-cruiser, which they also told me, and I continue to be hugely impressed with the professionalism of this dog-savvy volunteer rescue group!) As I got ready for bed, I pulled out my largest crate — the Great Dane-sized — and set it up in the bedroom. My pets sleep on the bed, but as a matter of policy it’s never a good idea to let a new dog or puppy start out on the bed. It’s a privilege for good dogs, not a right for all dogs, and every dog needs to understand the difference. Pippin will sleeping in a crate for a while, to make sure he understands.
I also readied a Kong for the morning.
Have you ever stuffed a Kong? It’s actually pretty fun. See, when a dog has separation anxiety (a mild case, anyway, a severe one likely requires assistance from a veterinary behaviorist and a medication such as Prozac, at least during the initial phase of re-training) you need to convince him that being left alone is not a bad thing and is perfectly normal.
The perfectly normal part comes from not making a fuss of your comings and goings, taking your leave with a matter-of-fact style and returning without so much as looking at your dog until you’ve been home a while.
The not a bad thing part comes with offering your dog a special chewy when he goes into the crate in preparation of your leaving, something so yummy, so utterly irresistible that he starts to look forward to your taking off so he can get it, because that’s the only time it’s offered.
That special thing is a stuffed Kong.
Kongs are hollow, designed for chewing. So you stuff them with things that are great to eat and put them in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to leave home. You can find a lot of recipes online for stuffing Kongs, but I just use bits of dog treats and layers of peanut butter. Plus one secret ingredient: Dehydrated green beef tripe.
Now, I don’t know why it is that dogs like green tripe. In raw or canned form, it makes me want to vomit from the smell, which is why my dogs get it very rarely. Dehydrated and cut into rounds of about an inch across, the green tripe’s not quite so nasty, but still disgusting enough that you can smell it on your hands through one hand-washing, and need another plus some scented hand-lotion to get fully rid of the stink on your fingertips. Yuk.
But you use the best tools you can find, and this stuff’s as good as it gets, as far as the dogs go.
Pippin slept through the night just fine once he was crated, ate breakfast with gusto (after a good sit and a passable stay) and went out to take care of business with the rest of the dogs. His house-training seems perfect, so far, and he’s a very fastidious dog, which is also pretty common in shepherds and border collies, breeds who seem to take great pride in doing the right thing once they understand what the right thing is.
The moment of truth: I put him back in the crate, told him the “guard the house” cue that I was leaving and gave him the gift of the tripe-stink Kong. As I left the house, he started barking, and I could hear him as I stood in the driveway with Heather, my senior girl and errands dog. But then … silence.
We got in the car and ran our first errands. And when I came home, he was calm in his crate — and the Kong was empty.
I think we’re going to be OK.
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I love Kongs and all the other treat hiding toys.
I’ll try the dehydrated tripe. I keep the canned around for special occaisions such as when my dogs won’t eat on the road before a show etc… and it IS nasty, But Oh how they love it.
A local girl scout was recently awarded high honors for her project to help dogs at the Ukiah shelter. She raised over 260.00 to buy Kongs!
Comment by Jennifer J — November 3, 2007 @ 9:45 am
dot used to bolt to her crate if she thought i was even ‘thinking’ about leaving the house. pretty funny and slightly insluting! lol!~ she now understand that it’s more likely to happen if the alarm goes off ;) and now it’s her bed not a crate. kongs ROCK.
sounds like Pip is going to do great with you! i love dogs that take pride in doing the right thing once they learn it :)
Comment by straybaby — November 3, 2007 @ 11:02 am
When I first brought Ari home, I always gave him a kong stuffed with ground meat like turkey or beef, and peanut butter on top to keep it in, and then frozen. He would literally knock me down trying to go to his crate! LOL! I am glad Pippin likes his tripe, it’s some nasty stuff. I have been getting whole chunks of it and it is SOOO nasty trying to cut it up! UCK!! Judi
Comment by Judi — November 3, 2007 @ 11:12 am
As a raw food feeder, I got conned into trying tripe once, which thank you, was more than enough. My dogs invade the bathroom ( the door doesn’t latch properly) sleep with me at night, and their food, classes, vet care, toys, winter garb, fancy collars eat up a good deal of my budget. I however draw the line at green tripe.
Delighted to read Pippin is adjusting so well! Sounds like NorCalGSD Rescue ( don’t quite remember their name) is an awesome organization and that they have prepared you well!
Comment by Deb — November 3, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
I know the emphasis is on Kongs….but I want to address separation anxiety and treatement. One of the best treatments I have found is to literally set the first week aside so that anxiety treatment is the high priority. The treatment is simple: leave animal [an event] at preset times, gradually increasing the time for each event. This will require you to ensure that you’ve got nothing on the books that will take you outside the home for more than the time allowed that partcular time of day. I’ve used this method quite successfully.
Event 1: Leave the room, wait 10 seconds and then come back inside. Reward accordingly. [Hugs and kisses or a Kong.]
Event 2: [30 minutes later] Leave room for 1 minute. Come back and reward.
Event 3 [30 minutes later] Leave room for 1.5 minutes. Come back and reward.
Event 4 [30 minutes later] Leave room for 2 minutes. Come back and reward.
Event 5 [30 minutes later] Leave room for 3 minutes. Come back and reward verbally.
Gradually increase but do not reward with treats all the time. Feel free to reward with “Good Doggie” all the time, or until the dog doesn’t get excited when you return [if that ever happens].
Of course this builds up over time and there may be times when it’s necessary to backslide a bit. But over a period of a week you ought to be able to get to 6 hours. The trick is to gradually stretch out the training so that by day 2 you’re on an “every hour” event frequency….and keep lengthening as you go through the week.
Comment by Lynn — November 3, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
Have you tried washing your hands with coffee grounds after handling the tripe? I’ve used it after handling raw kidney (also pretty disgusting but, hey, it’s for the dogs), and it took the smell off my hands in one washing. Even did some exfoliating, so my hands were softer albeit slightly coffee-scented. Used grounds work fine IME.
Comment by kabbage — November 4, 2007 @ 6:19 am
Awesome. I will definitely try it. I’ve always got coffee on, so there are always grounds.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 4, 2007 @ 6:27 am
Our youngest (flatcoat) had some issues with being left alone and when we were in Lappland for a holiday with day long treks we had to leave him in the room. To protect our wallets, we crated him and left a Kong filled with liver casserole (a favorite food of the humans and dogs in our household).
He’s looked at the the crate as his place ever since…
Comment by ramin — November 5, 2007 @ 5:19 am
I’m curious about your reference to an ‘errands dog’
I’m assuming that 1) you don’t leave her in the car, and 2) she’s not a official service dog.
So how do you manage errands like that? Small stores that know you and allow her?
Really interested in learning your secret.
-C
Comment by ellipsisknits — November 5, 2007 @ 11:46 am
I do leave her in the car — but only during cool seasons. And it’s usually just the first errand of the weekend: Getting coffee, which I drink on the patio with her beside me on leash.
No, she’s not sitting out in the car when it’s warm, or in some vast shopping center parking lot. Just the little local errand, which she loves.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 5, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
It seems unanimous, the behaviour of dogs once they realize the are getting locked in a carate with a stuffed kon, where it can’t get away!
Baxter, my hound/pointer rescue was very freaked out by being left alone when I brought him home.
After his first peanut butter and chicken stuffed kong, he loves going in his crate.
Since I work in an animal hospital and kennel, he goes to work with my most of the time and loves it, but he always runs back to the door instead of the car after going to the bathroom before we leave, all in hopes of beig locked in with all of that frozen, tasty goodness!
Comment by Brian Hewitt — November 8, 2007 @ 9:39 am