Thursday, May 15, 2008

I'll Be Home Soon!

Palmer's been suffering from separation anxiety since we've adopted him and though he's improved significantly, I always have this little pain in my heart knowing how crazy he can get when he's left home alone. Pre-baby gate, we kept him in the cold, lonely bathroom while we were gone. Poor kid would panic the moment we left and ended up clawing, chewing, and slobbering away the bottom half of the bathroom door. It was so heart-wrenching to come home to his big sad brown eyes and wood chips scattered all over the bathroom floor. After we got the baby gate, his anxiety was directed towards where the baby gate met the door frame but at least we saw some improvement there. Since last September, he's caused enough damage to the house and now we are ready to put our foot down. Enough is enough! We patched up the area with spackle and paint and even replaced the bathroom door and are dead set on helping the Palmerpie cope with his doggie disorder.

We turned to our obedience school instructor, Penny, for some advice and she recommended we contact Janine from J9's K9s for help. She gave us a few pointers over the phone but we definitely plan to bring her in for a private lesson with our little monster. She also recommended we pick up the following book for guidance:

Doesn't that doggie have the saddest little face ever? Waah! Anyway -- I'll keep everyone updated on Palmer's progress! Wish us luck!

On a happier note, we brought the Palmerpie in for another grooming this past weekend and he came out looking more like a puppy than ever. He's squeaky clean and sweet smelling and its really tempting to cuddle with him to sleep.

4 comments:

Janet said...

won't you be sad when he doesn't care if/when you come home? jk :) goodluck!

Mama Mia said...

hahah yea, that dog on the cover looks SO sad. Nana and Xabi got a haircut this week too. They cut nanas hair so short she looks like an alien. Im serious. Excited to meet Plamer this weekend!!!!

rachquiz said...

...only the bulaoro pack does that, janet. hehe
that's crazy that palmer is getting personal doggie therapy! let us know how it goes.

Cher said...

i hope the rat-dog gets over his anxiety w/o the need for medicine...kaiser doesn't give dogs meds, i can't be his pharmacist!