A reader writes:
When my mildly-allergic-to-dogs son went to college, we adopted Bear, a husky-shepherd rescue, and Pumpkin, a corgi-pug rescue. Bear was three and stable as a rock; Pumpkin (six months) had had a more traumatic puppyhood, but settled down as the beta dog in our pack. I purposefully got two dogs because I understood that dogs could get depressed (especially single dogs in a household where the dog was left alone during the day), and I thought meeting their needs as social animals might help prevent that.
Bear died suddenly when he was five, from hemangiosarcoma. Pumpkin was in the house when he died. For three weeks afterwards, she would just go out onto the deck and stare forlornly off in the distance.
It was summer and she wasn't eating or drinking, which was getting a little scary. I don't think she expected him back, since she had seen his corpse, but she was mourning him. I did verify with the vet and on various animal behavior sites that this was a known phenomenon.
We decided to get another dog right away. Our vet said that Pumpkin might choose to be the alpha dog this time and my daughter (who, let's face it, wanted another puppy anyway), suggested that we get a puppy for the sake of Pumpkin, who seemed to retain some maternal extinct (at least towards the guinea pigs) for all that she was spayed. So we got an eight-week old rescue pup. It turned Pumpkin around almost immediately.
Good luck with Eddy. I hope she feels at home soon.
Another reader:
Last year, my husband and I adopted a rescue dog, a hound mix from Tennessee that we named Presley. She was the sweetest, most placid of dogs – at least until we tried to leave her alone in the house; then she'd howl almost continuously and scratch furiously at the door. Our neighbors understandably complained; our landlord said we'd have to get rid of her. I called a dog trainer in tears, and the first thing she did was recommend Patricia McConnell's I'll Be Home Soon, which is a short, exceedingly helpful book on addressing separation anxiety in dogs.
We didn't follow the book to the letter, but I found one of McConnell's tricks particularly helpful: don't let your dog see you leave. Apparently "out of sight, out of mind" works for some dogs. We got an extra-tall baby gate and installed it the door to the spare bedroom. We'd lure Presley in there with a couple of treats, shut the gate, and leave the TV on a soothing, white-noise station, like the Cooking Channel. From inside the spare bedroom, she couldn't see the front door, and for the first time in months we were both able to leave without being followed by her howls. After a couple of months, we could just throw a treat into the spare bedroom without closing the gate; eventually we took the gate down entirely. Lately, she doesn't even bother to hop off the couch when I leave.
Another sends the above photo:
I'm in the middle of packing for a move taking me from upstate New York to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have a house full of stuff and I've been packing going on three weeks now. I have three beagle mixes, and they are definitely starting to feel some stress. This is most pronounced in their willingness to be right on top of each other. They generally like their space and usually spread out across the living room. I like to think this is because they are standing as one, a wee band of brothers, even though I know it has more to do with boxes encroaching on their turf. Atticus (he's the one in the front, with Fred and Homer down the line) is persistently giving all the corrugate the stink eye.
Also, some good advice from my sister: I was going to have the rugs cleaned before my move, but she suggested waiting until after – that the scents that the beagle boys were used to in a new place would make them feel more at home sooner.
Earlier discussion here. Update from a reader:
The Dish is a big place, so I sometimes don't know if I saw a link first on your site or somewhere else … so if you haven't yet seen this cartoon series from Hyperbole and a Half, here's a treat!
We posted it a while ago, but it's so good it's worth highlighting again.
The Dish 