u/Basilstorm

I posted a video of Mojo’s first time alone in a room with the FRIDA method this week. In the span of 5 days, he’s a completely different dog. I was previously doing the normal method of gradually increasing stays alone, but he was making slow progress and ended up regressing majorly. The longest he lasted was twelve minutes with that method, and he spent the whole time sitting up and on high alert. With FRIDA, he did twenty minutes today and he could’ve done way longer. He’s happy to relax in his bed. As soon as I shut the door, he runs there and lays down waiting for his first treat. If he has to jump up to get a treat, he immediately returns to the bed and goes back to sleep. I’m slowly increasing the time between treats so he spends longer and longer asleep, but I just can’t believe he’s made more progress with FRIDA in a week than he did with the old method over six weeks. I’ll also continue increasing his time alone until hopefully I can actually go get groceries. I have never seen him completely calm before when left alone.

Hi all, I’m very upset today because my recent new plant (which was thriving) was knocked over by something today and ripped apart. I’m not sure what animal did it because my security cameras didn’t catch it. I know it wasn’t my dog or another large animal because the cameras are good at catching large animals, so it must have been something small enough not to set it off. I want to get another, but I’m hesitant unless I can protect it in some way. Looking for suggestions on how to keep small animals away from the plant

My baby starts Prozac on Monday, but I’m also going to keep at it with training. It seems like Julie Naismith’s BRB course and Nadine Hehli/Simone Fasel’s FRIDA are the most successful options. I want to follow an experienced professional after a reply I received had some details about problems with the way I was working through this. I like FRIDA because Susan Garrett suggests it and my dog is also working through her Homeschool the Dog course now. Just looking for other people’s experiences.

I’ve been consistently working on separation anxiety since I adopted my boy, but so far he’s only made it to around 8 minutes without barking while inside alone. He was consistently improving for a few days after my last post when I implemented new strategies including some practices getting him used to departures (picking up keys and acting like I was going to leave) but now he’s back to barking after two or three minutes when I step outside. As long as I’m home he doesn’t bark in there. I work from home so at least I don’t have to quit my job but I can’t go out and get groceries or take a walk without him barking nonstop. I’m researching a few of the anxiety meds the vet mentioned and I have a checkup at the start of September if I want to start him on meds. I just want to know how long I should realistically expect this process to take.

My mom just gifted me a Venus flytrap which I was not prepared for. I don’t have any south facing windows so I’m letting it grow outside. Is it better to collect rainwater or use distilled water for these plants? I have a gallon of distilled on the way for today, but I’m looking more long term.

My guess is that this was a scam and they’re contacting a bunch of people to try and involve them. The person who called my mom refuses to give any details on this supposed vacation. I’m trying to find out if multiple other people ‘won’.

I have a rescue whose biggest issue is separation anxiety. I followed the normal strategy of leaving him in the crate for increasingly longer while I was at home, and he went from 15 seconds without barking to behaving no matter how long I leave him (I think the longest time was about 70 minutes). I tried the same thing with me leaving the house, but can’t get him to last any longer mo matter how many times I try this slowly increasing duration strategy. He goes into the crate when I tell him to, he’s quiet for around 30-60 seconds, and then he barks nonstop until I come back. I work from home so thankfully I’ve been able to make it work so far, but I really need to be able to leave the house. Below are some things I’ve tried that did not have any effect. Please give me any tips you have about this behavior. He’s only been with me four weeks so I know it can take much longer to break as he’s still settling in, but I need advice.

- Kong with frozen peanut butter in the crate (he ignores the Kong until I get home)

- Woof toy with frozen wet dog food (he ignores the Woof toy as well)

- Hiding cookies in the blankets (only works for an extra minute or two before he starts barking)

- Feeding meals in the crate (he likes the crate more now, but he doesn’t bark any less)

- Crate cover (did not affect barking and he sometimes pulls it into the crate)

- Marrow bone (he ignores it completely until I’m home)

- Playing classical music

- Playing white noise

- Playing a recorded loop of my voice

- Using blankets I slept with the night before in the crate to capture my scent

- Picking up my keys and putting my shoes on multiple times a day (he gets a little interested but doesn’t bark or panic until I actually leave)

- Setting up a camera and speaking to him through it (I think this might end up reinforcing barking if I keep doing it)

- Pretending to leave the house but actually staying inside (he starts barking and whining regardless of whether I actually left)

- Long walk before crating (he won’t sleep in the crate when I leave even if he’s tired)

- Putting him in the crate and ignoring him for a few minutes before I leave (he doesn’t care about being ignored while I’m there and still freaks out once I leave the house)

- Leaving him loose in the house while I stepped outside for a few minutes (he scratched up the doors like crazy)

- Anxiety meds given by the shelter (did absolutely nothing in terms of separation anxiety)

I have owned a reactive dog before, but nowhere near the level of my neighbor’s dog. In my very first conversation with her, she told me I can’t be on my deck when her dog is out or he’ll attack me. I have a fenced in yard, but still set the poor dog off if I’m outside. If anyone has tips about supporting the dog and avoiding triggers, that would be amazing! I feel bad for him and already check my cameras frequently to make sure I’m not letting my dog out when the neighbors dog is already out, but I feel like there must be other things I can do. I’m not sure if a privacy screen between our decks would help or just freak the dog out more if he could hear but not see me

I may be overthinking this, but I’ve never had a dog that actually wanted to sleep my the bed before, so I want to make sure. My rescue has taken to crawling under the blankets to the foot of the bed and sleeping against my legs. If I try to move the blankets so his face is uncovered, he tucks it back under. I bought him pajamas in case he’s cold, but he still wants to be under there. I lift the other side a few times before I fall asleep and if I wake up during the night to let in fresh air. He’s a smart boy so he’s probably fine and would move if he was running low on oxygen, I just needed to hear confirmation.

I have one with a loop that goes around the seatbelt when the belt is buckled in and connects to his harness. The other I have is a seatbelt connector that goes directly into the buckle. Obviously neither will work now that he knows how to free himself. He somehow knocked my car into neutral after freeing himself today while I was bringing him to a training class.