Took in my neighbor's pittie. He cries, paces, and howls when he hears them downstairs. How do I help him adjust?
We live in a duplex and recently took in my neighbor's 1.5 year old pittie. He was originally rescued from a city shelter by his previous owner, so he's already been through at least one major transition before. We've only had him for 2 weeks and he's a very sweet boy but he's struggling with the fact that his people are still right downstairs.
He still sees them all the time when he's on the balcony or on walks and they'll give him snacks (they miss him too), but when we're not home and he hears them below, he starts whining and crying and pacing, sometimes full-on howling. We thought having them come upstairs to comfort him would help, but now I'm wondering whether that's actually reinforcing the behavior.
This is what we've been doing so far:
He kept his old feeding bowl, some of the jackets and sweaters his previous owner got him, and a mix of his old and new toys
He has a crate that he voluntarily uses when wants to
We're doing 3–4 walks a day to burn energy and to try to ease some of his unease
We are trying our best to keep him away from the backyard and back hallway and other places he might associate with his old home downstairs
I feel like I'm doing the right things but I'm also not sure if we're inadvertently making it harder for him. A few questions on my mind:
Is his previous owner coming upstairs when he cries making this worse? Should we stop that?
Are his old things (jackets, old bowl) helping him feel safe, or could they be keeping him stuck?
Any enrichment toys, puzzle feeders, or calming products that have actually worked for separation anxiety? Is this even separation anxiety?
Given his shelter history, is this still normal adjustment behavior, or should we be thinking about a trainer?
He's a very good boy who clearly misses his people. I want to do right by him. Any advice from folks who've been through something similar would be much appreciated!