Advice helping my 7 year old female dog
I’m honestly at a loss with one of my dogs and would really appreciate advice from anyone who’s dealt with something similar.
We have an older 7 year old female dog and a 7 month old puppy. Due to unforeseen aggression/resource guarding issues, the 2 dogs have to stay separated in the house upstairs & downstairs via a baby gate.
The older dog has severe FOMO distress specifically around being separated from me when she knows I am home but not with her. She will wail, scream, bark, and cry for hours if she’s downstairs alone, even after all her needs are met. She will continue for hours until I go back down. She doesn’t do this during the day when it is only my partner at home. You can’t distract her with food, enrichment, meds, etc.
She is on trazadone and gabapentin 2x daily. She gets intense exercise in the morning (structured fetch & obedience) along with mental enrichment (snuffle mat, kong). Then I go to work for 8 hours and my partner lets her out 2-3 times throughout the day and does a bit more fetch and mental enrichment. Once I get home, she goes on a long walk and I hangout downstairs with her, and she receives a few more potty breaks.
Nothing has improved the nonstop wailing. It’s affecting everyone in the house and seems miserable for her too.
Has anyone dealt with a dog that vocalizes like this? We would appreciate input.
Please be kind — we really have been trying.