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Sunday, May 11, 2014

Update on Duncan

Duncan came into my foster care the second weekend of March as a scared old man who liked to pee anytime I left him alone for two seconds.

I just wanted to share the improvements I have seen in him within the last two months.
Duncan still prefers to be by my side when I work from home and will make up a nice bed in my home office, but he has become more independent and will sometimes go to a different room of the house to take a nap without having any issues.

One of my biggest triumphs is that we have overcome his separation anxiety. For the first month, whenever I left the home, I would always put him in my kitchen and gate him in, but no matter how many toys he had, or how comfortable I made his bed, or how many times I let him out before I left, he would always pee all over the kitchen and pace endlessly until I returned. I could tell that me being away and him being gated was a huge stress for him.

Once he became familiar with my home and his surroundings, I started letting him home alone WITHOUT being gated in the kitchen for small amounts of time to see how he did. I gave him free range of my living room and kitchen, but closed the doors to my other rooms so he didn't have access to them.  When I leave, I have him go on the couch with a blanket, turn the TV on, and give him a treat. I would only leave for a few minutes at a time to show that I always came back. I started increasing the time and now we are up to 4 hours where he is fine on his own and I always come home to find him asleep on the couch - no pacing, and no pee!

I had a business trip this weekend, so I had a friend take care of him for a few days. My friend works during the day, but Duncan was able to be alone for 8 hours a day with a half hour visit for lunch from my friend and he did great!  When I came home, he was so full of energy and I can see a big improvement in his demeanor and confidence.

 -- Alyssa Renwick


Just goes to show you can teach and old dog new tricks. With unconditional love from his wonderful foster mom, we are thrilled to learn of his improvement!

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