SternWake
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I am house sitting and dog watching. Me and the 4 to 5 year old female Lowland Polish sheep dog are very good friends. While not my dog, everybody calls her my dog, even her owner's as I have played with her since she was a tiny puppy.
She is sweet, smart, loyal and tries so hard to be a good dog it is almost painful. But she can't handle being left alone, most of the time and never could.
The owners and their 3 kids are gone, for about 10 days now. The first time I left her in the fenced gated yard by herself to go surfing, when I came back and she had chewed her rump just over her tail to the point it was wet with saliva and bright red and her fur all matted. The day before I had, with permission, run the clippers over with a number 8 removing huge amounts of hair and she seemed so relieved to be free of that mass/ burden of unneeded insulation. After I saw she had chewed herself raw, i gave her a good shampoo and conditioning which I was planning on anyway, as she sleeps in my Van with me, on my bed, and was kind of stinky, and the red rawness miraculously disappeared and all was well.
A few other times I surfed It was overcast, and I knew it was going to stay overcast, and left her in the Van with all the fans going while i went surfing, exchanging all the air inside once every 3 minutes or so. No danger of overheating. She appeared happy as a clam inside before she noticed me outside the window pulling out my key. I asked a person parked nearby if she had been barking whimpering or whining or anything and they said no, Did not even know there was a dog inside.
Yesterday I had to leave for several hours and could not take her with me. I thought another person was going to stay at the house and dog sit, but she stayed elsewhere, and the sheepdog was alone for perhaps 8 hours. Plenty of food water, ect. No physical danger. When I came back and she had chewed parts of her paws and parts of her legs raw, they were all dirty, the fur matted, and I washed them and we went to bed and another neighbor told me today she was so annoying with the whimpering and whining he contemplated the consequences of shooting her and almost gave in to the temptation.
Today I had to help a different neighbor with something, was gone for perhaps 1/2 hour, came back and she had mangled her butt, just above the tail, raw redness. I was really irritated as I had given her another bath this morning to better clean off the mess she made of herself last night, and now she was a saliva matted mess again.
I can't spend every single moment with this dog. Looking at Canine separation anxiety web pages, none fo them say the animal actually chew themselves raw, usuallly chewing destroying somethng else, or makes a lot of noise whimpering barking panting ect.
She does whimper and bark when left alone, especially if she hears people speaking or knows her family is over at the neighbor's pool.
I am not really sure that there is NOT a legimate reason for her to itch and try and scratch it. Her ears have been an issue for a while, and I have been using some sort of vet prescribed antimicrobial product on them and they have gotten better, and look perfect in the morning, but then when I put her on her property in the gate, even if I am there, they seem to slowly turn red as if something on that property is an allergen to her.
Or she just decided to self flaggelate for some twisted undecipherable reason.
When her owners were having some rather severe marital issues, she had chewed her tail to the point it got infected and was devoid of hair and absolutely disguting looking, and I cleaned and treated it daily until it subsided, which was rather quick..
I'm not really sure what to do here. She does need a lot of attention, and I give her a lot, but I cant be there 24/7. There is the possibility she is allergic to something on the property where she lives, or it could just be anxiety. There are arguements for both.
I am going to clean the area/ decking where she spends a lot of time, perhaps there is a fungus or mites or something and a legitimate yet invisible reason for her chewing herself raw. I've never seen any fleas or any physical reason for itching, or perhaps she is just so emotionally sensitive and being left alone is causing her to chew herself raw, even though that is not really brought up as a result of canine separation anxiety as an behavior on the sites I have read.
I do play with her a lot each day, having her chase a ball until she calls it quits and then throwing it somemore which she cannot resist, and I've taken her for walks, which her owners never do. She always behaves better when I tire her out with the ball chasing, but not lately. Needs to be sitting on my foot or getting some kind of attention 98% of the time.
I will be the only one taking care of her for 5 more weeks or so and would love to get her being OK with being left alone for a while without either chewing herself raw or whimpering and whining by the gate and annoying all the other neighbors.
I'd take her with me more, but in california there are so many doo gooders who would not hear or see the fans and simply think the dog is in distress rather then being in the same ambient temperature air, as outside the van. In California they are allowed to break a window After calling the cops, but most would not bother with the cops revelling in their indignation instead. I doubt if I hung a thermometer out of direct sun but visible from the front windows, whether they would even acknowledge the low ambient temperature inside.
I can't not go surfing as that is the only reason I am not insane, and if Sunny, I fear bringing her with me for fear of the indignant doo gooders breaking a window unnecessarily. She is going to have to learn to be alone, or wear a muzzle when i am gone so she cannot chew herself raw.
Any words or wisdom/ Advice?
She is sweet, smart, loyal and tries so hard to be a good dog it is almost painful. But she can't handle being left alone, most of the time and never could.
The owners and their 3 kids are gone, for about 10 days now. The first time I left her in the fenced gated yard by herself to go surfing, when I came back and she had chewed her rump just over her tail to the point it was wet with saliva and bright red and her fur all matted. The day before I had, with permission, run the clippers over with a number 8 removing huge amounts of hair and she seemed so relieved to be free of that mass/ burden of unneeded insulation. After I saw she had chewed herself raw, i gave her a good shampoo and conditioning which I was planning on anyway, as she sleeps in my Van with me, on my bed, and was kind of stinky, and the red rawness miraculously disappeared and all was well.
A few other times I surfed It was overcast, and I knew it was going to stay overcast, and left her in the Van with all the fans going while i went surfing, exchanging all the air inside once every 3 minutes or so. No danger of overheating. She appeared happy as a clam inside before she noticed me outside the window pulling out my key. I asked a person parked nearby if she had been barking whimpering or whining or anything and they said no, Did not even know there was a dog inside.
Yesterday I had to leave for several hours and could not take her with me. I thought another person was going to stay at the house and dog sit, but she stayed elsewhere, and the sheepdog was alone for perhaps 8 hours. Plenty of food water, ect. No physical danger. When I came back and she had chewed parts of her paws and parts of her legs raw, they were all dirty, the fur matted, and I washed them and we went to bed and another neighbor told me today she was so annoying with the whimpering and whining he contemplated the consequences of shooting her and almost gave in to the temptation.
Today I had to help a different neighbor with something, was gone for perhaps 1/2 hour, came back and she had mangled her butt, just above the tail, raw redness. I was really irritated as I had given her another bath this morning to better clean off the mess she made of herself last night, and now she was a saliva matted mess again.
I can't spend every single moment with this dog. Looking at Canine separation anxiety web pages, none fo them say the animal actually chew themselves raw, usuallly chewing destroying somethng else, or makes a lot of noise whimpering barking panting ect.
She does whimper and bark when left alone, especially if she hears people speaking or knows her family is over at the neighbor's pool.
I am not really sure that there is NOT a legimate reason for her to itch and try and scratch it. Her ears have been an issue for a while, and I have been using some sort of vet prescribed antimicrobial product on them and they have gotten better, and look perfect in the morning, but then when I put her on her property in the gate, even if I am there, they seem to slowly turn red as if something on that property is an allergen to her.
Or she just decided to self flaggelate for some twisted undecipherable reason.
When her owners were having some rather severe marital issues, she had chewed her tail to the point it got infected and was devoid of hair and absolutely disguting looking, and I cleaned and treated it daily until it subsided, which was rather quick..
I'm not really sure what to do here. She does need a lot of attention, and I give her a lot, but I cant be there 24/7. There is the possibility she is allergic to something on the property where she lives, or it could just be anxiety. There are arguements for both.
I am going to clean the area/ decking where she spends a lot of time, perhaps there is a fungus or mites or something and a legitimate yet invisible reason for her chewing herself raw. I've never seen any fleas or any physical reason for itching, or perhaps she is just so emotionally sensitive and being left alone is causing her to chew herself raw, even though that is not really brought up as a result of canine separation anxiety as an behavior on the sites I have read.
I do play with her a lot each day, having her chase a ball until she calls it quits and then throwing it somemore which she cannot resist, and I've taken her for walks, which her owners never do. She always behaves better when I tire her out with the ball chasing, but not lately. Needs to be sitting on my foot or getting some kind of attention 98% of the time.
I will be the only one taking care of her for 5 more weeks or so and would love to get her being OK with being left alone for a while without either chewing herself raw or whimpering and whining by the gate and annoying all the other neighbors.
I'd take her with me more, but in california there are so many doo gooders who would not hear or see the fans and simply think the dog is in distress rather then being in the same ambient temperature air, as outside the van. In California they are allowed to break a window After calling the cops, but most would not bother with the cops revelling in their indignation instead. I doubt if I hung a thermometer out of direct sun but visible from the front windows, whether they would even acknowledge the low ambient temperature inside.
I can't not go surfing as that is the only reason I am not insane, and if Sunny, I fear bringing her with me for fear of the indignant doo gooders breaking a window unnecessarily. She is going to have to learn to be alone, or wear a muzzle when i am gone so she cannot chew herself raw.
Any words or wisdom/ Advice?
