hey guys,
My wife and I adopted the sweetest dog. He is a 1 yr old Lab mix, 30 lbs. Basically looks like a mini black lab. Fairly certain he is a "Borador" border collie / lab mix, as he has white marks on chest, paws and tip of tail. he basically looks like a lab puppy, but will stay that way for life :tongue:
The dog is from Alabama. His family relocated to NJ, and could not keep him and three other labs. The labs were picked up by rescue agency, and we adopted one of the labs directly from the agency.
We have had him for a week, however, he has some work to do. Either he misses his family or misses his brothers/sisters. He is very nervous around strangers (i.e. shakes, and has his tail between his legs), but after two minutes, he happily will be on his back getting a belly rub from said stranger. He has totally clung on to my wife and I as his new protectors in this new world of his. however, when we both leave him in the apartment, he is absolutely hysterical, in fear of us not coming back (like his former family did before us). every second of the day we are home is undevoted to him, and he loves us terribly.
His current schedule is:
8am - 30 min walk to the dog park (me);
8:30am - we both leave for work, put him in oversized crate with peanut butter kong, toys, bone, water, and leave the TV on
11:30am - 30 min walk from dog walker (dog is accustomed to him and likes him) dog walker has GPS and takes him to the dog park.
4:00pm - 15 min walk from same dog walker
7:00pm - wife gets home first, so she walks him, plays with him
10:00pm - i get home, play with him, and walk him
He gets good face time from us, and the dog walker. He is at the dog park literally twice a day, every day. During the week nights and all day weekends, we will spend 100% of our time with him, i.e. i walked him 5 miles through central park yesterday. he is in our arms cuddling/kissing/napping whenever we are home and is VERY loving. he follows us every step we take - bathroom/bedroom/kitchen
some questions:
are we exacerbating the problem too much by babying him when we are home? outside of work, we have done nothing but been with him.
should we take a different approach to stop the hysteria? Or as more time passes, will be come to the conclusion that when we leave for work, he knows we will be coming back?
my wife has off 2 weeks starting tomorrow and will be with him 100% of the time to coddle him. but i am not sure if this is the right approach, b/c when we go back to work after new years, he may be more upset being at home alone than he was before.
My wife and I adopted the sweetest dog. He is a 1 yr old Lab mix, 30 lbs. Basically looks like a mini black lab. Fairly certain he is a "Borador" border collie / lab mix, as he has white marks on chest, paws and tip of tail. he basically looks like a lab puppy, but will stay that way for life :tongue:
The dog is from Alabama. His family relocated to NJ, and could not keep him and three other labs. The labs were picked up by rescue agency, and we adopted one of the labs directly from the agency.
We have had him for a week, however, he has some work to do. Either he misses his family or misses his brothers/sisters. He is very nervous around strangers (i.e. shakes, and has his tail between his legs), but after two minutes, he happily will be on his back getting a belly rub from said stranger. He has totally clung on to my wife and I as his new protectors in this new world of his. however, when we both leave him in the apartment, he is absolutely hysterical, in fear of us not coming back (like his former family did before us). every second of the day we are home is undevoted to him, and he loves us terribly.
His current schedule is:
8am - 30 min walk to the dog park (me);
8:30am - we both leave for work, put him in oversized crate with peanut butter kong, toys, bone, water, and leave the TV on
11:30am - 30 min walk from dog walker (dog is accustomed to him and likes him) dog walker has GPS and takes him to the dog park.
4:00pm - 15 min walk from same dog walker
7:00pm - wife gets home first, so she walks him, plays with him
10:00pm - i get home, play with him, and walk him
He gets good face time from us, and the dog walker. He is at the dog park literally twice a day, every day. During the week nights and all day weekends, we will spend 100% of our time with him, i.e. i walked him 5 miles through central park yesterday. he is in our arms cuddling/kissing/napping whenever we are home and is VERY loving. he follows us every step we take - bathroom/bedroom/kitchen
some questions:
are we exacerbating the problem too much by babying him when we are home? outside of work, we have done nothing but been with him.
should we take a different approach to stop the hysteria? Or as more time passes, will be come to the conclusion that when we leave for work, he knows we will be coming back?
my wife has off 2 weeks starting tomorrow and will be with him 100% of the time to coddle him. but i am not sure if this is the right approach, b/c when we go back to work after new years, he may be more upset being at home alone than he was before.