Hi, this is my first time here and I'm hoping someone can give me some ideas we haven't already tried. About a year ago we adopted a Belgian Malinois from the local shelter. He had been abandoned in a house when his owners moved and left him behind. He had been there for some time and lived on water from the toilets and such. We knew we were taking on a "project" with him and that it would require a lot of work but we really wanted to give him a chance because the shelter was on the edge of labeling him undoptable. We were told he was dog aggressive and we took our terrier to the shelter several times and worked with them together until he could tolerate her before we brought him home.
Our first few days we took off work to be with him and let him get acclimated. It was kind of a nightmare. In order to leave him even for a little while we tried crating him but he destroyed every kind of crate within minutes and would injure himself. We were nervous about leaving him alone with our terrier but then figured out that he actually did better when he could be with her. The big problem was we needed to keep him out of the living room because we have a big picture window that he literally tries to throw himself through. We worked with our vet and tried some different medications and ended up with him on Prozac. It helped his behavior some but he did not eat very well on it and vomited a lot. If we try to close him in a room, he will destroy the door, carpet, etc to get out. We worked with him a LOT, leaving the house for short periods at a time, etc, trying to get him to understand that we are always going to come back.
He is EXTREMELY dog aggressive, except towards our terrier who has finally become his buddy. He is actually very protective of her now but we cannot take him anywhere without a muzzle and a prong collar because he goes completely INSANE when he sees another dog. We can deal with that - we just don't take him anywhere except the vet. We fenced in three acres of our property so he can get plenty of exercise here at home and we take him out and run his butt off every chance we get. He LOVES fetch so it's easy to tire him out.
OK, so long story short, we are gone 8+ hours a day at work. He was doing OK but recently we decided to wean him from his Prozac because it is causing him so many stomach issues and he was getting unhealthy skinny. He has been off of it for six weeks now and in that time he has destroyed most of the carpet in the house and then today, my $4,000 couch. We live in a pretty rural area and have tried to find someone to come in the middle of the day to let him out and play with him in hopes that will calm him down but we haven't been able to find anyone to hire and I am skeptical that it would help anyway but would still like to try. He is a good dog when we are here. He is well trained as far as sit, stay, come, etc and we practice the "nothing in life is free" method of training. He has a LOT of energy but that's ok and we do all we can to exercise him but we are just gone too much.
I really just don't know what to do at this point. I know he has separation anxiety but I don't know what else I can do about it. Crating is not an option, confining him to a room is not an option, we have tried all the available meds and those are not a good option. I am continuing to look for someone to come play with him in the middle of the day but I've pretty much exhausted every avenue there. My husband is ready to give up and take him back to the shelter but he has been through so much and the thought of him going back there makes me sick to my stomach and I'm just terrified that nobody will adopt him because of his issues.
Right now I just really need a way to keep him from destroying our house when we aren't here. I would appreciate any suggestions anyone has.
Our first few days we took off work to be with him and let him get acclimated. It was kind of a nightmare. In order to leave him even for a little while we tried crating him but he destroyed every kind of crate within minutes and would injure himself. We were nervous about leaving him alone with our terrier but then figured out that he actually did better when he could be with her. The big problem was we needed to keep him out of the living room because we have a big picture window that he literally tries to throw himself through. We worked with our vet and tried some different medications and ended up with him on Prozac. It helped his behavior some but he did not eat very well on it and vomited a lot. If we try to close him in a room, he will destroy the door, carpet, etc to get out. We worked with him a LOT, leaving the house for short periods at a time, etc, trying to get him to understand that we are always going to come back.
He is EXTREMELY dog aggressive, except towards our terrier who has finally become his buddy. He is actually very protective of her now but we cannot take him anywhere without a muzzle and a prong collar because he goes completely INSANE when he sees another dog. We can deal with that - we just don't take him anywhere except the vet. We fenced in three acres of our property so he can get plenty of exercise here at home and we take him out and run his butt off every chance we get. He LOVES fetch so it's easy to tire him out.
OK, so long story short, we are gone 8+ hours a day at work. He was doing OK but recently we decided to wean him from his Prozac because it is causing him so many stomach issues and he was getting unhealthy skinny. He has been off of it for six weeks now and in that time he has destroyed most of the carpet in the house and then today, my $4,000 couch. We live in a pretty rural area and have tried to find someone to come in the middle of the day to let him out and play with him in hopes that will calm him down but we haven't been able to find anyone to hire and I am skeptical that it would help anyway but would still like to try. He is a good dog when we are here. He is well trained as far as sit, stay, come, etc and we practice the "nothing in life is free" method of training. He has a LOT of energy but that's ok and we do all we can to exercise him but we are just gone too much.
I really just don't know what to do at this point. I know he has separation anxiety but I don't know what else I can do about it. Crating is not an option, confining him to a room is not an option, we have tried all the available meds and those are not a good option. I am continuing to look for someone to come play with him in the middle of the day but I've pretty much exhausted every avenue there. My husband is ready to give up and take him back to the shelter but he has been through so much and the thought of him going back there makes me sick to my stomach and I'm just terrified that nobody will adopt him because of his issues.
Right now I just really need a way to keep him from destroying our house when we aren't here. I would appreciate any suggestions anyone has.
