Last week my new roommate moved in with her dog that is about 2 yrs old and some sort of pit bull mix. The dog is really docile and friendly. The only issue is that it has separation anxiety and will howl, moan, cry, whine, and forcefully raddle its cage when crated.

I have lived with several dogs and have never seen/heard of anything like this before. Our bedrooms are on opposite sides of the apartment and it wakes me up every morning. My roommate has to be at work 6 AM so every weekday morning I get awoken of a dog acting like it is dying in its kennel.

You would think it would give up at some point but NOPE...yesterday (Sunday morning) she had a work meeting. I had been out late night and awoke to the dog crying and moaning from the time she left around 7:45 until she returned at 10:30. I know I shouldn't have caved but I did around 8:45 let it out of its kennel to free roam in her room (I didn't want to let it roam around the apartment because I do not know the dog enough to know if it would eat/destroy anything why I slept). The dog continued to moan/whine/cry and proceeded to knock shit over in her room.

My roommate knows this is any issue but seems dumbfounded on how to fix it. She claims that he typically cries for a few minutes than gives up. This doesn't seem to be the case. I really am curious if it carries on all day while we are gone. We live in a apartment complex and it is only a matter of time before we get a noise complaint. While it is somewhat mitigated by living on the end unit, the dog is audible all the way down the hall by the elevators.

Has anyone had an issue like this before and know how to nix this habit? Even if my neighbors are to pussy to complain, I'm a light/shitty sleeper to begin with. So losing 1-1.5 hours of sleep each night is going to be intolerable.

[Edited on August 4, 2014 at 4:24 PM. Reason : l]

8/4/2014 4:22:57 PM

8/4/2014 4:25:35 PM

?

8/4/2014 4:38:44 PM

you spun a yarn, dog

8/4/2014 4:56:26 PM

maybe put some benadryl pills inside some cheese or bacon and feed to the dog, that should knock it out for a few hours at least

8/4/2014 5:53:27 PM

^ Try something stronger. My dogs eats benadryll on the daily for his skin allergies...doesn't slow him down a bit.

^^^ Raddle

8/4/2014 6:00:28 PM

Benadryl doesn't make dogs sleepy like humans. We gave our old dog two twice a day for her cancer (as recommended by the vet who told us that it doesn't make the dogs sleepy so I consider that a good source).



[Edited on August 4, 2014 at 7:12 PM. Reason : .]

8/4/2014 7:11:37 PM

Our lab did this really bad when we first got her. We read up on it and found that if we gave in to her at some point, it would only reinforce the behavior. They learn that if they whine/bark/howl long enough, they will eventually get what they want.

With ours, we'd barricade her in another room with baby gates. She'd whine or bark for hours then eventually get exhausted and lay down to rest for a minute. When she did that for at least 2 minutes we'd run in, tear the gates down and praise her.
The goal was to teach her that the only way to get what she wanted was to be calm and quiet. If she ever started whining or barking we'd ignore her. The same went for her overly energetic behavior (jumping on people, jumping at doors, etc.) we'd flat out ignore her until she laid down, the give her praise and invite her to play.

8/4/2014 7:49:36 PM

Has anyone had any experience using sound proofing blankets?

8/6/2014 11:49:22 AM

xanax

8/6/2014 3:22:38 PM

8/6/2014 4:17:16 PM

It's about to that point ^.

It has been 5 out of the last 6 nights now. The last two it has shut up after 30 minutes but after getting woken up and listening to it whine from 5:45-6:15 it's tough falling back to sleep knowing I got be up in an hour anyway

Of course once it hears me leave it starts going crazy again.

[Edited on August 6, 2014 at 4:47 PM. Reason : a]

8/6/2014 4:47:11 PM

Have you talked to your vet?
At a certain point you can't train good behavior if the dog never ever shows positive behavior.

I'm not a vet or trainer but xanax may be a good option you can discuss with them. We broke our lab's behavior by rewarding the positive and ignoring the negative. If your dog never shows positive behavior, you may need to force it with drugs. Then we its all looped out and quiet in another room you can praise it and offer a reward.

8/6/2014 6:44:09 PM

Just one reason, of many, why you never ever ever live with a roommate with a dog

8/6/2014 6:55:39 PM

do they still make muzzles? Get one of those

or have your roommate talk to her dogs vet

but regardless, this made me ROFL

Quote :

"you spun a yarn, dog"

8/7/2014 8:47:07 PM

Quote :

"My roommate knows this is any issue but seems dumbfounded on how to fix it"

She could take it to a dog care place when she goes to work, so the dog can hang out with other dogs all day instead of being locked up in a cage. Or she could hire a dog trainer that does know how to fix the issue. Doesn't have the spare cash? Not your problem, tell her to apply for a credit card.

Also, what Mtan Man said.

8/8/2014 3:13:33 AM

She took the dog to the vet yesterday who recommended Benadryl like someone suggested above. I can attest that it made no difference. Stupid mutt was howling/crying like normal at 5:45 for about an hour then started going ballistic when he heard me leave around 7:30.

Perhaps my 9 mm can solve this for good....

Seriously though part of the problem from observing them last night is that my roommate coddles the dog. She will reprimand it for being bad but does not do so in an aggressive/dominant manner. Like last night the dog started barking at a noise in the hall (which honestly I never heard it do before) she calmly tells it no then scoops up the dog and cuddles with it, I'm guessing to distract it.

8/13/2014 8:30:12 AM

You're being way too much of a pushover to your roommate. Does she not believe you when you tell her how bad it is?? How bout setting up a video/audio recording of it one morning just to show her.

This is her problem, but you need to force her to fix it. It's an apartment complex, right? Call the complex like you're a complaining neighbor. Force her hand.

8/13/2014 8:34:40 AM

You've been given some good advice in this thread.

I just wanted to add that Benedryl does work, at least for some dogs. I had a foster dog last year that was way too energetic for me. A few times I gave it (40 lb dog) 1/2 a benedryl pill. Dog was noticeably sedate for a few hours afterwards.

8/13/2014 9:33:15 AM

the dog would already be gone if i lived there, you are more patient than me

8/13/2014 10:00:56 AM

Sounds like she's rewarding bad behavior. Cuddles and affection are a great way to reward behavior you want the dog to continue. It barked, got positive attention, so now it will bark more.

Tell her to take the correct action or get a bark collar. We had a dog we could never break from manic behavior that involved barking at anything that moved (this was mainly the fault of my brother and me), once we hit a point of no return in training my mom got a bark collar. It didn't help the behavior because the dog would go ape shit whenever a fan was turned on, or a squirrel landed on the deck, but all it could do was pace around the room staring at its target, it took about 5 minutes to learn it couldn't bark anymore.

Its not a great solution. Negative reinforcement doesn't really teach the dog proper behavior, because the second that collar is off, it'll bark enough to make up for when it couldn't. However, if your roommate isn't taking the appropriate steps, its the lesser of two evils when it comes in creating a better situation.

8/13/2014 10:43:55 AM

Will a bark collar work for whining/crying/moaning?

8/13/2014 11:13:01 AM

It worked for the dog I referenced in my previous post.

I'd check the information on the collar, but the one we had (15 years ago) was activated by a certain volume, whether it was a bark or a whine. We could change the sensitivity so that she wasn't getting zapped every time she breathed heavily but still wasn't loud enough to wake anyone up in a separate room.

This should really be a last resort though. It won't fix the manic behavior from separation anxiety, just the noise, and may make other behavior worse. I would have your room mate talk to a qualified trainer who can teach her the right way to work with her dog.

Do you own the residence or rent? If you rent, I'd threaten to bring this issue up with the landlord if shit doesn't get better.

[Edited on August 13, 2014 at 11:25 AM. Reason : ]

8/13/2014 11:24:48 AM

Thundershirt.

Put a blanket over the kennel.

And they actually do make Prozac for dogs that have high anxiety.

8/13/2014 7:57:25 PM