We have just recently built a huge run for our prys bella and fizz love it but we are having awful problems with polar. After a few minutes he just totally goes crazy and rips the gate to pieces in like a rage. I wanted to have him outdoors for a bit to get his coat growing back as he has lost a drastic amount of fur. He just wants to be with us 24 hours a day hes a real softy and loves cuddles but we do have to go out and we dont trust him in the house as he has chewed the doors so we built the run but he hates it in there does anyone have any suggestions on what i can do to help him as it is worrying.

I am having the same problem with JD. She is brilliant in everyway apart from when I leave her. I tried her in a crate ad she went in the rage as you described with Polar. She even managed to rip her way out of the crate, a solid Great Dane sized one. I leave her in the kitchen when I go out and she rips all the cupboards open and chews everything she can get hold of.

I have been reading about "separation anxiety" on the net for dogs which I am sure it is. There's quite a lot of suggestions which I am trying at the moment.

One of them I'm trying for stopping her getting at cupboard doors is double sided sticky tape. Its supposed to stop them in a matter of days. Will let you know how I get on.

Gaynor

It sounds like Polar is panicking at the thought of being left out in the run away from his flock he has to protect (you and your family ) I think this is probably upsetting him and he is desperately trying to get out of the run and back to you , Seperation Anxiety takes a lot of patience and baby steps to work through i got good results with Akira by leaving her for literally seconds at a time then going back to her when she was calm and quiet before she worked herself up into a state, initially this was while i was crate training her and it took me quite a few weeks to be able to even shut the door on the crate to start with theres a thread here if you would like to have a read through even if you are not using a crate the principles are somewhat the same

http://s3.invisionfree.com/Proud_Pyreneans...hp?showtopic=11

Polar might take a while to get used to the run but it can be workable along the same lines as crate training a nice tasty treat when you first put him in the run even if you dont close the door at all to start with so he associates it with a treat and then once he will happily go into the run probably looking for a treat :D you can work up a few minutes at a time talking to him calmly and give him treats through the run i would say always let him out if you think he is getting stressed out at all before he barks or whines so that you are rewarding him for being quiet and calm , not for when he starts barking or he will see that as his cue to get out of the run . If your dogs all get on and theres no arguing about food a nice stuffed kong each and some chews in the run could help as well so Polar realizes it is quite a nice place to be , with lots of goodies and nice things happening in there instead of him seeing it as a barrier between you and him .

Hope this helps and let us know how he gets on :D

Gaynor you might find that thread intresting reading too :D As i said it did not happen over night with Akira and i slept on the couch for months with her to get her used to it but boy was it worth it the first night i got back in my own bed :lol: :lol:

Fiona xx

thanks for the tips the run is 20 ft by 10ft with a 8 by 8 ft shed as extra and shelter i was wondering if its big enough maybe we need to extend it?

Thank pyrielover -will take a look.

Its driving me mad :(

She's managed to get in a cupboard which is above my head height and pull down a small glass vase and managed to slice one of her pads on it.

Off to the vets just now to get it looked at :unsure:

Gaynor

Awww hope the vet can sort her sore paw out for you Gaynor .Seperation Anxiety is really difficult to work through but it can be done , it takes tremendous amounts of patience and i am sure a lot of my friends thought i was mad when i was crate training Akira , i slept on the couch with her for months until she was used to the crate but is was so worth it to have an unstressed happy dog that can be left long enough now to go and do the shopping , go to the dentists, doctors and all kinds of every day things we all need to do . Akira was really bad with SA and would even be sick if i left her in the car for a few minutes to run into a shop so you have my sympathy i often wondered if she would ever be able to be left on her own for a bit ;)

Fiona xx

She has had one stitch in her paw. Its on the mend now - no more bleeding.

Its wierd - she is fine in the garden being on her own. She is really content.
My gargen is secure so I'm temped to leave her out but I want her to be ok i the house on her own.

Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead.

Gaynor

message below had bit of problem with computer!!!

poor jd its good to know shes ok :) its awful to see them get stressed like that :( we used to have ten mongolian cushions!! i came back from taking my children to school (a ten minute walk) and the place looked like a million chickens had been argueing in it :D :D it was annoying at the time but i laugh about it now!!! Polar has chewed the stairs and both front and back doors hes jumped out of windows so i cant leave any open unless he is out .Good thing is he has put lots of weight on , as for fizz shes coming along we had visitors yesterday and she just barked and paced a bit but didnt shake its gonna take a while for her to get over whatever happened to her but time is a great healer so fingers crossed. Bella is her usual self extremely playful and loves everyone!! She doesnt like being left unless she thinks its a great time to bounce all over the settees and have a right party :D :D keep us posted on jd and i hope things get better :)