Some Dog...

Grant was our first baby. He will always be our first baby. He is spoiled rotten...and knows it. This picture was taken just a few moments ago when I so rudely interrupted his morning nap...on my bed! It must be nice to be in his paws; he has quite the life. Sleeps when he wants, gets to run around and chase lizards, bunnies, and birds (oh my!), and gets treated like he's a person. Wow. That's some dog we have...

That same sweet dog who looks so peaceful while sleeping, is also a nightmare. He thinks he's a person so intently that he gets offended when left alone at the house. We crate him while we're gone because if we don't he'd eat our house (or maybe just all the ink pens and ipods in it). He's a very well behaved dog--except when left alone. How do we know this?...because we made the mistake of spying on him with a video camera! I wish we'd never known what he did while we were gone! In his crate he has a complete hissy-fit and goes bersurk. We've tried wearing him out exercising before we leave, giving him toys to play with in his crate, giving him a toy filled with peanut butter...I even made a video tape of myself doing everyday things around the house to trick him into thinking I was home (which actually worked for about two months until he figured it out one day)! Nothing seems to help. So, what do we do?

What can we do? I can't stay home all day...we can't not go places. I hate feeling trapped by my dog! So...we try not to think about how upset he might be getting when we leave. But...recently we've noticed that he's been losing weight. So I took him to the vet and had him checked out. What did the vet find? Nothing. He thinks that his weight loss is due to his anxiety! Well now doesn't that make me feel like the worse dog-mother in the world?! He thinks we can train the anxiety out of him but he also is recommending we put him on doggie prozac! What?! Oh the things we do for our animals!!! That's some dog we have...