OCD/Anxiety ridden Yorkie - Help!

[kt852]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 1 year old female Yorkie. She is about 3.5-4lbs, I got her when she was 6 months old. She was very shy and timid, I thought I got her from a breeder but the more I learn about my Yorkie, I feel like this 'breeder' may have picked her up from a puppy mill.

She has come a long way in the past 6 months, opening up a lot more but she still holds traits that are very frustrating and hard to deal with - I am not sure what to do with her! She has her own bedroom for when I am away from the house (she is potty pad trained) and I was coming home to one exhausted Yorkie with an empty water dish. I started peaking in her window every day I would get home to find her running circles in her room. I suspected as much because every now and then if her poo didn't land on her pad which I have in the corner, it would be smashed down into the wood floors to the point of needing a knife to scrape it off. I've tried leaving her with items that smell like me in case of separation anxiety - no change. Because of the copious amount of water she drinks through the day, she then has accidents all over the house - or when my (new) boyfriend who is 6'2 opens her door, she pees at the site of seeing him. (Starting to wonder if she has had bad experience with tall males before or if his height scares her.. also I crated her once and she freaked out and peed all over).

Anyway, I want her to calm down during the day obviously.. I am considering anxiety meds for her. I wanted to see if anyone else has had the same experience and what they have done.

Thank you!!

[LunarBerry]

I've not had this experience, but I did once look into these pheromone sprays that are suppose to calm pets down. Maybe something like that? They do sell the ones I'm talking about at petsmart.

[GuinnessStout]

We are going to start a new product I found so not sure if it works yet, I have an OCD anexity licker... to the point of licking the paint off my kitchen walls and then eating a HUGE hole in the wall!!! And like yours, DO NOT crate him unless you want to clean up the hugest mess of pee and poo you have ever seen!!!!

NaturVet Quiet Moments Calming Aid Dog Soft Chews at PETCO

[GuinnessStout]

Oh and my vet wanted to put him on a special medicated anexity dog food... which if he was a smaller yorkie I would have considered but due to him being 15lbs and the price of the bag I would have gone broke feeding him and ending up with anexity licking the walls, couch, table, skin sister, fur sister, window (yes I have a window licker puppy lol) myself

[yorkietalkjilly]

OCD cases are pretty intense work to rehab and you need the vet to check her first to be sure she's not got some adrenal tumor or something else causing her hyperactivity. He might recommend a slight sedative for her first few weeks of rehab training if she's not ill to help her correct her bad habits associated with her stress at staying alone when you leave the house.

Once she had a clean bill of vet health, if this were my dog, for starters I would try crating her in a large crate a little at a time until she will accept it - all dogs eventually will if you just leave it in the room with the door open and toss treats and toys into it and encourage her to go in after them and back out as you play with her and doing it in an upbeat, fun way. After she's used to going in and out, when she goes in to get a treat, tell her it's wonderful, say something high-energy and happy like "You won a crate stay!" like she just won the lottery, all smiles and excitement and happiness while you clap your hands and get her all jazzed up, toss in a few more of her favorite bits of food - warm, boiled chicken - and hold the door closed for 5 - 10 seconds and slowly increasing her time in the crate, always treating and praising her as you open the door and she exits.

In time, she will learn to control her impulses and wait in the crate in order to get the treat and your praise when she exits. You will know she's accepted the crate when she lies down for the first time in it. Praise and treat that event and in a minute or two, let her out as a reward until she's more used to the crate. The second and third and other times she lies down in the crate, leave her in there a little longer before you let her out and give her her treat and praise.

When she's accustomed to having her small den she can stay in, I'd leave her in that so she can't exhaust herself in OCD running and water-drinking as dogs can die from water-poisoning if she's drinking loads of water. Most dogs just learn to give in and sleep during the day when their working owners are at work and she will, too, with time and patience and retraining. I'd be sure I limited her daily water drinking to just what the vet says is healthy for her size/age and maybe use one of those time water-bowls that only a pre-determined amount of water every so often on a schedules or use one of those lick water bottles on the side of the crate.

Try that and see how she accommodates to it on weekends when you run out to the store and don't stay gone for too long to see how she does in a smaller, confined space. That's how I'd start on this girl if she were mine.

Once I got home again, I would let her out of the crate, praise her highly & let her go outside to potty and run and play vigorously all she wants. You could even put two crates together or use a pen but many dogs learn to stay in a crate while their owners are away and mostly sleep while they are gone, once they have tired of the peanut butter/treats in the kong toys left in there with them to ease them into the stay.

I would also train her not to become nervous or stressed when I left home. Do you know how to train her to desensitize her slowly to overcome separation anxiety? If not, I can give you a training lesson on how I've trained anxious dogs who hated being left alone and overcame it to become calm, relaxed dogs when I left them.

[gemy]

When I get back to the city I saw a product at my vets office for anxiety, I think it was a collar. I will let you know next week, when I return to Toronto if indeed it is what I think it is.

Rescue Remedy can sometimes be of aid too.

[kt852]

Thank you for the information so far! YorkieTalkJilly - I really like the idea of getting her used to a crate. She has one of those larger soft sided houses in her room that houses her bed and she does like to go in there and lay down/chew on toys when I am around, so that is a little bit of a good start! I just never close it because A. The zipper is broken (grr) and B. her potty pad is outside of it.. can i fold it and put it inside? Thoughts on that? I like the idea of giving her less water. I always know when she has a really bad day when the bowl is bone dry but I can't imagine that tiny body needs near the amount of water she consumes in one day.

I would love to hear more experience on the anxiety aids that you others are talking about. I think i will stop at PetSmart on the way home to scope it out and see if the workers have heard anything. I definitely need to get her into her vet to see what they say though!

Thank you everyone for the help - GuinnesStout - do you know what the product is you are going to try? Would love to hear if it works!!!

[Lovetodream88]

I would have the vet do a check up on her and make she they find nothing wrong and then I would ask about anxiety meds. My yorkie had to go on them for 3 months when she was having bad anxiety in my room at bed time no matter what we did and she was 6 and on the same schedual she has always been on. So being on the meds and getting back I to her routine for a few months she was acting normal so we weaned her off and haven't had problems sense so if she does go on them it dosent have to be forever.