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Originally Posted by electricevoix  Again just to clarify my fiance is not giving me an ultimatum that the dog goes or she goes. Trust me I found my soulmate, the relationship is going to end because of Mia. I would bet the ranch and everything I own on that. In any case like I've said i'm trying to break old habits of hers and looking for help so she can get used to a new style for her in our new home that's it.
To answer your question, every morning I wake up do my thing get ready and head downstairs. Once I head downstairs I immediately let Mia out, tell her to go potty and she runs into the bathroom with a pad i've laid out for her already and she does her business. She's already adjusted to the new layout of the house and where she goes to the bathroom. I finish getting my things together before I leave for work, i'd say about half hour. During this time she's running around, following me and I like to play with her for about 10 minutes before I leave the house. I'm out the door by 7. All depending on the way the work day goes I'm home anywhere between 8:30-10:00. My fiance is normally home anywhere between 9-10:00 (we both have the same profession). Regardless of who is home first, first thing I do is take off my jacket, let Mia out and tell her to go potty. She does have a pad in her caged in area which she normally does her business during the day if she has too. I wouldn't expect any animal or human to hold it in for that long. So she does her business in the bathroom, I clean up and proceed to get settled and comfortable till I go to bed. During this time she's following me around the house upstairs or downstairs, sits in the bathroom while I shower and then I try to watch a little tv to relax the brain after a long day. Normally between an hr to an hour and half. Normally during this time she's grabbing her toys and I know she wants to play so I play with her for a few minutes, she eventually gives up on the toy and wants on my lap so I pull her into my lap, relax till I go to bed then it's lights out for everyone, which ends up being around 12:30ish. |
Thank you for taking the time to answer that question. It does tell me that the dog is getting very little actual time for connecting and interacting with you on any meaningful basis after all the time being somewhat coddled. Dogs are sentient pack animals, especially many of the small to medium-sized terriers. They have extremely alert, sensitive and active minds and hunger for closeness and oneness with their pack and jobs in life. Terriers were bred to work and work is what they are all about. They need meaning and worth to their lives and long hours alone and sleeping separated and alone from their pack plus little time working actively to achieve anything can be extremely frustrating, especially after the doting lifestyle this one just had to give up a while back with the change of homes.
I would give this baby a day or two of a good, reputable doggie daycare, hire a dog sitter to spend one - two hours a day working with that little one and take some TV time to work training the little one in obedience and/or a little simple agility work with short, homemade jumps and cardboard-box tunnels. Positive, reinforcing treat reward and genuine praise and a good, hard play session after each working session is a good ending, then a short turn to potty on the pad or outside on the porch and even a turn on the snowy sidewalk just to get some air and a sniff of the wonderful outside world will likely work wonders to help your dog feel it lives for a reason and achieves something in its day. Dogs LOVE to work at learning tricks and interactive toys. I feed my dog using only interactive toys he has to work at to get his food from. Takes him 30 - 60 minutes sometimes to eat and he often has to work to get the food out. He's a happy camper while he's "hunting" and "working" for his dinner. He's so happy with his dinnertime and comes and kisses me and rolls around when he's finally "hunted" all his dinner out of the kong toys and puzzles! You can just tell he thinks his life is good.
Part of each day we work at his obedience tricks and his agility. I sit him in my lap and talk directly to him about things and ask him questions. Silly but he seems to like it. He watches TV with me evenings. We take a good walk at least once daily, with the whole way up the block allowing him to stop and sniff and hike his leg all he wants and then back down the block, we "heel" and walk fast, stopping for nothing in order to get his legs really going, his muscles working. He goes outside in the backyard to play and chase squirrels, meet the neighbor's dogs through the fence several times a day. For a snack, he gets a puzzle toy he has to work to move pieces out of the way to uncover his kibble treats. He has ready access to the floor to ceiling living room and huge den windows to survey the outside world and keep watch at all times. He sleeps with me nights. He has no behavior problems other than a panic attack and those seem cyclical. He hasn't had one now in about 3 weeks. He was severely neglected for the first 9 mos. of his life, living alone in a cage under a roof outside in the elements but 99% of his fears and all of his behavior problems we have worked through. When I worked after I first got him, a good deal of the evening and weekends was spent doing all of those same things, just for less time for each activity.
Also, as I said in my other post, I would use a good secure crate, start by placing it by the bed at night, toss a treat or two in from time to time only when the dog is quiet, ignore whining, etc., and slowly but surely move it away from the bed and down the hall if you have to sleep that separately from the dog.
Hopefully by giving more quality time to your dog and changing some things, giving more meaning and work to the dog's day and slowly adjusting the sleeping quarters can help your situation. Best of luck to you.