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Hi all,

Libby (see the post 'My Lovely Pooch' has settled in well and it is like she has always been here.

BUT we are having a few issues. If any dog-minded ishers out there can give me any advice, I would be really grateful:

1. When I leave the room/area, she goes bonkers. Really horrible yelps and cries. It is totally heartbreaking. I started off leaving her for one and then two hours at a time (I have a sympathetic boss!) and whenever I got home she was always asleep. But now she is in the kennels at work (she is the only one there at the moment). They are gorgeous old victorian hunting pack kennels (office in the grounds of an old stately home) which have a nice brick shed and little fenced patio area. I am able to take her for a nice long walk at lunchtime for an hour, and go out to check on her and have a mini-play session every two hours. But every time I leave she yelps and cries and it goes on for ages - to the point where I am worried the neighbours to our offices will start to complain.

It has only been 3 days so far and i know she has to get used to it at some point - but can someone tell me it will get better? Please!?

2. She can't stand my boyf. Well, she lets him stroke her on the sofa and sleeps on him, but won't go out on a lead with him and cowers and shakes every time he goes near her. He isn't a dog-beater by the way - far from it! And we don't have any reason to suspect that when she was a small puppy, she was mis-treated. Plus she isn't scared of any of the men in my family, so I don't think it is an anti-man thing. I do feel sorry for him, he loves her more than life itself, and she can't bear to be in the same room as him! Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Bonnie x

Hi Bonnie, i'm wondering if human CBT techniques would help like exposure therapy... so the more time your dog is exposed to being with your boyfriend the less anxious in time they would become as the anxiety would subside. Hope that helps. Just my 2ps worth... :-)

Similarly, the exposure therapy for when you are away from your dog would be to expose the dog to time without you, in gradual steps - until the anxiety subsides.