dog sitting in house for several days, but still having separation anxiety? tips?
I've been dog sitting in the owner's home for five days now, and every day, all is good initially, but at the 3.5 hour mark of being home, awake, and interacting with him, he starts to freak out - panting heavily, attacking pillows, climbing on me to hump my leg. The first day, the owner said that this is his way of getting used to me, but is that still the case after 5 days?? I've always interacted well with dogs and have stayed very close to the owner's schedule with him, making sure he has plenty of food and water throughout the day. Has anyone experienced this or have any tips?
I might try to exercise him more heavily in the morning to see if it helps calm him, or use treats to try to distract him and pull his attention away from the freak out and entice him into some calmer and less hump-heavy games.
I'll try that, thanks! I noticed that he's perfectly calm all day and this only happens at night once it gets dark. It's a little hard to distract him once he's set on attacking a pillow/humping, but a treat might work.
Yeah, kinna sounds like it could be some evening zoomies that you might be able to address with exercise to make sure he's too tired for all that by the time evening rolls around. Or just immediately take him for a walk when he starts acting like that.
The Frenchie I sit for one night started jumping around in circles and barking at me like he wanted to be chased and played with, but it was LOUD. I've made certain to make his evening walk at least 30 min ever since and it's never happened again. Thankfully it's pretty easy to tire out a frenchie.