Lana was fine at the dogsitters last night and very excited to see me this morning. I have just reread the whole of the seperation anxiety thread. My goodness how long is that thread took me a good couple of hours.

I got the crate out this evening to try it out again, gave her a zylkene tablet today and have ordered more. Discovered on the SA thread why I gave up with the crate previously but also read my glowing reports about zylkene. I have ordered an anti bark collar having read hundreds of great reviews about them BUT will certainly not be leaving Lana alone with the collar on. I will try it out while I am sitting next to her and the postie comes and will be watching her closely to see her reaction to the spray. If she appears upset or distressed in any way then the collar will be ditched.

I'm hoping the zylkene will have the desired effect as it worked wonders previously. Lana will be at the dogsitters overnight all next week and then I will have to come to a decision on whether to keep on the job or not. If she can't be left then there's no point in keeping on the job as the pay at the moment is going to pay the dogsitter and I am already out of pocket with having to get the zylkene and the collar money which I borrowed and promised to pay back in two weeks hahaha goodness knows where I'll get it from but I have 13 days before I have to worry about that

I don't put music on now, it never helped in the past, did used to play relaxing music for dogs, have a couple of cds of them and also played them when I was here, didn't seem to make much difference to her.

I googled dog laughter cd and this led me to the laughing dog cd but can't find where to buy one.

I haven't tried a body wrap but will have a look see, maybe I can make one up or something as I can't afford one at the moment although hoping to stick some stuff on ebay and see if I can make a couple of pounds

Goodness, look at the time, must get to bed, got to get up in a couple of hours.

Thanks very much to everyone for your suggestions and good wishes.

Just read through all of this thread. Been working nights all week.

What a situation you are in......... God knows, you have tried everything.

Mindy barks incessantly. I have good neighbours luckily.. I have all apologized to them for the noise, and they all say that they are glad she is there, as she lets them know that someone is around. (I am so relieved, as if any of them complain, I would be in the same situation).

Good Luck and Best Wishes from us all here x x x

Poor you I am so sorry for the situation that you are in after all the hard work you have done with Lana. Paying out for a regular dog sitter myself and having investigated the price of Zylkene (it was too much for ne as Cain is so big he'd need two tablets a day, £100 a month!), I can fully appreciate that all that is probably costing more than you are earning I just wanted to mention the spray collar. I fully understand why you are trying it, you are desperate to solve this. The thing is that those glowing reviews simply means that their dogs stopped barking, not that the behaviour was resolved. I had this with Cain and e-collars. AP spent months trying to convince me that they solved everything, I went on a walk and met a trainer with three beautifully trained GSDs and I asked him how he did it. They were all wearing e-collars. He had had these dogs a number of years and I wondered why he was still using the collars if they were as wonderful as everyone made out. The answer of course was that they were masking the problem and simply preventing the behaviour, however the dogs weren't actually trained, if he took the collars off, I doubt the dogs would comply which is why he was still using them years later.

Now I'm not comparing you with him, but the principle is the same. Even if the collar works, firstly you'll probably have to use one forever because once you take it off and she realises she can bark again, she will. Secondly lots of dogs learn to just bark and bark until the spray can runs out then carry on barking anyway! Finally Lana is anxious. As rune said, stopping her barking won't solve her anxiety. Sure your neighbours are happy, but Lana will still be feeling miserable, probably more miserable The collar is a negative association not only with barking but being home alone. Do you really want to give her another reason to feel bad bring home alone after all the hard work that you have done? It could undo everything.

Please, I'm not nagging or judging you, I'm just trying to help. Really, I applaud all the work you've put into Lana's problems, it's been amazing And I know how desperate you can get with a dog with problems, Cain's issues are different but I'm sure we've both felt the same at points. Sadly there really is no magic wand, magic pill or magic collar to solve it all

I truely hope you manage to find a solution, it's clear you love Lana a lot. I hope you can find some work from home somehow. Fingers and paws crossed for you here!

Good luck Glad she was ok with the dog sitter, although I can imagine that does get expensive!

Here is a clip of dog laughter http://www.petalk.org/sounds/Laugh%20Long.aiff
It is the sound dogs make as they exhale when playing (different to a pant apparently). I wouldn't bother buying a CD just perhaps work out a way to put an MP3 clip on repeat and see if it has any effect. I saw they used it on dogtown once on a dog that shut down with a small amount of success.

Also, did you consider a recording of your voice playing to her so she feels comforted maybe?

Again, for the thundershirt I'm sure you can fashion an old t-shirt into something fairly snug fitting to see if she relaxes with that on.

Well done for trying so hard with her, its a massive commitment and I really hope something works out for you

I have kept out of this thread deliberately...........

However.........

Maybe you need to step back and think about what you are considering.

ie Is keeping the dog more important for your welfare or that of the dog?

Whilst I applaud the fact that you are exploring ALL possible options, and I know how heartbreaking it is to think of losing your dog, have you thought about what will happen if an anti bark collar makes her worse or does not work, what avenue will be left open to you..................

Sorry if this sounds harsh but sometimes, as owners, we are too close to a problem to see it in perspective.

Good luck

I posted this before but am repeating it now as I'm not sure if you saw it:

Why don't you see if a rescue can FOSTER Lana for a bit?

That way you can focus on your own situation which is clearly very difficult and stressful, but you won't have had to give up Lana forever.

Moon's Mum I am very unsure about the anti bark collar. If I do try it out when it arrives it will be when I am here to watch her reaction very carefully. Depending on this I might not use it again. Yes it's mainly because I don't know what else to try but as I said once it arrives and I see it I might end up returning it because although I have read all the reviews and talked to people who have used them I am not sure it's the right thing for Lana

For the last couple of weeks I have tried distancing myself from her but after reading through the whole of the SA thread last night I realised I had been down this route before and it made her worse. This could be why she was doing the barking whilst I was out. I am hoping the zylkene will help her as much as the last time. I have her at the dogsitters all next week and during that time will come to a decision on whether to keep the job on or not. I can see me giving it up

WhichPets Thanks for the clip of the dog laughter, will see what I can do with it.

Smokeybear thanks for your comments, I do understand what you mean. I have been thinking with me distancing myself from her which doesn't work and considering using the anti bark collar I am being cruel after saying I don't want to rehome her in case the next people are cruel to her. It's like the pot calling the kettle black.

If a great home turned up for her I would rehome her but I just can't do it through any of the rescue kennels I know, I've heard too many horror stories, people being given dogs which were supposedly a perfect match for them and they're not and being left outside all day to bark. Others giving the dogs back or mistreating them badly because of their bad behaviour. I just can't see Lana being an ideal dog for anyone although you never know maybe one day I will meet or hear from someone who would be.

When I said previously about not being able to give her up, it wasn't so much because I don't think I could live without her it's more that I could see her being a rebound dog because of her behaviour and I really couldn't put her through that. If she got someone who would be good to her and I thought she would be better of there I would rehome her but I can't take the risk of her going to someone who couldn't be bothered dealing with her with kindness. I just can't bear the thought of never knowing how she's being treated.

TabithaJ I'm not sure about the fostering as this could be a long term situation but will look into it. Maybe she could end up in a great place, treated well and they would want to keep her.

long shot - could you get a job with a security firm? nightshifts patrolling warehouses or whatever they do?

Or perhaps they could 'borrow' her for one of their employees to do night shift (or perhaps if you were to rehome her she could go to a working home)

wild long shot suggestion I know but thought id throw it on the table

have you tried the cinnamon trust,they might help ,they have lots of people who help owner keep there pets,its worth a try,think you will find there details on the web,good luck

The Cinnamon Trust tend to help older people but PAPAS will help you I am sure. Phone them!!!! 0300 666 3999
They may be able to arrange a foster.