Going on Holiday

Hi

Whenever we go away and leave Henry with my mum and dad he is a nightmare. If he goes to their house he is constantly barking he gets them up at half 6 every morning and he doesnt settle. When we go around in the day with him he is fine. He is even fine on the first day and night we leave him but after that they are tearing their hear out.

A couple of weekends ago we went away and my sister came to our house to look after him but he was the same. He ripped his bed up and woke her up very early barking and moaning.

Does anyone know how to solve this?

We are going to have to put him in kennels next time as no one wants to look after him as he is such a pain. My mum and dad have had dogs and are used to looking after them. They cook him chicken to put in his dinner and are in more than we are with him so it's nothing that they do.

How much exercise is the dog getting from you and how much exercise are your parents giving?

He goes outside in a large area and runs around all day in both places. My husband is the one who walks him and thats a couple of times a week at least depending on his shifts. My mum and dad have a large area which he goes out and runs around everyday as he does at home so he gets lots of exersise at both places

Is he interacting with any other dog. It sounds to me the dog might be bored. Even if you have a large space for the dog to run around in if he isnt socialising with other dogs the boredom will soon set in and that will eventually have to be released in some manner.

To be honest, it's not surprising he is getting up to mischief.
He is a busy bored Westie
He is way under exercised.
He should be getting *at least* an hours walk per day split into 2 or 3 walks.
Having a big garden for dogs to run around in isnt 'exercise', nor a substitute for exercise.

Exercise is also about mental and sensory stimulation.
Its using the brain by getting trained, and using the primary canine sense of smell.
This would be the same as keeping us shut in our home 24/7, apart for a few hours here and there.
We would get bored and stressy, as we would not be fullfilling our primary sense of sight
And to make it worse, whilst bored, he has a good garden to charge around in winding himself up, spiking his adrenaline, and getting himself in a state.
So, regular walks each and every day whoever is looking after him, wherever he is staying, and dog training classes.