Separation And Relocation Anxiety
Transcript for:
Separation And Relocation Anxiety MR. SAM LITZINGER
12:17:34
Welcome back to "The Animal House." I'm Sam Litzinger with Dr. Gary Weitzman of the San Diego Humane Society. Dr. Weitzman will answer your animal-related questions because that is what he does. 877-610-3647, or you can send your question via email to animalhouse@wamu.org. Again, the number is 877-610-3647. Email animalhouse@wamu.org. Visit our "Animal House" Facebook page to see animal news, videos, and our Animal of the Day. You can also get show schedules, event information and updates by following "The Animal House" on Twitter if you'd like to do that. What's the big news from the San Diego Humane Society this week, Dr. Gary?
DR. GARY WEITZMAN
12:18:14
Oh, big adoption event. We got a hundred animals out, which was great, in one afternoon. They were all from shutting down a pet store back in March.
LITZINGER
12:18:25
Wow.
WEITZMAN
12:18:25
So tons of puppies, just everything. We just sent home about a dozen doves this weekend which was great, on top of all of that.
LITZINGER
12:18:32
By the way, are you running into any animals in San Diego that you normally wouldn't see here in the Washington D.C. area where you were before?
WEITZMAN
12:18:39
Well, let's see. You know, as far as the shelter, well, you know, at the Washington Animal Rescue League we really concentrated on dogs and cats, and here in San Diego, we've got mostly dogs and cats, of course, but we also have Monitor Lizards, giant African Tortoises, dozens of birds, and that was all from the pet store seizure.
LITZINGER
12:18:56
Wow.
WEITZMAN
12:18:56
So yeah, a little variety. And then, of course, you know, we got the zoo here, so there's...
LITZINGER
12:18:59
You do.
WEITZMAN
12:19:00
...you know, there's a ton of animals.
LITZINGER
12:19:01
Busy. All right. Well, let's see if you can help some folks here. This is Ethan calling. Ethan, glad to have you with us in "The Animal House." Question for Dr. Gary?
ETHAN
12:19:09
Hey, guys. Thank you for having me on the show. Yeah. My name is Ethan. I've got my five-year-old amazing dog named Calabante. And...
WEITZMAN
12:19:19
Uh-oh, wait a minute. Calabante? Being in San Diego, I should know what that means, but I don't. What is that?
ETHAN
12:19:27
Calabante is actually is (word?) word, so it's a West African dialect where...
WEITZMAN
12:19:32
Sam, you knew that.
LITZINGER
12:19:33
That is so cool.
ETHAN
12:19:34
I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, and Calabante means jokester, trickster. We call her Cali for short, actually.
WEITZMAN
12:19:43
Oh, I love it. Fantastic. What kind of a dog is Calabante?
ETHAN
12:19:48
That's another wonderful question. So she's five-and-a-half years old, and for four and a half of those years, we could have sworn she was a black Lab mixed with some type of hound. She loves swimming and chasing balls. And then we went ahead and did a DNA test for fun, and we found out...
WEITZMAN
12:20:06
Oh, I love those.
ETHAN
12:20:06
...that she is -- yeah. Yeah. Found out that she is a quarter Coonhound, sounds good. A quarter...
WEITZMAN
12:20:12
There you go, there's the hound.
ETHAN
12:20:14
Yeah. A quarter Greyhound, okay. Sounds right. And then a quarter Miniature Poodle.
WEITZMAN
12:20:22
Really?
ETHAN
12:20:22
Which kind of blew us a way. Fifty-five pounds. And then the rest of her is just a mix with like one percent Chihuahua as well.
LITZINGER
12:20:29
Wow. You gotta wonder where the Poodle and the Chihuahua came from all that. So is there a particular -- is there a problem now with Calabante in some respect?
ETHAN
12:20:37
It's not even a problem. We just moved from a condo, a one-bedroom condo, to a beautiful house with a beautiful backyard, and my question for you is, how do you train an older dog how to pee and poop in one specific location of your yard in order to protect the rest of it?
WEITZMAN
12:20:58
Ah. Okay. So you can definitely train her to go in one area. You gotta make it worthwhile though. So I do it -- the first couple things that I would do is get her into the habit. So if there's any way that you can let her out just on the leash and guide her to one particular place and then reward her. And don't use food this time. Hmm. Sam, you're probably shocked that I said that.
LITZINGER
12:21:20
Yeah, I am.
WEITZMAN
12:21:20
You know I love to bribe with food. Just get her out to a certain place to urinate, and then just say good girl. Don't get exuberant, don't get down on the ground, you know. Don't roll around and let her get too excited about it, but just get her out there on the leash. And I know it's a pain in the neck, and especially now that you've gone from, you know, smaller quarters to a larger environment and, you know, you just want to let her out the door, just don't do it yet because you gotta set the rules.
WEITZMAN
12:21:46
And honestly, that might be all it takes for you just to get her into the habit of going to one place. Dogs are creatures of habit, you know. It's just going to be signals and familiarity, and then you can open it up and see how she does as far as going in other places, but watch her when she goes to a different area that you don't want her in, just tell her no and just correct her, you know, with words, and get her back to where she's supposed to go. And honestly, you know, she sounds like a great dog. I don't think you're gonna have any trouble getting her to stay in one place, but you've got to be vigilant.
WEITZMAN
12:22:15
So everybody likes boundaries, so make sure that you let her know what they are, and if she starts to veer into a different part, you know, where you have the -- where you've planted the $30,000 worth of Japanese Maples, just get her back over to where that, you know, the weeds are, okay?
LITZINGER
12:22:33
The Goldenrods live, yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:22:33
And you can actually even build a place. You can build it, so -- and you can mulch it so, you know, you can get a border around it just so she can visually know exactly where you want her to go. But honestly, listen...
ETHAN
12:22:44
Oh that's a good idea.
WEITZMAN
12:22:44
...if cats can do litter boxes, you can train Calabante to use a certain part of your yard.
ETHAN
12:22:49
I also heard of something you can buy at a pet store with maybe...
WEITZMAN
12:22:53
Oh, right.
ETHAN
12:22:54
...like pheromones attached to it. Have you ever heard of this?
WEITZMAN
12:22:56
Yeah. You can try -- there's a lot of different things you can spray, and they're mostly to try to keep other animals, not your own, out of parts of your landscaping. And, I gotta tell you, mixed results. It won't hurt. I mean, make sure it says non-toxic on there. I'm sure most of them do. But just check for that. But it's, you know, it's kind of -- it's iffy whether or not that will help or not. I think, you know, she wants to do the right thing. You just have to tell her what it is, and make sure you lead her to it. Make it as easy as possible for her to visually find it, and then reward her with affirmation at the end of it. And honestly, two weeks, you're gonna be fine.
WEITZMAN
12:23:33
Now, if you come back and you tell us that you've already been in the house for two-and-a-half years, and she's been going all over the yard, that's a different story. But if you're just getting there, you can set the rules now, and this is the time to do it.
ETHAN
12:23:45
Oh, fantastic.
LITZINGER
12:23:46
877-610-3647 is our telephone number. Our email address is animalhouse@wamu.org. Let's take a telephone call from Chris. Chris glad to have you with us in "The Animal House." Question for Dr. Gary?
CHRIS
12:23:59
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for taking my call.
WEITZMAN
12:24:01
Sure.
CHRIS
12:24:01
I have a wonderful one-year-old yellow Lab named Maggie. She's only one. We've had her since she was, you know, eight-week-old baby, and she's just been wonderful.
WEITZMAN
12:24:09
A baby, okay.
CHRIS
12:24:11
She does have some separation anxiety, so I've been thinking about getting a companion for her, another dog.
WEITZMAN
12:24:18
Okay.
CHRIS
12:24:18
And I've just heard that maybe that -- it would relax her a little bit more, so she has somebody to be with when we're, you know, when we have to leave during the day.
WEITZMAN
12:24:23
It could. Is she relaxed with other dogs? Does she like other dogs? She's a Lab so, I...
CHRIS
12:24:26
She does.
WEITZMAN
12:24:27
…assume. Okay. Good.
CHRIS
12:24:28
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:24:30
All right. So getting another dog is -- okay. That's one step.
CHRIS
12:24:33
Right. So we're -- we would like to get another dog. I don't really want to go through the whole puppy thing again, so I'd like to get either a young -- an older puppy or a young dog, or an adult dog, and I've been looking at shelters, because we'd really like to adopt.
WEITZMAN
12:24:46
Thank you, excellent.
CHRIS
12:24:47
And we had been a foster family for a little while in the Washington area, and the dogs that we were getting had all sorts of problems.
WEITZMAN
12:24:56
Oh.
CHRIS
12:24:56
And I want to be able to adopt a dog that -- and the main problem is aggression, and it seems like it's often hidden. So I have four children, the youngest is nine, the oldest is 17. So the -- and we've had dogs all their lives. They know kind of how to handle dogs, but, you know, we had one dog that had toy aggression, and we thought we had all the toys out of the house. Well, he found something and he turned into -- like he just was a different dog completely once he got this toy.
WEITZMAN
12:25:21
Oh, yes. Okay.
CHRIS
12:25:22
And then we had another dog that we were just fostering and he was wonderful until someone else other than the six members of our family were home, and then he turned into a, you know, a maniac also at the door.
WEITZMAN
12:25:32
Oh, yeah. Okay.
CHRIS
12:25:34
And so I want to find an adult dog that doesn't have any aggression, and I'm just wondering what are some of the signs? I know that I can read their bios and I can ask questions, and, you know...
WEITZMAN
12:25:43
Yes.
CHRIS
12:25:44
...but there's limited information sometimes, and I don't want to adopt a dog that we can't have as a family pet.
WEITZMAN
12:25:49
No. Nor should you. And let me tell you, Chris, don't do it. Don't do it on your own. I applaud you, and would highly encourage you, as you won't be surprised to hear, to go to a shelter to get -- or a rescue group to get your next dog.
CHRIS
12:26:01
Mm-hmm.
WEITZMAN
12:26:02
But go to one that actually is doing very conscientious and extensive behavioral assessments. Because the resource guarding that you described over toys, you know, is checked at shelters with behavior staff. It's checked for resource guarding over food, rawhide, aggression toward children, babies, other dogs, other animals, cats, all of that. You really need professional staff to give you their best assessment. You're right though, there's no guarantees in anything, but there wouldn't be even if you went to the most phenomenal breeder for AKC, it doesn't really matter.
WEITZMAN
12:26:40
We try really extensively in shelters now to do very thorough behavioral testing. So we can tell you really in our professional judgment whether or not this dog is going to be good with kids or good with the family, or good if you drop Cheerios on the floor or a rawhide or toys, and good with your dog Maggie, and those are the most important things. So I just say go to a good shelter.
WEITZMAN
12:27:03
If you're in the Washington area, of course, you know, my love is the Washington Animal Rescue League.
CHRIS
12:27:06
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:27:07
And they've got a great behavior staff. You know, you'll go in there, you'll do a meet your match survey, so you can tell what kind of a dog might be best for you. You'll get the whole behavioral assessment, and every good shelter, whether it's the Washington Animal Rescue League, or you go to Alexandria, or Arlington, or Washington Humane Society, every good shelter will make sure you're adopting not just that dog or cat, but them, you know, the professional staff as well, so if you have any problems -- and you've already done a fantastic thing, you're fostering.
WEITZMAN
12:27:34
So if you could foster, you could sort of do a test run as well, and see how that goes. But, you know, everything tends to get better as long as a dog or a cat seems open to another animal. You know, they go throw their own little posturing and all that at the beginning sometimes, and that usually gets better, but you're going to be able to, with professional staff and guidance, find out what the best bet is for you to bring home, and I'd say honestly, you're going to do great. Go to the Washington Animal Rescue League and start there and then see what they've got.
CHRIS
12:28:02
Okay. Okay. Wonderful.
LITZINGER
12:28:03
Sounds like a long conversation or two or three may be key on that.
CHRIS
12:28:07
Right.
WEITZMAN
12:28:07
But a fun one. It's going to be great for the whole family and it's, you know, again, thanks.
CHRIS
12:28:11
So ask a lot of questions and making sure that they understand what our needs are.
LITZINGER
12:28:14
Exactly.
WEITZMAN
12:28:15
Yeah.
CHRIS
12:28:15
Okay.
LITZINGER
12:28:15
Thanks very much, Chris.
CHRIS
12:28:16
Great, thank you.
WEITZMAN
12:28:16
Let us know how it works out.
LITZINGER
12:28:17
Yeah. Good luck. Report back to us on when you end up with a new companion animal in the family there. Much appreciated. Our telephone number is 877-610-3647. Our email address is animalhouse@wamu.org. Let's take a telephone call from Tony. Tony, glad to have you with us in "The Animal House." Question for Dr. Gary?
TONY
12:28:35
Yes. Thank you very much for taking my call.
WEITZMAN
12:28:38
Sure.
TONY
12:28:38
My wife and I have made a hobby of rescuing pets. At one point we had...
WEITZMAN
12:28:43
Oh, okay.
TONY
12:28:44
...we had four dogs and seven cats. We're down to three dogs and five cats. One of them is an outdoor cat.
WEITZMAN
12:28:52
Okay.
TONY
12:28:53
My issue is I have a two year old, and my wife is seven months pregnant with our next child.
WEITZMAN
12:28:59
Oh, congrats.
TONY
12:29:01
Thank you. She actually is allergic to cats even though she's the one that keeps bringing them home.
WEITZMAN
12:29:06
And you have five of them, okay. (laugh)
TONY
12:29:08
Yeah, right.
LITZINGER
12:29:08
Tony, your problem is that you're looking for a 50,000-square-foot house now?
WEITZMAN
12:29:12
Yes. (laugh) And a lot of Benadryl.
TONY
12:29:15
Yeah. We had found a home for two of the cats, but unfortunately the family -- one of the daughters was allergic, so they brought them back to us.
LITZINGER
12:29:26
Oh, okay.
TONY
12:29:28
At this point, we've had -- we picked up four of them at once, three boys and a girl. I found a home for one of the boys, but the other two boys are long hair and they just -- they make a wreck of the house. They make my wife, you know, her allergies go crazy, and I'm just not sure that, you know, with a new baby on the way that we can handle this many animals anymore.
WEITZMAN
12:29:49
Right. Right.
TONY
12:29:49
I've found a home for the two boys, but it's on a farm. They've been indoor cats since we got them. They were born in (word?) forest and found in someone's backyard.
WEITZMAN
12:30:02
Okay.
TONY
12:30:02
So their parents were probably feral, but I just -- I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing by sending them to this farm...
WEITZMAN
12:30:09
Right. Right.
TONY
12:30:09
...where there are other cats. And I'd make them outdoor cats here, but we live right off a major highway.
WEITZMAN
12:30:15
Yeah. No. You don't want to do that. If you're looking for alternatives, and you can find friends or family to take the animals, I'd say that's the best bet. If you can't do that, and you're finding people that you're meeting through advertisements or whatever, you do want to make sure you know what that environment is going to be. I'm worried when I hear about indoor cats going to a quote/unquote "farm," because farm means they're going to become barn cats for the most part, and that may not be the case, Tony, in this particular circumstance, but...
TONY
12:30:42
No, it is.
WEITZMAN
12:30:42
...that's what we worry about. That's like taking, you know, us, and dropping us on Mars. I don't know. I think in this case it's probably not the best match for them. The other thing too is you can check with any shelters in your area, you know, and I'm not saying necessarily to bring them to a shelter, that should be your last resort because we really want people to try to keep animals out of shelters. But they can certainly give you some help if there's anybody in particular looking for a cat like yours, you know, they can give you some pointers on that too. But let us know what happens.
TONY
12:31:13
Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:31:13
Good luck with all the changes coming up for you.
TONY
12:31:15
All right. Well, thank you very much.
LITZINGER
12:31:17
Thank you, Tony. Dr. Gary Weitzman will return with answers to more questions later in the program. Our telephone number is 877-610-3647.
MS. KAREN MUNSON
12:31:30
I'm Karen Munson and this is "The Animal House" Dateline. Researchers have connected a recent dolphin die off to the 2010 oil spill, which likely weakened dolphins for colder conditions in Gulf waters. Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that dolphins off the coast of Louisiana, an area significantly hit by the spill, have become seriously ill due to oil exposure.
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12:31:53
Authorities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania say a young, 125-pound black bear ambled across a parking lot through the doors and into a Sears store, and decided to do a little browsing. Local media reported that the bear walked around the store for about 10 minutes. Officers from the Pennsylvania Game Commission tranquilized the bear and took him away from the Pittsburgh Mills Mall.
MS. KAREN MUNSON
12:32:14
A British artist's plan to create a mouse with Elvis Presley's DNA, has set websites buzzing over the past week. But it's nothing more than an art school concept. You can find out more information about these stories at wamuanimalhouse.org.
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