Animal Manners

Zappa

Zappa is a Springer Spaniel cross and he was born in November 2002. I got him when he was 7 weeks old in January 2003. I had wanted a dog of my own for a long time and was probably guilty of spoiling him a little. Zappa settled in well with us, was house trained in record time and slept downstairs in the kitchen at night.

During the summer of 2003, my husband and I separated, although we remained in the same house until early this year. This was a very stressful time for all of us but seemed to be especially so for Zappa who was about 6 months old. I started to allow him to sleep upstairs with me and he started to rip up the kitchen floor whenever he was left alone. He became very anxious and wanted to be with me all the time.

My children and I moved into our new house earlier this year and Zappa and the cat came with us. One day I came home from work and Zappa had ripped up the hall carpet and chewed through the phone wires. I bought him a kennel and started to fasten him up outside to avoid further damage to the house. However, five people separately reported Zappa’s constant barking to the dog warden. Zappa therefore ended up shut in a cage in the kitchen when left in the house alone. Although the cage is plenty big enough for him to move, it still felt cruel to shut him in. Zappa went to the vet to be castrated around this time as the vet thought it might help calm him down. The dog warden was very helpful when she contacted me. She informed me that the reports she had received alleged that Zappa sounded very distressed. I was becoming increasingly worried about Zappa, he was obviously very upset when left alone and I could think of nothing that I could do to help him, consequently I was upset each time I left him. The dog warden sent me some information about separation anxiety and passed on Gill’s name and contact details. I felt that it was unfair to Zappa to continue as we were and that I must next consider finding him a home with someone who could be with him all the time. In the absence of any other ideas, I decided to contact Gill.

Gill came to visit to observe Zappa at home with us and asked lots of questions about him. She reassured me that I was doing a lot of things right (I was feeling pretty useless as a dog owner by this time!) and pointed out things that may have been contributing to Zappa’s problems. She noticed that he was very needy and regularly came to me to fuss and reassure him. Gill advised me to not respond when he did this, but to fuss him when I wanted to and when he wasn’t demanding it. In short, I needed to take control of our relationship and show Zappa that I was in charge. Zappa followed me from room to room and was uncomfortable when I was out of his sight. Gill showed me how to train him to stay while I left the room, progressing to going upstairs and then out of the house. Gill gave me lots of advice about things to try to alleviate Zappa’s anxieties and I have tried them all I think! Zappa is a lively, loving, intelligent dog that learns quickly and he has made great progress over the last few weeks. It is impossible to tell which of Gill’s ideas is working with Zappa, probably a combination of all of them. However, I do believe that Gill gave me the confidence to deal with Zappa’s problems and the hope that we could sort things out if we really tried. I was much more relaxed about the whole thing after talking to Gill and I believe that Zappa could sense this, which in turn helped him to be less upset.

I am very happy to say that I no longer feel the need to consider finding another home for Zappa. I would not hesitate to recommend Gill to other pet owners, she helped me to understand the underlying issues and showed me how I could help Zappa to overcome his problems. I am sure that one day soon Zappa will be completely over his problems and live a long and happy life with us.

 

Sue Hill