Trucking | Back to Work

8 Responses

1. Jo

   July 30th, 2007 at 4:54 pm

   1

   My cat was on Clomicalm — a drug usually prescribed to treat anxiety and separation issues in dogs. It worked well for him. Took the edge right off. Ask your vet, maybe. I know there are other drugs, too, that you can rub on their ears if pilling him is a problem. And just so as you know, my Stanley was only on it for about a week. It kind of stopped him from licking his belly bald and got him on the road to reasonable behaviour. For some people, I think their dogs are on it long term, but I was lucky, I guess. Stanley is still what I like to call “special needs” (ha) but he’s A LOT better.

2. Wayne

   July 30th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

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   Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. When we asked the vet about meds for anxiety he kind of blew us off and said, they’re just like that. We’ve been looking on the internet and finding a lot, so we’ll see.

3. sue

   July 30th, 2007 at 7:28 pm

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   Got your blog from the WSJ; sounded interesting and it is! We like to travel, and I have always admired truck drivers; a couple makes it even more fun.
   First blog I’ve read by the way. Re Willie: try the Dog Whisperer; he seems fabulous at training dogs.

4. tburg

   August 2nd, 2007 at 10:58 am

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   I’d try the same technique you do with babies; play peek-a-boo with him. First try it from behind a book or piece of paper, then increase it to behind a tree, around the corner of a building, etc. It can be useful in teaching him that even though he can’t see you that you will return.
   It wouldn’t cost anything to try and may help!
   Read about your site in the Wall St Journal-looking forward to reading more.

5. Wayne

   August 2nd, 2007 at 4:32 pm

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   Not sure if we’ll have time tomorrow after unloading, but we need to sit and work with him somehow. I think it’s more of a dominance thing and not a scared to be alone thing.

   He’ll go nuts even when only one of us leaves. The other will be sitting right next to him and he goes out of control if someone leaves the house or truck.

6. Cindy

   August 5th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

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   I tried playing peek-a-boo which I thought was a great suggestion and he pounced at my face. No harm but I yelled “no”. Thanks for the idea though. Wayne sometimes has a little more patience than I do but Willie will need several lessons on this problem he has. Don’t know if Wayne mentioned this but we got him at 7 months old from a trucker at a truck stop giving him away. Don’t know what his issues were before. He is great other than the fits he throws when we try to leave the truck. Makes no difference if both leave or just one leaves. He just has a fit. Growling, barking, howling, scratching at the window. People/fellow truckers watch on the fuel island and laugh. Their dogs are sitting quietly on the passenger side starring too. HELP!!!!

7. Tim

   August 8th, 2007 at 7:24 pm

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   I don’t think he has separation anxiety,my step daughter has one of those dogs and from what she has dealt with it sounds like willie is bull headed about being in charge of everything in his life. those little guys can be a pain like that. she had to take hers to obedience school to calm his over bearing butt down. she went to “petsmart” and it seems to have helped a good bit. He still flies off the handle every once in a while but some sharp words and he is calmed back down again. with petsmart being a national store you might be able to get him in for some regular class work wherever you wind up on the road. hope that helps.

8. Penny

   August 24th, 2007 at 7:04 pm

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   Hi Sis-Have you tryed putting something with scents in the truck? If that don’t work you need to make him a blow up Cindy doll haha.