The First Draft

I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m over this quarantine stuff. I can’t go anywhere, I can’t see people, and I need some time apart from my dog. That’s not to say I don’t know how important it is- it will save lives at the end of this mess.

But my dog. His name is Oliver, and I adopted him in January. The animal shelter said he was around six months old, and he was about 25 pounds. He had separation anxiety, and he gradually got over it as I came and went to go to work… and now I’m home all the time. I can’t leave my apartment for 10 minutes without coming back to him scream-whining at the top of his lungs. My neighbors must truly hate me.

Worse than that is the fact that he’s going to break out of his crate pretty soon. He’s broken two bars off of it and bent others (presumably with his mouth since they look like they might be rusting). Not only is he disturbing the neighbors, but he’s also going to destroy a crate that cost me $100, and due to furloughs, etc. I will not have the money to replace it. I can’t leave him out of a crate when I’m gone because he channels his separation anxiety into chewing things (i.e. the crate bars) and would undoubtedly pee everywhere to spite me. Needless to say, I hope the crate has the lifespan of a couple more months (at the very least).

Now that I’m done venting my frustrations about the little monster, I’d like to say how grateful I am for him. Is he a problem? Absolutely. Did he pee right next to my foot for attention after I left one day last week (even though he’d been out an hour before)? YES. But I do love him. He does good protects when he thinks there’s a threat of some sort. And he’s really not bad company during the day now that I’m working from home. He sits by my chair and sleeps or chews on his toys. Occasionally he wants some ear scratches, but overall he’s pretty self-sufficient while I’m working my 9-6 shift. Not to mention he has a dumb little seal face and it’s ADORABLE.

I can’t help but wonder how everyone else is doing this quarantine. What’s your favorite part? Your least favorite part? Does anyone have any tips/experience with separation anxiety in dogs? Leave a comment and let me know!