u/Kate_cuti

I’ve posted here a couple times about my Frenchie Fonzie. He’s 11 months now and is a special case as we got him from a cleft palate rescue at 13 weeks and he had been taken at birth bc they usually euthanize CP dogs. He was raised with other dogs and his sister so I’m not sure if he has 5 week puppy syndrome or not.

I am realizing that absolutely everything comes down to severe separation anxiety. At least the biggest problems. And his separation anxiety comes out in aggression and he has bit me more than once. He has absolutely zero threshold so sometimes training doesn’t do much with him bc he’s always over threshold from the jump.

It started with just the door and the door knob. But then it moved to the keys and the coats, then to bags (bc we take the garbage out and he associates bags with that), then to not even being able to tie the garbage bag in the trash can, then to howling at the bottom of the stairs if I’m upstairs, then to the word “leave”, then to now hating his crate, then to also hating being tethered (sometimes we will tether him if he’s being too crazy and over threshold) etc etc etc.

We are in training but it’s like he is learning all our loopholes and tricks. He’s insanely smart. Smartest dog I’ve ever had. At first we started to try to desensitize him to the door but now he’s learned that when we try to give him treats next to the door, we are trying to leave so he won’t focus. He barks, lunges, nips, jumps. It’s mayhem. And I feel like I’m living with my nervous system on edge constantly.

We are about to go to a behavioral vet and get him medication. I am just sooo worried this will be forever.