When my two were younger, they would occasionally dig at the plaster work by the door if they were left alone. They grew out of it, or so I thought. I just got back from the gym. I was gone for a total of one hour and ten minutes. I left them with frozen kongs. I came back to this... (the light makes it looks like it's an outy, but it's actually an inny!) Now, who do you think is the culprit? Shadow.....? Or Willow.....? Apologies for rubbish photos - my camera phone is awful!
Nope, it's a solid internal wall. I'm not sure why she does it; it's always in the same place (as you can see from the patch of darker plaster that J put in there a month ago but hasn't got around to painting yet). There must be a strange smell in the wall or something there...
Perhaps she's not as relaxed as you might think when you leave her. I think dogs do regress like this sometimes - Poppy suddenly had a period when she started ripping at the foam underneath our sofa when left alone. We just blocked off access to the sofa - I think it had become a sort of default stress release. After a while she forgot about it, and now can be left alone in the living room again.
Well, it's funny you say that. On Saturday morning, I took them out individually for a long training session each and J said that she sat by the front door the entire time I was out with Shadow. That's very unusual behaviour for her. It's been a couple of weeks since I've been out and left them alone, what with holiday etc, so maybe I just need to build up the time gradually again.
It wasn't her - clearly she was just trying to push the plaster back in to the wall after it spontaneously disintegrated and that's how it got all over her nose..
She's been spayed. She's also not being unduly clingy the rest of the time. She's currently laying on her back outside in the sunshine, working on the perfect all-over tan Ah yes, silly me! She obviously tried to use her feet, too, which explains how it got all over her claws....
You did say the holiday was a bit stressful... As you say, perhaps you need to take a step back and start again building up the time that you leave them on their own.
Hah, yeah. He was having much more fun licking my ears in welcome than being told to sit and have his picture taken... These photos really do make my dogs look odd - Willow's head is not that shape! Although it is showing off quite nicely what I call her "Dobby ears". She holds them like this when I'm preparing their meals and she just reminds me of Dobby the House Elf from Harry Potter
I reckon Dobby Ears has been caught red pawed..... Charlie was funny being left alone in the evenings after his op - I had to go back to the "return before the kong is gone" stage with him. I think it was because we spent so much time with him, and for ages he was only ever left in the middle of the day, it was difficult for him.
I'll have to get J to pop home for a cuppa while I'm at the gym - I can call him when I'm leaving so the pups get 5 minutes alone, then 10 minutes etc and build it up like that. I only go three times a week, so I'm sure we can sort it out I've re-thought my idea about there being a smell in the wall, because if that were the case, she would pay it attention when we're there, too, which she never does. So it must be boredom/stress related.
They like the taste of plaster! Lots of dogs do it. We use Vick's vapour rub - just a very thin smear, it puts them off - they don't touch it or go near it
Yes, she definitely looks like Dobby. She 's obviously been watching Harry Potter and has seen Dobby bashing against the walls in frustration, so is trying the same thing with her nose! At least you can still see the evidence - mine are far too good at covering up for each other and then both looking guilty!
