my dog wears my clothes

I have heard about separation anxiety in people but never really thought it could apply to my dog.  Everyone says that Buckeye (who is now 2 years old) is ridiculously attached to me, but I just fluffed it off as non-sense.   When my mom stayed with me she said that he would sit from the time I left at 7 am for work to the moment I walked in the door at 4pm by the front door staring out of the side light window.  She knew when I was near the house because he started crying and carrying on running like a maniac from room to room jumping from couch to couch and in her words “announcing I was home”.  

As soon as I would walk in the door he would bully his way past my other two dogs and jump into my arms. He literally would stand on his hind legs (making him just a few inches shorter than me) wrap his front paws around my neck, tuck his head into my shoulder and just hug me like he remembered that I saved him by adopting him.  At first I thought it was so cute, but then his anxiousness started to turn destructive.

He went from waiting for me all day to getting annoyed that it was taking too long to get this work thing over with. Now don’t get me wrong – when I got home I got the same loving honeymoon greeting, however, I would also find my shoes eaten, the bread from the counter top on the ground and thrown all around – but not eaten??.  He worked his way though all my shoes, my roommate’s shoes, my mother’s shoes, purses, wallet and credit cards. He tore apart every single one of his stuffed animal toys – when he started to poop fluff I knew there were not going to be any more stuffed animal toys purchased for him.  Then there was the wall – which I learned very quickly how to patch drywall – to say the least my patience was getting thin.  But how can you get angry when he greeted me with such love when I walked in the door. And those big sweet eyes filled with love.

My little Pekinese Munchkin (annoyed that there were no toys left for her to play with) is terrified of rain storms and especially thunder.  Living in Florida, this is often an issue during the summer rainy season.  Ok, I haven’t lost my mind. Just bare with me and I promise it is related to the Buckeye story.  My best friend saw on Animal Planet TV, a vest that is called a “compression vest” which in theory makes the animal feel protected by being wrapped and warm.  Well instead of buying the vest I tried putting on one of her little sweaters during the storm and to my amazement she didn’t shake or hide.  That got me to think, hmmmm wonder if this could work for Buckeye and make him feel secure. I also remembered how he would drag my dirty clothes around with him while I was gone so I figured what the heck I would give it a try.

Of course being a 73 pound Rottweiler mix, he didn’t have a little doggie sweater hanging around.  So after I woke up and got ready for work- I took the pajama top that I wore overnight knowing it had my scent on it and put it on Buckeye.  I tied his collar through the short sleeves to keep them from dragging on the floor and gathered and tucked the bottom then put a hair tie around it (so he didn’t pee on it if he went outside).  I had coated a bone with peanut butter and put it in the freezer over night and handed I it to him (and one to each other dog also).  He happily ran off with the bone and ignored me when I left for work.

I checked in with my roommate and my mom several times during the day.  They said he was like a different dog. My mom even had the nerve to ask me if I had drugged him.  I asked what did she mean?   I was told that he has been calm all day. He hadn’t destroyed anything, just slept peacefully on the couch, and let them know when he needed to go out.   Calmly chewed on his bones and deer antler chew but didn’t cry, bark or pace.

Not sure if it was just a fluke I tried it for a week with the same results.  I think I was on to something.  Just to test it- one morning I didn’t put my sleep shirt on him. I came home to two couch pillows torn to shreds.  

Needless to say – I now share my clothes with my dog on a daily basis.