Separation Anciety - a common Insecurity in Canines

A few days ago a friend who fosters rescue dogs called to ask me what she could do about a dog with separation anxiety.

This dog has settled into her household nicely, but it goes into panic mode when it can't find any of the resident humans.

Dog trainers will tell you that one important step is to be very casual about leaving and coming back. Don't make a big deal about telling the dog you won't be gone long or telling it to behave while you're away. And don't make a fuss over it when you get back.

That's good advice to show the dog that it's no big deal. But when a panicked dog is clawing holes in your doors and walls to try to get to you, you need a little more help.

I knew a dog once who, when locked in a room for safety while his person left for an hour, completely destroyed the bottom 2 feet of a hollow core door... Seriously, the bottom of the door was no longer there.

So the problem is not trivial.

If you are caring for a dog like this, use FeelBach's "Home Alone" remedy.

Begin giving it to the dog 3 or 4 times a day - and then, of course, do as the trainers suggest. Leave for only a few minutes at a time at first to reassure the dog that yes, you WILL be coming back. Never call attention to the fact that you're leaving or returning.

Then gradually be gone for longer periods until that poor frightened pup realizes that he or she has not been abandoned forever.

Plan Ahead for Happy Pets this Holiday Season

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and all the other holidays can be stressful times for your pets.

You're busier than ever, possibly not giving them the attention they crave. You're also likely to be a little bit wound up from the extra tasks you've assigned yourself. Since pets do pick up on their human's anxieties, they may be upset just because you're becoming frazzled.

On top of that, two other stressful events can upset their lives:

*Too many strangers in the house, some of whom aren't very smart around pets, and

*Being displaced from home to either accompany you on a holiday visit or to be left in a kennel.

To get ready for these events, now is a good time to make sure you have two important pet remedies on your shelf: "Feel5ive for Pets," and "Home Alone."

The Feel5ive will help them remain calm while they deal with strangers and the hubub that occurs when the house is filled with extra people. It will also help them stay calm in the car while you're traveling.

To alleviate depression and anxiety if you're leaving your pets in a kennel, you need Home Alone. Start giving it a day or two before you leave, and give the kennel operators specific instructions to put it in your pet's water dish every day until you return.

Home Alone is also good to use if shopping and visiting are keeping you away from home for longer periods than normal during the day or evening. (If you have a dog or cat who always suffers from separation anxiety, this should be a part of his or her routine every day.)

FeelBach's other pet product - Thunder Storms - may also be needed, depending upon where you live. Some communities do like to shoot fireworks, especially for New Year's Eve. If your dog will panic when that happens, plan ahead with this Bach Flower Essence blend in the water dish all day.

At only $7.95 each, these products can assure your pets of a happy holiday season - and if you're a pet lover, you know what that's worth to you, as well as to them.

One more thing - don't forget about yourself!

Thanks to Dr. Bach, there's no reason for you to go through this holiday season under stress. Feel5ive may be all you need to stay calm, but if you have other old issues that mar the holidays, do take the FeelBach! questionnaire and get help.

Poor Puppies - Home Alone

Tonight I listened to my husband discussing tomorrow with his dog, Ralph. (He's the big black haired guy.) He was apologizing because we have to go out of town for the day and Ralph doesn't get to go along, and Ralph is used to going everywhere my husband goes.

I was thinking about how unhappy all three of them would be, because the other two are used to being with me almost all the time. Then I suddenly remembered that I had a bottle of "Home Alone" from FeelBach! I know that will help them deal with tomorrow, so hurried to add a dropper to their water bowl tonight. I'll add more when I put down fresh water in the morning.

They still won't enjoy being left. But they won't feel as upset as they would without it.

While I was at it, I got out my bottle of Feel5ive. This one is for my husband and me. He gets really wound up when he has to drive in heavy traffic, and I get wound up being with him when he's upset! I think a dose for each of us before we leave home, and another during the day will be a very good thing to make the day progress more happily.

All I can say is "Thank goodness for Bach Flower Essences!"

A Chilly Approach to Christmas

Funny how all the other things you need to do get pushed aside when Mother Nature decides to show us who is boss. We aren't having power outages or trees broken by ice, but the temperature has been hovering around zero for several days now.

At our house we've been busy bringing in wood and checking the fire every hour to make sure the house stays warm. Our furnace quit, so maintaining the fire was top priority until today - when my husband figured out how to fix it.

It's still a priority for me, however, because the wood heat feels so much better. And silly as it sounds, I enjoy the exercise of going out to the wood pile and bringing in a few loads every day. There's something really "down to earth" about that exercise.

But... I'm really glad the furnace is working again, because I do want to get out of the house for a few hours and finish Christmas shopping. That means leaving 3 very spoiled canines home alone for the day. Since that upsets them - especially Ralph, my husband's dog - I started dosing their water bowl with "Home Alone" tonight.

Animals can sure push us around - A friend called today and said she had tried bringing an "outdoor cat" into the house because of the cold. She made a bed for the cat in the laundry room - gave it food, water, and a litter box. But boy did that cat object. Now her outdoor bed is filled with woolen blankets so she can burrow down and stay warm. I told my friend that if she gets an idea to do that again, to come and get some Feel5ive from me... to help the cat settle down and go to sleep instead of spending the night trying to get out.

Hmmm... my husband gets really wound up going into busy stores and driving in heavy traffic. Think I'll give him a dose before we leave home tomorrow...

Bach flower essences sure can make life easier!

The dog who refused to be contained

My friend Julie has a dog who absolutely could not be contained. When she put him in a kennel he climbed out. When she tried a fence, he dug under. He even found a way to fool an electric underground fence. And when she tried leaving him in one room of the house - oh my!

Have you ever seen a door with the bottom 18" completely chewed off? I couldn't believe how straight his lines were when he chewed off both sides of a hollow core door so that he could escape.

What was going through his mind? If she left him in the house, even while she walked out to get the mail, he immediately tried to claw through the door to follow her. But when he was outside, he didn't try to follow her car if she drove away. It made no sense, but that's how it was.

Her only option was to leave him outside, with no fence, when she had to be away.

Luckily he usually stayed close to home and didn't panic about her absence. But she was always worried. And then one day she came home to find him gone. She spent a day and a half hunting for him before he suddenly appeared at the door. He was muddy and limping, but otherwise OK. But then she worried more -

Shortly after that incident, Feel Bach! released a new formula: Home Alone. Of course I couldn't wait to call and tell her, and she couldn't wait to try it.

The happy result is that after a few weeks on Home Alone, Sammy could be trusted not to destroy the house if my friend had to leave him alone for a while. He actually seems content. It didn't happen overnight - flower essences are gentle and do their work by rebalancing a body's energy, slowly making positive changes.

Julie and Sammy had a happy ending, and I'm glad that I got to play a part in it by telling her about Home Alone.