Annabelle finds a forever home.......maybe

by Audrey Senghas
(Bloomdale Ohio)

We have had 3 standard poodles before Belle came into our life and family. At the time we found Belle we also had a 7 yr old male poodle named Wally we had brought home as an 8 week old pup. Annabelle came from a house in Arkansas with 18 other dogs living there. The person who we bought Belle from drove down there from Ohio and came back with Belle and her sister. When we adopted Belle she had been living in a garage with her sister for over a month. We found out about Belle because the man who had Belle wanted to get rid of her because the person who was going to adopt her backed out once the dogs were in Ohio. We went to see her and she was filthy, smelly, hyperactive and very underweight. The family who had Belle also had a very young child and the wife did not want anything to do with these dogs. She just wanted them gone. We paid $100. dollars for her and then paid for grooming, a Vet visit and vaccines and much more. The day we brought her to our home we tried to put her in the large crate we'd used for all our dogs. She nearly tore her nails off. Next we tried putting her inside a 4 foot high exercise pen. I didn't even make it to the top of the stairs before she was right behind me. The next night my husband came home with 2 sheets of osb and spent hours drilling holes into the boards. He ended up tying the ex pen to the boards using clothes line. Belle now had a room with a floor and a ceiling. Her fear of being crated was just one of the issues we had to cope with. She got along with Wally but she liked chasing our cats and eating their food. We moved the food and litter boxes to the basement and put a hook on the door, and dog proofed the door. She had no obedience training and had never been on a leash. My husband works full time so his help was limited to taking both dogs to the park and letting them run off leash. He learned very fast that Belle did not come when called, especially if there were rabbits or geese in the area. At home I was working on teaching her to obey commands and to walk on a leash. She was not a fast learner. We were also dealing with her separation anxiety problems and our Vet put her on Clomicalm. The medicine did help somewhat. We only used the medicine for 2 months. I worked with her constantly and she eventually became better behaved and calmer. She and Wally spent all their time together even sleeping in the crate together. When we gave them rawhide chews Wally usually ended up with both of them. He would got to the window and bark like something was outside and as soon as Annabelle got up to look Wally would steal her bone. We had Annabelle for 2 years when Wally died this fall. He was sick for several weeks before we chose to have him put down. Annabelle spent several weeks looking for her friend and seemed depressed. Annabelle started to be a velcro dog again. We have always leashed the dogs at night to keep them from leaving the bedroom, and we had attached a leash to the leg of the sofa that is near Belle's food and water. If we were out of Bell's sight but she could hear us she'd bark until we let her off the leash. If she was outside in the fenced in backyard and my husband was in the garage she'd jump up and stand at the fence looking into the garage through the window and bark non stop. We have in our immediate neighborhood dogs that are allowed to bark for hours. We would always bring the dogs inside if they started to bark and did not stop when we told them to. After Wally passed Belle started to bark all the time unless she could see one of us. Her behavior problems lately have us wondering if we are the right family for her. Last week while I was at work and she was in the crate she used her teeth to bend inward the bars on the crate door, and she even broke some of the welds on the bars. My husband bent the bars back into place and the next day we used clips to secure the door. She did not get out that day. The next day however I did not put the clip close enough to the lower corner of the door and when I came home she was out. She had pushed her way out of the tiny space that wasn't secured tight. Lucky for us Belle did not hurt herself escaping. I am at my wits end. I feel like I am babysitting the dog. We have been discussing getting another dog as a companion for Annabelle. However when I talked to the Vet Tech in our Vet's office she suggested waiting to get another dog until we and Annabelle had learned how to cope with her separation anxiety. Right now she is asleep upstairs in our bedroom but using my night gown as a pillow. We used to be able to go away to visit family for several days and we have a very good friend who watches the animals. With the way Belle has been behaving we feel we can't leave her at home when we go away. We will be taking her with us this Christmas to our daughters home. I need help and advice about how to help Annabelle. If we cannot get this problem under control soon we may have to find a better family for Annabelle. Please help me. Thank you, Audrey Senghas my contact info is asenghas5@gmail.com