Both my roommate and I lost our jobs at the start of the pandemic. This was a dream for his dog, who was already very clingy and cuddly, suddenly she had close human attention 24/7. Now, my roommate is in school full time, has work full time, and has a new girlfriend. I also have a new job, which is remote, but still isn't very flexible for me to spend time with her.
So now, she's constantly stressed. She's digging (ruined the couch), I'll hear her randomly whimpering/whining, and she paces around licking her lips or curled into a depressing ball on the corner of the couch as her main activities. It doesn't help that I'm on conference calls all day, so she hears all of these voices and I'm sure probably thinks she's being ignored. She also doesn't consistently get to sleep with a human anymore, since my roommate is sometimes over at his girl's place. She certainly doesn't get walked multiple times a day/for hours like we could during covid joblessness.
I'm not really able to be her full time caretaker or commit to getting her an hour of activity each night... that's why I don't own a dog of my own. But I still care for her and would like to find some ways to get her more engaged/less stressed. For example, I bought her a new bed so she has something instead of the couch, I bought her a rawhide bone to give her something to work on (all she did was bury it in the backyard), just looking for more ideas.
Can anyone help? And I've posted this question in some other places, where most people have slammed my roommate for being a bad owner, so if we can avoid that, I'd appreciate it. He's not going to give the dog away, quit his job, quit school, or dump his girlfriend.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/qycb2y/any_tips_for_calming_a_dog_dealing_with_a/
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