My Shadow.

I have a shadow. Wherever I go, he goes. No matter how many times I get up, he always gets up with me. If I am trying to cook in the kitchen, he is right where I need to be. If I am in the shower, he is laying right outside. If I am working at my desk, he is right underneath me. My shadow follows me everywhere.

Under my desk.

Ransom wants to be wherever we are. He wants to do whatever we do. He feels as though he will miss out on something if he is not in attendance. And, we are happy to let him go on walks with us and take him over to our friends' house so he can see his best friend, Jazz. However, Ransom is supposed to compliment our life, not complicate our life.

Eating his crate was only the beginning. We noticed when he was in his crate he would excessively drool and pant - drool so badly that his fur was soaked in it. When we began locking him in the sunroom, the same thing happened. When we come home and let him out, he is super rambunctious. That's when we found out those were the signs of panic. Ransom panics when we are not with him - separation anxiety.

The vet says Labs do like to be with their owners as much as possible and love to see what is going on, but this is not normal (and could very well be why he was surrendered at the pound). We don't understand it - he sleeps when we are home, so sleep when we are gone - but any fear that a person has is hard to understand unless it is your own fear. 

We are going to try the non-medicinal route of conditioning him to be okay while we are gone. When we get home, we give him praise and treats, no matter how much drool is all over the place. We have to teach him that it is not the end of the world when we leave him at home. 

That's why we haven't told him we are leaving for 4 days next week on vacation...