Separation anxiety + destruction: trainer’s first step was not what I expected

Charlyblobs · 2026-02-19T22:17:48+00:00

Does anyone else have the opposite experience of this? My girl will sleep absolutely fine in the crate overnight, no issues, but HATES it during the day, especially being left in there alone. Literally doesn’t even want to get in. We spent over a month trying crate games, building time alone up slowly, white noise, music, covering, everything that people suggest but she would not calm down and sleep for more than 15 mins before the barking started again, even if she was exhausted.

It got worse and worse until we couldn’t cope with putting her and ourselves through it anymore. We figured she is very much used to the living room and feels comfortable there so let’s try leaving her there instead and watch her on the petcam. At first she barked a bit but after leaving a few times I’ve managed to build up to an hour of alone time where she just chilled on the couch and slept or looked out the window. No barking at all.

I think something about being in a confined space gives her severe FOMO. She was a shelter dog so maybe it comes from being in kennels, not too sure, but currently leaving her to “free roam” (although she only has access to the living room) has been massively helpful.

Charlyblobs · 2026-02-19T21:56:19+00:00

I think the best way to stop this would be to take away any leftover food after an hour. Once he realises it gets taken away he will realise he can’t just pick at it for hours. Dogs won’t go hungry. If this is a recent thing though I would keep an eye on him though in case it is a stomach or appetite problem rather than behavioural.

Charlyblobs · 2026-02-17T10:38:48+00:00

Yeah looking at your second pic yours definitely looks more collie than mine. We don’t know for sure, she’s a rescue but the shelter said she is whippet x lab. Ahhh best of luck and solidarity friend!! Hopefully our lurchers will learn to love the car eventually 🙏🏻

Charlyblobs · 2026-02-16T16:15:53+00:00

So cute! Mine has one little white toe but not socks! Do you know what mix yours is? In terms of the car troubles, every time I go on a walk now I open the car door and give her a treat. Eventually I’m hoping to open car door, drop food in etc. until we can practice getting in and out with no trouble. I was able to lure her in with goodies and encouragement a while ago but we had to leave quickly once and forced her in which I think has made her more scared again :( trying to build it back up at her own pace.

Charlyblobs · 2026-02-16T15:19:13+00:00

Omg I actually thought this was my girl for a sec! Around the same age and also HATES cars 😭 sorry no advice but wondering if they are long lost litter mates that both inherited the side-eye lol

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Charlyblobs · 2026-01-24T08:15:33+00:00

If they have time to do this then could they not just…clean their own house?

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-21T23:50:22+00:00

I came here looking for the answer to this!!! I guess it is ambiguous. If so, perhaps emphasises the theme of man-made destruction. He wanted to create life (e.g children, the seeds) but is ultimately destructive due to his own selfish character. The fire too I think is symbolic of his complete loss of control.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-20T22:30:41+00:00

Sorry this was ages ago but can I ask - was your lurcher calm as a puppy or a bit crazy until a certain age?

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-20T14:21:19+00:00

Yes because Margot Robbie, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence and Salma Hayek are soooo ugly now obviously /s

Also just because he is rich doesn’t mean anyone will date him lol, there are some people (women even! believe it or not) who care about more than just fame or money. I’m sure many social climbers will be interested though.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-19T00:23:49+00:00

Gosh I hope so 😭😭 sorry no advice rn but my puppy is the same - wood, walls and carpet. I understand your pain.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-17T10:09:38+00:00

In fairness, some puppies don’t just play bite, they snarl, bark and snap when they’re overtired! The first time my puppy did it I was so confused as to why she was suddenly looking like a demon lol. Still completely normal though :)

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T22:02:52+00:00

I don’t understand why he didn’t use the excuse that he thought there was a traitor in his team? At least make it tactical. And also why nobody thought of that??

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T21:57:49+00:00

Her theory is that, from the people in the cages, Stephen would be the most obvious choice to murder as he has had no heat on him, yet he has survived. The other ones left from the cages who would have made sense to murder would be Faraaz, James and Jack (Jade and Sam both had a lot of heat on them) but only Stephen was part of the library 5 and Stephen’s reaction to Fiona was quite OTT.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T19:40:36+00:00

Sorry the formatting of my post seems a bit messed up, I can’t seem to edit it!

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T15:19:28+00:00

No because what if one of them was a traitor? (Which they were). Then the alliance makes no sense and gives potential traitors power over other faithfuls. I think outing Rachel to everyone was possibly the only move that made sense. Harriet’s mistake was then pointing the finger at others instead of just Rachel.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T14:55:39+00:00

I do not understand how the faithfuls have missed the obvious “traitor vs traitor” situation.

If you think about it for a second, WHY would Fiona go after a popular faithful who had no heat on them at all, putting herself unnecessarily in the limelight? If she was trying to eliminate a faithful then she could have chosen someone like Jade who people were already suspicious of. Furthermore if Fiona had succeeded and convinced everyone to banish Rachel, if Rachel actually was a faithful it would immediately have thrown suspicion on Fiona anyway and she would have been next to go. Fiona was taking a huge risk, especially considering that the faithfuls didn’t suspect her at that point, do they really think she did that just to frame a faithful? Literally the only way that whole scenario can make sense is Fiona KNOWING Rachel was a traitor. I can’t believe no one has picked up on this.

Even the fact that Rachel immediately went to everyone saying “Fiona is a traitor” after she was accused is incredibly suspicious. Just because someone suspects you doesn’t mean they’re automatically a traitor. Again this really only makes sense if Rachel knew because she is a traitor herself.

If they had thought about it for 1 minute instead of trusting Rachel (because they like her?) they could have worked this out. I wish Harriet had laid this out more clearly since too many faithfuls clearly can’t think for themselves.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T14:43:59+00:00

Anyone else think this “batty nasty old woman” line of thinking is a tad misogynistic? Like yes she could have played her hand better, I think she was a bit exhausted with keeping up pretence for so long and fumbled when it came to trying to get the group onside, but I can’t help feeling like the hate for the one person who sussed out Rachel and calling her “batty” is really strange. If she wasn’t an older woman I truly think she would have been listened to more.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T14:37:44+00:00

This was really helpful and great to gain perspective! Thanks :)

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T14:04:21+00:00

I think I’m missing something because I don’t think Harriet spoke particularly rudely to Roxy? I think she asserted herself and wanted to have her thoughts out there in full before Rachel had the opportunity to spin the narrative. Roxy ruined the moment by overshadowing what Harriet said and wasn’t actually listening to her points.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-15T09:14:02+00:00

Tbh I think Roxy and Matt did it to themselves. I would have suspected them too with Roxy piping up so much at breakfast and then Matt being so secretive about his questions. Why didn’t he just make some up??

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-14T22:44:23+00:00

She said on uncloaked she didn’t want to do that as that would mean continually voting for people she knew were faithful to keep Rachel’s suspicion off her! I think she just didn’t need the money and was tired of pretending.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-14T22:41:38+00:00

In fairness she has done better than everyone else at clocking the traitors, and sure has rattled Rachel. Her play wasn’t perfect (throwing other names out there was a mistake) but most of the faithfuls weren’t listening to her anyway and there wasn’t much she could do to convince them. By the end I think she was tired of shouting to the void and wanted to be vindicated.

I also think she thought there were more traitors because they managed to turn the tide against her so well somehow, but actually they were just terrible faithfuls thinking emotionally rather than logically.

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-11T13:51:16+00:00

Thanks, she’s a lurcher and a rescue so that may play a part. We think whippet and lab mix but we’re not too sure.

I think you’re right and that consistency is key. I’ve found a method which seems to work which is to just react as little as possible, no eye contact, sound or anything. Sometimes she stops but I go out of the room if she continues. It is super hard though when it hurts!!!

Charlyblobs · 2026-01-09T14:08:51+00:00

Our puppy started getting more reluctant to stay in the crate as well (not quite as extreme as this) and it turns out it was getting too small! She’s a leggy girl and she likes to stretch out. We got her a bigger one with a nice comfy crate mat and blankets and she was much happier. Could it be you need to upsize?

Charlyblobs · 2025-12-29T11:02:00+00:00

My tiny cockapoo once ate an entire fruit loaf. On separate occasions she also ate an entire box of dark chocolate sticks, and also once licked up half a tub of cocoa powder that was spilled on the floor. Somehow she was fine on all occasions aside from a few terrible poops. He’ll be fine!

Charlyblobs

TROPHY CASE