Dog or Dogs?

As many of you already know, we adopted a greyhound two weeks ago. He is a retired racer. His name was K's Lincoln. We call him Abe. He is a sweet dog. Very smart and friendly. But we suddenly ran into a very serious problem soon after getting him home: He cannot be left alone.

Well, he can be left alone, but he suffers from separation anxiety and barks and cries all day. I have video taped him in our absence and he displays nothing short of shear terror when we leave the house. For two weeks as we left every day for work Abe would have to deal with being left alone during the day. Given our current living situation, we can't have a barking dog disturbing the neighbors.

So I called the adoption agency and explained our problem. Obviously, this isn't the first phone call they have received from a distraught couple. For two weeks, we were prisoners in our own home. Everything that had to be done outside the home had to be done by one of us while the other stayed home. As many of our friends have joked, we should've just went ahead and had a child.

So last Sunday we took Abe back to the adoption agency. They're "evaluating" him. The foster home he stayed in had another dog and they didn't report any issues with leaving him alone during the day. The adoption agency is testing to see if the presence of other dogs calms him.

Monday night we received a call. Abe is doing fine. He was left alone with other dogs and he didn't make a peep. Next, they're going to leave him alone without the company of other dogs to see how he reacts. I have a feeling I know what the prognosis is going to be. Abe needs friends.

So now we're facing yet another crossroads: Keep Abe and get another dog, or let Abe go and adopt a different dog hoping that new dog can handle being alone. In all fairness, we originally set out to have ONE dog. But caring for two is not out of the question. In fact, it would be great fun. I'm just not sure we're set up for two dogs given the lack of space in our modest condo.

The most important point in all this is that Abe has a chance for a happy life. Forcing him to learn how to be alone all day does not seem fair to me. Granted, most dogs do learn. But for the two weeks I feel like we tortured this poor creature. And Abe certainly didn't do anything in his life to deserve such hellish conditions.