Kimchi, not for me

So I'm trying to "reprogram" my dog. She has severe separation anxiety. She's always had separation anxiety, but it's mushroomed into something rather ugly and unbearable. She barks a LOT when I'm gone. This is unfortunate because I'm gone eight hours a day, at least, during the week. On Sunday Kylie and Donovan (who live a floor below me) said that she barked non-stop for an hour, and then off and on for another hour and a half. It's a miracle I haven't been evicted or gotten in some other kind of severe trouble yet. And having worked at a vet, I knew where to start. There is also a book I read about dogs (The Latchkey Dog, that's the title) about people who treat dogs like humans and then get upset when they want them to act like dogs. It sounds ridiculous, but it's profound and not like a lot of dog training books which tend to go either to the extreme of "beat 'em till they obey," or "give them snacks to get them to do whatever you want," both of which aren't all that helpful in the long run. Anyway...my apartment is a studio - just one room, and she still follows me around, if I walk into the kitchen, or over to where my clothes are, or to the bathroom. She's always slept in the bed with me (sorry for all of you who are now grossed out). Well, the "reprogramming" consists of her sleeping in her crate/kennel at night. (Last night was the first night of this, and she did really well. She didn't whine or cry at all, which surprised me. I also slept much better.) She is also not allowed to be on a surface equal to me or higher than me without being instructed/commanded to be there. (There was also a lot in the book above about dogs being pack animals, and pack dynamics and such.) The fact of the matter is that when my dog is so severely dependent on me, it's reflecting the fact that I'm dependent on her too - too dependent, in this case. I also have to give her a lot less attention over the next few weeks - part of behavior modification for dogs with severe separation anxiety, and I think that'll be tough - cause it's just second nature for me to pet my dog. And I took her for a long walk this morning before work in the hopes that she'd be tired and sleep most of the day. Day one seems to have been a success. I didn't hear her barking when I left for work or when I came home - and that's been the norm here lately (for her to be barking at both times). We'll see how it goes.

I have Thursday off from work - Children's Day. All I know about the holiday is that I'm off, and for that reason, I think it should be called Teacher's day. I'm looking forward to the holiday, but am sad that it's delaying payday by a day. Holidays are always more fun if you have money. The week is going well though, and quickly (which is also a plus). I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend though. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the reprogramming.