Some shelter dogs have undergone a lot of trauma. So, some of them can have issues like separation anxiety.
Shorty is a shelter dog who has a bad case of separation anxiety.
He gets really bad anxiety when his dad Marc isn’t around. Marc adopted the senior pug when he was working in a Philadelphia shelter. They were inseparable ever since.
“Sometimes I think he loves Shorty more than he loves me!” says Marc’s wife Kristen, who runs Vintage Pet Rescue.
But Marc’s new job requires him to travel out of town for business. So, Shorty is left with Kirsten and the other dogs at her facility which caters to caring for senior dogs.
That’s when Shorty’s anxiety kicks in.
“When Marc is away, Shorty will cry and whine for hours. Nothing will calm him down,” Kristen said.
Kirsten’s mother came for a visit during one of Marc’s most recent trips. Kristen’s mom heard Shorty carrying on and came up with a brilliant way to calm him.
“My mom stayed over one night and saw how upset Shorty was. So, the next day she went online and purchased a life-size dummy. She told me about it and I thought it was funny, but it would never work,” Kristen said.
But still, they decided to give it a try. They set the dummy up and dressed him in Marc’s clothing. And to Kristen’s surprise, it worked!
She even thought the other senior dogs would be creeped out by it and start barking at it. But Shorty and the other senior dogs don’t seem to mind that this makeshift Marc doesn’t talk, doesn’t look at them, doesn’t pet them, and doesn’t move or breath.
They actually all like to hang out with mannequin Marc. They snuggle up with him all day long and welcomed him as if he was the real Marc.
Pretty much all the dogs at the rescue are completely in love with it.
“I also thought Bug would be terrified of it and bark at it non-stop. It’s actually been very popular with most of the pups! Our other pug Clarence has been sleeping on the lap with his BF Nougat right next to him,” Kristen said.
“Our Pit Bull Asher loves to lay next to the dummy and there have been a few sleeping on the feet. It’s really so cute! Bug actually thinks he’s a real person and goes crazy licking the face! They all love it and they will snuggle next to it when I’m not home. It’s so cute to see.”
Bug thinks the dummy is a real person…obviously someone needs to work on his manners.
Posted by Vintage Pet Rescue on Thursday, January 31, 2019
So, not only did mannequin Marc get Shorty to calm down he actually became a huge hit at Vintage Pet Rescue. We’re wondering what the dogs are going to think when they see Marc return.
They might be a little confused but they’ll surely be happy to see him. Kristen posted a video of the dogs interacting with mannequin Marc and it ended up going viral.
It was viewed more than 86,000 times. People were going crazy over the video and even asking where they could get one. Kristen’s mom might be on to something when it comes to finding a solution for dogs with separation anxiety. This might be a new trend!
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