A Garage Full of DAP

The garage seemed like an ideal solution. It had no windows, so Moree could see anything. It had only two outside walls and was finished, so fairly sound proofed, so he couldn’t hear as much. It should all equal less barking. (Also, Moree couldn’t dig out from the garage, like he had decided to do from the back yard.)

We had an old, free from the side of the road couch in there, big enough for both dogs. We gave the dogs treats every morning before we left. They had each other. It should have resulted in a perfect, sleeping day.

And maybe the day was fine. The morning was not. The dogs like to follow me around as I got ready in the morning. This often involved multiple trips in to the garage to get things from the chest freezer, or put stuff in the car before we pulled it out.

Before we started putting the dogs in the garage, Moree would follow me in and out every single time. But once that started being where he spent his day, he only willingly followed me in on the first trip (guaranteed not to leave him locked in there.) When it came time to put them in the garage, he would run away. Not even treats would lure him. We would have to drag him in to the garage. Not the way any dog owner wants to start the day.

So we started looking for solutions. We got more interesting toys- treat balls that he would have to work at. No good. We bought a dog bed, to give them an extra soft place to sleep. Still no help.

Finally, we discovered DAP- dog appeasing pheromone. It was expensive, but worth every penny. It was like one of those plug in room fresheners, only it dispensed a synthetic pheromone designed to simulate what a mother dogs emits while nursing. Suddenly, Moree loved the garage. He was excited to go in there, no matter how many times we went in and out. In the evenings, after we got home, he was still willing to follow us back in to the garage if we had to get something. It was our little miracle.

We did leave it plugged in all the time (as was recommended) so my garage smelled a little “doggy”, but it was a garage. And my babies were happy, at least as happy as they could be when we were out of the house for 12-16 hours a day…