I Almost Lost My Dog to Separation Anxiety

Summer of 2017, I faced my biggest public shaming to date. I had asked a friend of mine, who runs a famous dog-centered Instagram account, to announce that my dog, a regal 65-lb Goldendoodle named Bentley, was up for re-homing.

The post immediately blew up and I was inundated with hundreds of messages of people around the country eagerly trying to rescue my dog from the heartless monster that was, me.

The guilt and shame people approached me with was unbearable. I cried daily. What people didn’t understand was I loved and cared for my dog more than anything, but his separation anxiety was ruining my life.

Quick Back Story

I actually rescued, then 9-month-old, Bentley after stumbling upon a bizarre broken-English Craigslist ad. I found XL Bentley living in a XS crate, severely underweight and dehydrated, and most confusingly — shaved to the skin with nicks and razor burn. After his recovery at the vet, Bentley would spend the next year overcoming fears of the unknown (leaves, manhole covers, wind, cars), learning to run in his now adult-sized body and drinking my toilet bowl dry every night, as a survival instinct from not knowing when…