The Tail of Gigi The Dog (2026)

Saving money on tail gigi dog does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.

Key Takeaways

• Gigi the dog A question I’ve been getting a lot lately: “What happened to your dog???” I get this question via email, through blog comments,...
• It’s taken me awhile to put together my response because it’s a painful one.
• But today, I’m ready to share.

Gigi the dog

A question I’ve been getting a lot lately: “What happened to your dog???” I get this question via email, through blog comments, on Instagram, Facebook and in person. It’s taken me awhile to put together my response because it’s a painful one. But today, I’m ready to share.

The Tail of Genevieve (aka Gigi) the Hound

Gigi showed up emaciated and covered in scratches in our friends’ yard in late September. They (and we) tried to locate her owner, but she came with no tags and no one responded to our advertisements with her photo. We took her to the vet to scan her for a microchip and she didn’t have one. Our theory is that she was a bear hunting dog who got lost from her pack and couldn’t find her way back to them. Our friends kept her at their home for a few days and then planned to take her to a shelter as they already have a dog and can’t keep a second. We had a chance to meet Gigi and spend time with her and we knew we couldn’t let her go to a shelter. So, we brought her home! She joined our family on October 3, 2022.

Our friends named her Gigi (for good girl) and we all loved her-the kids especially. She was a perfect dog who loved hiking, didn’t bark and (mostly) followed directions. However: she could not be left home alone. At all.

The Cannot-Be-Left-Alone Saga

We crate trained Gigi (as we’d done with our previous dog) and she loved her crate. She’d elect to go in there while we were home, would happily nap in the crate, slept in there every night and utilized it to avoid our children’s constant attention. We assumed this crate training would also work when we left the house, as it had with our previous dog. It did not.

Poor Gigi had a panic attack every time we left the house, no matter how long we were gone.

1) We figured there must be a behavioral remedy so we sought out a dog trainer who gave us a regimen to follow.

She loved to hike!

Among other things, this entailed leaving the house for brief periods (~30 seconds to start) and returning to praise her if she was quiet. However, we were never able to work up to an absence of longer than five minutes before Gigi began to panic.

We worked with the trainer in person and she was flummoxed by Gigi’s panic response to our absence since she was such a calm, well-adjusted dog around people.

2) Then, we figured there must be a technological solution.

We installed a camera so that we could observe her behavior in the crate and report back to the dog trainer. This did not help. So, the trainer suggested a camera-treat-dispenser combo thingy, which does exactly what it sounds like: you observe the dog through the camera and remotely dispense a treat into the crate if the dog is being calm. This did not help.

3) Finally, we assumed there’d be a medical solution.

And so began the numerous, numerous vet visits. We’d already done all of the behavioral modifications/training the vet recommended and so, they prescribed a mild anti-anxiety medication. That did not work. The vet next prescribed a mild sedative. Also ineffective. Next up was a mild tranquilizer. And on and on… all to no effect.

Here’s the full list of techniques we attempted (that I can remember):

• Long hikes (4+ miles) prior to leaving Gigi alone:
  • One theory was that she hadn’t had enough exercise prior to being left alone, so we hiked her for longer and longer distances.
  • This did nothing to help.
• She also loved snuggling by the woodstove

  Different crates and different locations in the house:

  • Tried everywhere; did not help.
• Exciting treats and toys in the crate:
  • The treats would work for the first 15-20 minutes, after which the panicked behavior would set in.
• A camera trained on the crate to monitor behavior
• A remote-controlled treat dispenser so that we could remotely dispense a treat into the crate if Gigi was calm
• Six different prescription medications at varying dosages and combinations. Plus some natural vitamins!
• A white noise machine
• The radio
• Having her sleep in the crate every night (which she did with no problem since we were home)

Ultimately, none of this worked and we could not leave her home alone for any period of time. Ever. If we did, Gigi would have a panic attack and poop and pee in the crate and pace endlessly in circles. This happened every single time we left the house for longer than 5 minutes.

I washed both dog and crate more times than I can count.

We realized that, as an active family with little kids, it’s not tenable for one adult to always stay home with the dog. It’s also not possible for us to take a dog with us everywhere we go. Recognizing that we could not live this way-with one adult always staying home OR the knowledge that we’d return home to a panicked, poop-covered dog-we had to give Gigi up.

Giving Gigi Up

Snuggled in Kidwoods’ lap

After four months of trying to help Gigi learn to stay home alone, we acknowledged that we simply could not keep her. We were heartbroken, but did not see another option. I located a foster-based rescue organization that had a space for Gigi and, after an initial visit, they accepted her. What they discovered is that she does fine alone in a house IF there are other dogs present. They confirmed that she cannot ever be left alone, but that as long as she has a pack-either human or canine-she’s fine.

The rescue organization-and we-share the assumption that Gigi was originally a bear hunting dog, which means she likely always lived with a lot of other dogs. They report that Gigi is now adopted and doing just fine in her new family with numerous other dogs. It’s painful to write about this because we loved Gigi and wanted to keep her.

However, I also had to accept the reality that creating a family dynamic where either: 1) one parent always stays home and doesn’t attend events with the family; OR 2) the family returns home to an hour+ of work to bathe the dog, calm the dog and wash the crate, is not reasonable or tenable.

During our time with Gigi, we didn’t go to church as a family, we didn’t go to school events as a family, we rarely skied as a family…. and the list goes on. We had to accept that this isn’t the way we want to raise our kids and, it was putting a lot of stress and pressure on us parents, which the kids noticed and were internalizing.

What I Learned

Gigi in the snow

I learned a lot during this brief and tumultuous Gigi experience. Chiefly, I realized that we rushed into dog ownership. We didn’t fully consider the ramifications and we let our hearts get ahead of our heads. I still wish we had a dog, but I’m also at peace with our lack of dog because right now, our kids are my priority. It did not feel like the right trade-off to always leave a parent at home to babysit the dog.

It has taken me quite awhile to write about this because I feel like a failure of a dog parent.

I am comforted by the knowledge that when Gigi came to us, she was malnourished and had been living rough in the woods for who knows how long. We gave her lots of food, love and a warm bed. And we got her spayed, all of her shots, and adopted into another loving family (with other dogs!). When I remind myself of that perspective, I don’t feel so bad. But when the kids mention how much they miss Gigi, I feel a little stab in my heart.

The Costs

I wish we could’ve made it work with Gigi and, I will tell you, we spent over $2,000 trying to make it so. $2,373.25 to be exact. I tallied up our Gigi costs, just out of curiosity and here’s what I came up with:

Item Amount Notes Spaying + foster and adoption costs $600.00 We decided to pay the foster organization who took Gigi for their costs related to fostering, adopting and spaying. First vet visit, vaccinations, tests, de-worming, microchipping $497.78 Since she’d been in the woods alone for an indeterminate amount of time, she needed extensive vaccinations, testing and medications to de-worm, etc. Vet visit and medications $227.60 Vet visit and medications $186.60 Food, beds, treats, toys $183.98 Dog trainer $150.00 Sessions with the dog trainer Food $101.67 Food, treats and toys for Christmas $101.27 Camera & remote treat dispenser $99.99 The combination camera and remote treat dispenser, which we used in an attempt to reward her when she was calm in the crate (affiliate link). Dog snow booties $37.40 2 XL dog Kongs $35.93 Two of these extra-large kongs in an attempt to keep her calm while home alone in her crate (affiliate link). Christmas stocking for Gigi $35.00 High-visibility orange vest for hiking $33.25 Camera to observe crate $28.78 We got Final Thoughts

The bottom line: a little research on tail gigi dog goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.

Originally published at frugalwoods.com.