Doggy issues

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Ok I think I have a neurotic doggy on my hands!

For the past several days my poor dog seems to be going through some sort of emotional crisis. I cant leave the house without Bailey going into a tailspin. He follows my car all the way down my quarter mile driveway and I have to stop the car and put him in it. This is completely new behavior. He has never done it before.

He used to stay under the house and be completely happy to greet us when we got home!

Now on the off chance we do manage to sneak away from him he goes ballistic and jumps clear to chest level and "talks" like we have been gone for days when it may have been 45 minutes. He wont leave my side. He is under my feet as I type this.

He has done somewhat similar behaviors when people have gone on short vacations but not to this extent. He just wandered from room to room at night looking for them. Or if I went away he wouldnt settle down at night and sat at my door and whined. He would sleep ok if husband was here however. (He sleeps in our bed)

I am wondering if this is all a product of Cory being led off in cuffs. He saw that. He wasnt this bad when Cory moved out for a short time before. Cory came by several times a week.

Could a dog be traumatized by the cops? If so, is there a natural product I could give him to calm his lil buttocks down? I cant keep chasing him down the driveway every morning when I take Billy to school...lol.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Quietex is a natural calming agent for horses, but I don't know about dogs, tho I'm sure there is something for dogs.
While the scene itself probably didn't impact little doggie, the tension around it sure could have.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Did Cory spend a lot of time with-him? Is he basically Cory's dog? He could be missing Cory and clinging to you as a substitute. Dogs often pick up on the fact that if one person is gone, another may go. I don't think the police, specifically, have anything to do with-it, unless you see him spazzing out when he sees someone in uniform.
There are lots of websites about separation anxiety in dogs, and how to train them. They are very helpful.
I've found that most of the doggie antianxiety medications just make them groggy.
Good luck!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Bailey is my dog...lol. He sleeps with me though he loves to go down and feed the chickens with husband. He is used to people in uniform because of Jamie too. Jamie used to occasionally come home in his Marine uniform.

Maybe I will slip him a bit of klonopin...lol. I swear this is a strange dog. The frontline plus isnt even killing his fleas!
 

1905

Well-Known Member
I think that there is something he wants to communicate. But he can't. For all you know it could be the dumbest thing ,but to him it's so important. The poor doggy is so frustrated because you just don't know. Maybe it's Corey, maybe the chair is in the wrong spot. The kids I work with(non-verbal) sometimes act excited and upset and they don't talk. We know somethings wrong but we don't understand, so we say, "Show me". And we try to figure out what's wrong. Sometimes they just want a drink of water or something so easily remidied.-Alyssa
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
When easy child went to Georgia this summer, our dog, Jewel, got sick. The good bacteria in the digestive track went berserk and multiplied and let me tell you...the smell was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Plus, she started pottying in the house. Something she didn't do before and stopped once easy child came home. She absolutely refused to go outside while easy child was gone; I had to carry her. I told him that he is going to have to take her with him when he moves out.

So, yeah, it absolutely could be related to Cory being gone and the tension surrounding his arrest.
 

stepmonster

New Member
The cop thing probably has no bearing. He's thinking "lady, lady, don't go away like my boy did" and his behavior is getting reinforced somewhere along the line. Make sure you reinforce positive behavior. Is sleeping on the bed a new thing or an old thing? I'd break that if you can. He needs to remember he's not alpha, you are.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Janet

Sounds like he's missing a "pack" member and is afraid he might lose more.

Molly went thru this after easy child moved out. I just went back to giving her treats when we came home and praising her for being such a good girl. The behavior faded with time.

I just can't wait til Nichole finally leaves the nest. Molly is going to be lost without her main pack member. :rolleyes:

Hugs
 

skeeter

New Member
it may not be missing Cory - but that the dog is "sensing" all the anxiety that's been going on in your house the past few weeks (months) and that it's come to a head.

It took Buster the longest time to not go running to the door any time he heard a "loud" vehicle after NF left for basic training, but he eventually stopped. Now, when NF comes home on leave, Buster will "meet" him, but then he totally ignores him, to the point of only sitting by (or on) me. It's like he's now mad that NF isn't around all the time.
Whenever we have to take the dogs to the kennel, Wyley gets really mad at me - even if I'm NOT the one to take them or pick them up. He will sit directly in front of me, but with his rear end toward me, for at least a day. It's SO obvious he's mad.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Bailey has always slept with us so that isnt new. I am a dog nut and my dogs have always had a place in my bed if they wanted to climb up there. You should have seen it when we used to have a double bed and it was me, husband, and two huge rotties! We were so thankful when we got a queensized bed and now we think its heaven because we have a king...lol.

I do think Bailey is filled with anxiety. I went to pick up Billy from school and left him in the house and he literally scratched and chewed the drywall next to the door up.
 

nvts

Active Member
Hey! I hate to say this but we went through this with our Golden Retreiver mix. Turned out she was getting stoned on the Frontline! And it didn't help her fleas either. She and our black lab mix were licking each others collars and getting pretty weird. I saw them doing it, took the collars off and all of the neurotic stuff stopped.

Weird dogs? Our black lab "smiles" and scares the pants off people and the golden watches tv and waits for the horses, chicken, ducks or whatever other animal is on the tube to run out of the side of the tv!

You don't even want to know about the "Caper of the False Pregnancy and the Purple and Yellow Dinosaur".

:rofl:

Beth
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Janet, you mentioned the front line not working...
My new little dog (who's old - another rescue), Frontline doesn't work on her, either. We've had to resport to bi-weekly dips and sprays and in the dozens of dogs I've had, never had this problem.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I was thinking of switching to K9 advantage and seeing if that worked better on the fleas. Maybe they are driving him batty.

I have washed him and reapplied the frontline just the other day...but the darn things are still there! So much for advertising.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I use frontline Plus. But I can't on Betsy since she's terribly allergic to it. Wish I could recall which one we use with her.... It happens to be one that's fairly popular with cats cuz it does the worms too. Darn name is on the tip of my tongue. :blush:

Never had any trouble with the frontline not killing the fleas.

Heck, I've hardly seen fleas this year, and I haven't gotten the cats done yet. We've been so terribly dry here. Although we had zillions of the darn things last year.

Oh, if you don't mind sprays.... the Tractor Supply Store has a really good one, comes in a large white bottle. I use it for Rowdy's kennel and dog house cuz it also keeps away the biting fies, but you can spray it on the dog after a bath too.

Boy, I'm just not good with brand names tonight. Ugh.

Hugs
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
This is the Frontline Plus that I bought. I swear it is doing nothing at all. It might as well be water.

I used advantage before on the dogs and cats and it killed the fleas. I bought this because it said it was better on the website. Im thinking of ordering the advantage instead or the k9 advantix or whatever it is called.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
These may be dumb questions, and I'm sure you already know this but ...

...are you bathing him right before you put the flea medications on? Our vet always says that it works best on "dirty dogs" and that you should wait at least 2 or 3 days after you've bathed them to use the Frontline. Bathing dries their skin a bit and strips off the natural oils, and the Frontline won't work nearly as well.

... and are you sure that you got the right size Frontline for the dogs' weight? My smallest Boston, Ragan, is borderline between two sizes. Her weight will vary anywhere from 19 to 21 pounds, depending on how many "snacks" I let her have. I once made the mistake of getting her the Frontline for "20 lbs. and under" and it didn't work on her at all! The next size up, for over 20 pounds, worked very well on her though. And my other Boston, my tubby little 26-pound Ms. Katy, I just ask for the "little fat girl" size for her! :grin:

I'm sure you probably already know all this, just throwing it out there just in case.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Well the first time I put the frontline on him I didnt bathe him at all and he was covered. So I figured I made a mistake and should bathe him good to get rid of the worst of the infestation so it would have a chance to work on just the newbies. Ha! I bathed him...let him run around for about 6 hours and then put it on. Still isnt working.

Bailey weighs right in between their weight limits so I think he is fine there. I got the one for the 23 to 44 pound dog and he weighs in at about 30 to 35 on a good day.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Janet

I know the name of the one we use on Betsy. Revolution. And it's cheaper than either advantix or frontline, but works the same and just as well.

I was gonna ask if you tried flea powdering the yard, but then I remembered you're rural...... :rofl:

Our vet told us to wait at least 3 days after bathing before applying the flea medications. (might be why the second application didn't work)

Last year we bout went crazy with the darn things. So I can empathize. Oh, are you washing the pet bedding and such too when you do the bath?? That often helps.

Hugs
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Oh yeah...Im gonna flea powder 8 acres...lmao. Not to mention the surrounding acres that he roams on too. I cant even manage to kill the rat population in the chicken yard...lmao.

Dont get my started on life in the country!

Maybe the fleas are worse this year because of the heat. Who knows. Or the terrorists have developed a new strain of treatment resistant fleas to torment our beloved pets...lol.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
I use twice the recommended dose on my little dog, per vet instructions, a little more often than once a month. But its still not working like it has for me on my other dogs. Very strange.

And it almost seems the fleas are worse this year, but maybe its just cause my frontline isn't working. I'll try another product. What's it gonna hurt?
 
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