WWYD Out of sorts depressed dog?

[jeninok]

My sweet Edy girl seems to be having some sort of emotional crisis. We think he previous owners not only dumped her at a park near a very busy street, but were also not nice to her.

 

We spent 2 month convincing her it was safe to come in the house, another couple months convincing her she didn't need to cower and pee when DH looked at her, and even longer gaining trust, helping her adjust to brooms, and trash bags being shaken out, and other normal household things weren't scary. She is 95% over it all now and a happy loving spoiled rotten little thing. But she is VERY attached to us.

 

Dh has been working out of town for almost 3 weeks, she has been super clingy, and upped her vigilance in her self appointed role as Sheriff. She sleeps directly under me and goes into full hackle and bark like made at every late night noise.

 

Right now she is under the covers with me as I'm about to take a nap.

 

I had to go to our new house last weekend and was out of town for 48 hours. They had constant access to go potty and were checked on and fed 3 times.

 

When I got back she was really out of sorts, seemed almost sick. Dh came back Tuesday and she greeted him happily and then spent the evening laying in laundry room rather than her normal living room bed.

Thursday when I woke up she just lifted her head and looked at me instead of the OMG moms up bathroom party that is normal. I took her straight to the vet who couldn't find anything wrong.

 

I did pull a tick off of her 2 weeks ago, but even though the vet just got over RMSF herself and her own dog is being treated she didn't seem to think it was a concern.

 

Eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, willing to play some, gums are nice and pink, eyes are bright.

 

She does seem a little better, but still not normal. Ive never had a dog this upset for this long about a routine change, and I'm not sure if I should coddle, increase focused attention like a new trick to keep her mind busy, try to run her silly, or go back in for blood work of something.

[Elizabeth in MN]

Dogs like that don't do well with being separated from "the pack". My dog is like this and we had to take here with us everywhere we went for a good five years. One winter, she suddenly became okay with us not taking her places. I'm not sure if it was hatred for her coat or if she finally understood we wouldn't abandon her.

[jeninok]

Dogs like that don't do well with being separated from "the pack". My dog is like this and we had to take here with us everywhere we went for a good five years. One winter, she suddenly became okay with us not taking her places. I'm not sure if it was hatred for her coat or if she finally understood we wouldn't abandon her.

 

 

This what I am thinking must be the issue if it isn't medical. I have been taking her with me almost every time I go to the lake for over a year now. She needed the socialization and adores swimming running around on off leash hikes and all the attention she has learned to love.

Honestly she has gone from hiding behind me with the extended family to laying on her back belly or and sort of pivoting her cuteness around in a ploy for rubbies.

 

During the thanksgiving prayer we were all holding hands standing in a circle and she came and sat in the middle pleased as punch :)

 

 

I'm a little worried how she will do with the move. I hope her anxiety doesn't get worse!

 

ETA:

Any ideas on ways to rebuild her confidence that we aren't going to dump and abandon her?

 

We are working on the doorbell and door knock reaction too, the new neighborhood has lots of kids and I would love DS and new friends to be able to come and go without massive chaos every time someone comes to the door. They are fine after a couple of minutes but between the full on guard dog barking, then circle the new person like sharks doing happy dances it is really obnoxious.

 

Maybe working on that more with better focus will keep her mind busy to stop worrying.

[sparrow]

My sweet Edy girl seems to be having some sort of emotional crisis. We think he previous owners not only dumped her at a park near a very busy street, but were also not nice to her.

 

We spent 2 month convincing her it was safe to come in the house, another couple months convincing her she didn't need to cower and pee when DH looked at her, and even longer gaining trust, helping her adjust to brooms, and trash bags being shaken out, and other normal household things weren't scary. She is 95% over it all now and a happy loving spoiled rotten little thing. But she is VERY attached to us.

 

Dh has been working out of town for almost 3 weeks, she has been super clingy, and upped her vigilance in her self appointed role as Sheriff. She sleeps directly under me and goes into full hackle and bark like made at every late night noise.

 

Right now she is under the covers with me as I'm about to take a nap.

 

I had to go to our new house last weekend and was out of town for 48 hours. They had constant access to go potty and were checked on and fed 3 times.

 

When I got back she was really out of sorts, seemed almost sick. Dh came back Tuesday and she greeted him happily and then spent the evening laying in laundry room rather than her normal living room bed.

Thursday when I woke up she just lifted her head and looked at me instead of the OMG moms up bathroom party that is normal. I took her straight to the vet who couldn't find anything wrong.

 

I did pull a tick off of her 2 weeks ago, but even though the vet just got over RMSF herself and her own dog is being treated she didn't seem to think it was a concern.

 

Eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, willing to play some, gums are nice and pink, eyes are bright.

 

She does seem a little better, but still not normal. Ive never had a dog this upset for this long about a routine change, and I'm not sure if I should coddle, increase focused attention like a new trick to keep her mind busy, try to run her silly, or go back in for blood work of something.

 

 

Our "depressed" dog ended up being diagnosed with Addison's disease: http://www.addisondo...addisons/. She was diagnosed last January, at age 9.

 

Basically, we witnessed years of what we thought was separation anxiety. She was always mopey and anxious when anyone in the family wasn't home. Eventually, stressful events like thunderstorms and 4th of July, affected her for longer than a day. We got a puppy in the spring of 2010, which brought out what we thought was depression for a month. Finally, after being boarded for a few days over Christmas, she had an "Addisonian Episode" at the beginning of January. She was hospitalized for nearly a week before we could figure out what was going on. She's now on meds for her adrenal function and we give her prednisone in stress situations. What it comes down to is that her adrenal glands don't release cortisol. Stress makes her sick.

 

So, while it's pretty rare (our vet only has 2 Addison's dogs in his practice), and there's a good chance your dog is just being mopey, I just thought I'd bring it up. There will be an uptick of Addison's diagnoses over the next 2 months due to travel and holiday visitor stress. I look back over our dog's life and her behavior makes sense. Your dog's behavior just sounds a lot like Molly's early years.

[jeninok]

I will have to ask about Addison's and see if it might be a concern.

She was actually her normal crazy self this morning until I scared by clapping when she got snarky to the other dog about her oinking pig.

 

She got over it quick, ate and has been bouncing around the house and yard ever since.

 

Dh will be home tomorrow night, for 3 nights before we all go to the new place to hopefully close and clean before the painters come. I made sure his motel is pet friendly and she will just go with us.

 

I feel like a few short trips to get familiar with the new place will be helpful in adjusting. For both her and DS who is still having small meltdowns about them tearing this house down.