Dog suddenly anxious!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My dog is 8yrs old, he’s always been lively and confident. Good around people, kids and other dogs. The only thing that freaks him out is the smoke alarm, it’s such a piercing chirp! (And we’ve had a couple of incidents, one just recently, where one of them was dying, emitting a faint chirp, probably overnight. We woke to a trembling and inconsolable dog, poor thing! But after a day of being cuddled and left hide in the garden, he came around again to his old self!)

A couple of years ago an friend of mine developed a real attachment to the dog. As he’s socially awkward, it seemed good for everyone. The dog loved him. He’d come and walk the dog almost every day. And it drew the walker out a little socially and it just worked.

In fact, we were able (over the last three years), take two extended holidays of two months each time. All because of my dog attached friend. Who gladly watched the dog and house, both times. (We are very fortunate indeed!) We returned from our last absence the end of Jan. The dog has seemed fine upon both of our returns, but the walker continued to take him out daily.

Walking him everyday, is a habit I’d like to redevelop as its good for my health. To that end, I’ve told th walker to take a few weeks off while I develop the discipline again! (And before the weather gets bad!) He still comes by every afternoon to visit with the dog a few minutes, no problem.

But my dog has, (following a fire alarm episode) become incredibly anxious. He wants to spend all his time hiding in the garden. Or the bathtub. Sometimes he trembles. He seems cowed and not his normal happy self.

Is it separation anxiety, from the dog walker? Should I be concerned? He pants a lot too. I’m unsure what this could be, I’ve never seen a dog act like this before.

Should I encourage him to hide out? Build him a spot of his own? Wait for him to get over it? It’s been a few days now.

If it’s just a change in his routine I can wait it out, but it’s kinda upsetting for me to see him like this. I walked him twice yesterday, the second time when he started to appear anxious. But he doing it now and we’re just back from a 40 min walk!

How worried do you think I should be?

2

The hiding, trembling and panting make me concerned that he may be in pain. I would take him to the vet.

3

Yes, I think it could easily be separation anxiety. Try having your friend start coming around again and see if his behavior changes. If it improves, you’ll need to taper rather than suddenly cut off. (More on that shortly.) If the behavior persists, then you should absolutely consult the vet.

Regarding the tapering, I would suggest that rather than having your friend suddenly and mysteriously disappear from your dog’s life, you should join them on their walks. After a period of time, one or two weeks (a good long period), your friend could start not attending some of the walks. A schedule might be 2 days on, one day off for a week, then one day on, two days off for two weeks, then 3 days off, two days on, for 3 weeks. Your friend should continue to visit if he likes. Think of it like tapering a medicine. You want to make slow changes that help your dog become adjusted to the new routine. Your dog seems quite attached to your friend. If your friend is willing to help him make the adjustment slowly, I think it would help your dog immensely to make gradual changes.

Remember, you should always be there on the walks, so you become the constant. Your friend should be the one who starts to come and go.

You might also look into obedience classes for a short period of time as another way of reinforcing your bond with your dog and helping him feel more secure with you. It would also build his confidence, which it sounds like he could also use. Look for something that’s reward based and uses positive reinforcement.

My suggestions are all geared towards helping him adjust. I think (MHO) that he’s likely just shaken by the change in routine and having some extreme separation anxiety.

*I am not a dog trainer or vet. Just a long (long) time dog owner of many dogs, including a few that had severe separation anxiety.

4

My friend didn’t suddenly disappear from his life. As I said, he still drops by every afternoon to visit the dog.

Walking together will be hard on my not very social friend, awkward for him, I think. Plus we walk very different speeds. He truly saunters, a pace I could never manage. Plus he uses a short leash and keeps the dog heeling stridently, whereas I use the retractable and encourage him to roam and sniff at will. So I think it would be just more confusing for the dog, plus I’m certain he’d pick up on how awkward and uncomfortable the walker would be feeling.

I do appreciate your opinion, I’m just clarifying. I appreciate every opinion, as seeing him like this IS distressing for me!

(I think I’ll give it a couple of days and see what happens.)

5

Vet check. Any sudden behavioral change in an adult is probably due to a health issue.

6

As an ER tech, if I was triaging your dog, I would suspect pain. Neck or back pain, specifically. The hiding, shaking and panting are classic signs. Sometimes they seem fine when out for a walk, and display the issues at home. Slipped disk, arthritis, could be several things. At the very least, if you don’t already use a harness, I’d get one. If it’s neck pain and you’re using a neck lead, it will get worse every time you use it.

7

I’ve worked as a vet tech for several years as well as raised and bred several different breeds of dogs for the past 40 years. If he were my dog, the VERY FIRST THING I would do for him is take him in for a check up with the vet.

Please remember, EVERYTHING is important to the vet in order for him or her to determine what might be bothering your dog. Anxiety, panting, hiding, lethargy, changes in appetite or water intake, restlessness, bowel movements or lack of, urination, any changes in diet (even if you changed his food a few weeks ago), applied flea meds … etc., etc.,

PLEASE let us know how things go…

8

Update

Yesterday we took him to the vet. (As per your sound advice!) After watching him VERY closely for a few days I was nothing but confused. One minute NOT himself. The next, totally fine!

The vet was intrigued but had no decisive answers. She thinks he may be developing sore joints now that he’s almost 10 yrs old ! (I can never remember his age, have to go look it up to be sure!)

She thinks some of the behaviour is anxiety due to changes in his daily routine, and some possibly due to aging. She expressed that though he’s always managed change without incident that can alter as he gets older.

And, apparently it’s NOT all that odd for symptoms of aging to (seem to) suddenly appear, like someone flipped a switch! Who knew? Not us!

She gave him a shot for pain, and sent us home with five days of doses to try. We’ll see if it makes a difference in his behaviour towards getting up on things, etc.

And last night he slept in his usual spot, on the sofa, which he hasn’t done since this started! So, while I know it’s way too early, I have a good feeling that maybe we’ve figured it out, fingers crossed!

They were reassuring that while something IS going on with him, he’s eating, pooping, sleeping, walking and that means it’s probably not an emergency. Yay! As long as he’s doing those things it’s good, but if any of that changes they want to know immediately. Or if he begins to vocalize!

She wants a status update from me on Friday, as she’s intrigued and wants to stay on top of it!

Thank you all for your input and concern. (It helped! )

9

My dog does the same exact things when my smoke detector battery gets low - and I have that periodic “chirp”. Scares the daylights out of him!

Also gun shots, thunder/lightning, and fireworks.

You can get him a “thundershirt” to wear and that can help.

And your vet can prescribe tranquilizers. That works best with new years and 4th of July when you know in advance there will be loud booms. Because the pills take 45 minutes to kick in. With a sudden thunder storm, I have my dog crawling all over me until the drugs can take effect.

He seems to feel more secure if I hold my hand on his belly. And repeat: It’s OK, It’s OK. Then hug him. Poor thing!

P.S. If he sees another dog on TV, he has all the courage in the world to bark at that dog. Or another dog walking by my house if my front door is open.

10

Perhaps the dog would be happier walking in his old sauntering pace? Perhaps the faster, freer pace is harder on the dog’s aging body?

I don’t know of course, just a thought. But I would try moseying and see if it helps.
Also - it might be time to switch to a senior formula food, which will have different nutrients that might make him happier. I’ve been giving my senior dog some new vitamins and he seems perkier.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+20712+21579+19886&pcatid=19886

11

Merneith raises a good point in two respects:

If it is arthritis or his joints, the faster pace may really be hard for him (good for you, but hard for him). Supplements may be in order (such as glucosamine) in addition to other meds for arthritis. I would suggest talking to your vet about that.

Even if he doesn’t have arthritis, just being older and not used to the pace, he may simply not be in the right physical condition to move so much faster than he is used to doing. You can probably get him there, but, again, talk to you vet about the best way to ease up to it. (Imagine being ~60 years old and starting a jogging program for comparison. )