Next week I’ll start writing about social hierarchies, the “D’ word and dog training. Eeee Hah! But for now, it’s Friday, I get a weekend without 4 hours a day of grading papers or doing grant reviews for the first time in a month. Ooooooooooh, there’ll be lots of gardening and cleaning of house and playing with critters and eating and exercising and cleaning up the house and watching of golf (yep, no kidding).
Some sad news: Something happened a few nights ago that scared Willie so much that he won’t sleep in the bedroom anymore. He goes upstairs with me, and as soon as we both enter the room he begins to tongue flick and flatten his ears. He then slinks out of the room as if it contained monsters. He sleeps in the adjoining bathroom, and slips back into the bedroom sometime during the night. It seems to have something to do with me, but only me in that room in that context. Before we go upstairs we usually spend at least an hour lying together on the living room floor while I watch television. We cuddle and I rub his belly and he licks my face, and we have a mammalian love cuddle fest and then we go upstairs and he acts like I’m a werewolf. Here’s my guess: either something fell off of the bed (which I tend to pile with books and magazine, or I had a nightmare and made some kind of racket. He is so easily frightened that I can imagine either one being the cause. Poor Will, he is such a bundle of anxiety sometimes. And poor me, because it feels lousy, like I’ve become an abusive dog owner. I know intellectually that it has nothing to do with anything I’ve consciously done, but still . . . He seemed a little better last night, so hopefully this will resolve itself soon. I’m going to try some counter classical conditioning to see if I can speed things along.
Back in the barn, four more ewes are still due, and I admit to getting a tad impatient. However, I’m not the one carrying around 2 or 3 lambs the size of adult dogs inside my belly, so I have little to complain about. This weekend I’ll put the 9 lambs we have already out on grass for the first time. Can’t wait, the lambs of my new ram seem to be especially playful and spring loaded. I’ll try to get pictures. . .
Meanwhile, last night we had a hard, hard freeze. You can see the frost on the daffodils here. They should be fine, they are super hardy, but I am a bit concerned about some of the buds on the trees. Our atypically warm weather pushed a lot of plants too hard and too fast, and the buds of things like lilacs and apple trees aren’t as hardy as the buds. All paws crossed. . .
Here’s a dog-sized view of Barbie’s belly–taken two weeks ago. Now we call her the EXPLODO EWE… stay tuned.
Keli says
My dogs are affraid of quiet noises too (not just loud sudden noises). At night when I am trying to fall asleep I can sometimes hear mice running about in the ceiling and it totally freaks the dogs out. I usually have to turn the TV on to make a little background noise, so they can’t hear it.
How did Willie do with all the big thunderstorms the other night?
Keli
Holly says
Explodo Ewe!? That’s incredibly funny….for me. Poor Barbie…..she can probably hardly breathe.
Trisha says
Astoundingly, and amazingly, Willie did not seem concerned about the thunder on Tuesday night when we were downstairs. Given that thunder phobia is often slow to develop, and often begins around the age of 3, I have been holding my breath. (But, of course, doing all I can to NOT seem concerned in any way.) But now I’m trying to remember when exactly his bedroom fear began. I think it was before Tuesday, but am not sure. Oh to have everything written down every day!
Another Kate says
My sensitive dog doesn’t like it when our non-flat screen TV pops. We’re not sure why it does it but it’s loud and completely unpredictable. Whenever it happens, he gets up and leaves the room, all tongue-flicky, wide-eyed, scan the room-like. I try to soothe him, but it’s often to no avail.
Ohwell, the only solution: flat screen TV, right? Is “my dog is scared of my old TV” a good excuse to get a new one???
Cynthia says
Isn’t interesting what ends up leaving a lasting impression? One day I tripped on a few stairs and almost fell on my dog Dottie, and for a week afterward she slunk past those stair like they’d grown teeth. My other dog Gustav is super fearful of tarps, fireworks and blowing (like, people blowing air with their mouths near him. I discovered this when I tried to blow packed snow out of the clip for his gentle leader before affixing it. Hates it.). For being so sound-sensitive and jumpy, I am shocked that they do not have thunder phobias, and both are past age three. Knock on wood!
Everyone should take a moment to list all the many canine issues their dogs have managed to NOT have. Me: thunder phobias, sensitive digestive tracts, housetraining problems, compulsive behaviors, owner-directed aggression, in-house dog aggression, separation anxiety. What’s a little reactivity and aggression here and there, really? 🙂
kate says
Maybe Will needs a little puppy to chase up the stairs 😛 or maybe Sushi 😉
What is interesting to me is that the past few weeks, I know of people who have come across fear displays that seem to pop up overnight. My George included, that’s one reason I joined a train and play class a couple weeks ago.
Once in class another girl I know from past classes said her dog out of the blue has been showing fear when walking in her neighborhood (she thought it was because it was a year since her dog was attacked)…that was why she joined in and a third girl last week joined in because of some odd behaviour as well.
I wonder if it’s something in the air / season/ different sounds/ smells?
I’m in Canada, but it’s an odd coincidence that in my case 3 people whose dogs are all grown up are going through a fear period too?
1-my George is 5 and has never run and cower from a street sign before (which we’ve walked by a bazillion times but did a few weeks ago.
2- later that day two off leash shepherds ran towards us with owner trailing on a bike…which freaked George out again. He does bay at times but not that hysterically.
3-last thing is that is new…he has his own bed to sleep in which he LOVES, but has crawled up into bed.
One thing that our trainer mentioned was to try to increase his veggies (we feed raw) as sometimes if their diet is too high protein it may interfere with seritonin levels.
One of the girls whose dog was reactive, once she changed his dogfood from high protein, his hair grew in places where it was raw and his behaviour changed as well.
I wish I could read their thought bubbles.
Enjoy your weekend off!
cheers,
Kate
Em says
So strange…a similar thing happened with my dog to make her afraid of the bed (only when I am in it). We were laying there a few weeks ago and I was rubbing her belly and she suddenly rolled off the edge of the bed. She groaned loudly and gave me a glance out of the corner of her eye (like I had pushed her off!) and then cautiously sniffed around the edge of the bed where she had fallen off before growling and running to her own bed. I come home often to find her on my bed but as soon as I am in it she leaps off and runs to her own bed.
Stephanie says
Poor Willie! I hope you can get him over it quickly. Lance will do a similar thing sometimes. He will come into the bedroom, ears back, tail down, body crouched and slink into the closet and curl up in the corner. The first time I remember him doing that was last July when we had the bedroom window open and one of the neighbors shot off some fireworks. He was asleep on the bed and jumped up and ran out of the room. He was afraid of the bedroom for weeks and would not go outside after dark without much food and coaxing for about 2 months.
Pamela says
Your post of Willie’s new fear in the bedroom intrigued me. The idea that something happened in the room that startled him sounds perfectly logical. But I had a similar experience with my last dog, Shadow, that I don’t think can be explained by a startling event.
Shadow would periodically refuse to approach one end of the dining room. Although she was very food motivated, even yummy morsels of cheese would not persuade her to cross a certain invisible line on the dining room floor.
Strangely enough, her reaction was sporadic. I could find no reason for her to be sensitive to that area at one time and be just fine later. I wouldn’t normally believe in ghosts but the dramatic sign of fear on those occasions with no visible cause made me believe just a little bit.
I hope you’re able to do some conditioning that helps Willie. It would be great if his fear cleared up on its own (as it did with Shadow–only to reappear another day) but the mystery would probably make you crazy!
Angel says
Okay this – “I know intellectually that it has nothing to do with anything I
Alexandra says
Izzy is inexplicably afraid of me carrying a laundry detergent bottle. She hides under the desk and looks at me like I grew horns whenever I do laundry. Now that I think about it, she doesn’t like the sound the washing machine very occasionally makes when it gets unbalanced on the spin cycle (it bangs loudly and I have to go fix it… it’s an old machine). Maybe she is pairing that noise with me holding the detergent. She just goes downstairs or hides under the desk if the washing machine bangs and then seems to get over it ok as soon as it stops, but she will not come anywhere near me if I am holding that detergent bottle.
Rose T. says
Trish, sorry to hear about Willie’s fear issue. God do I know how that feels. Daisy gets that way too – all of a sudden, she’s a afraid to come into my living room and I have yet to figure out what it is. When she’s afraid, she’ll go hide in the bathroom and doesn’t want to come out. She’ll usually come in for a treat – then she’ll go back to the bathroom. Very strange.
BTW – I agree with Angel – go enjoy yourself and forget about cleaning – You do so much for others, you deserve a break.
mungobrick says
I’m with Angel – it is such a relief to read about someone with your expertise having this kind of experience. I think Daisy’s fear of the clicker (which is fear of me asking her to do something in the living room + clicker in my hand, really) stems from the fireplace fan shutting off at the exact instant I clicked. I have no control over the fan (nor am I that accurate with a clicker, LOL), and she’d never shown any fear of the fan before – it was just the unexpected noise combination, I think.
To see inside a fearful dog’s head…well, I’m not sure I’d really want to, too many bogeymen. But it would be nice to know exactly what happened so I can deal with it. I’m sure you’ll succeed with Will, since you have the huge advantage over me of knowing what you’re doing!!
Keli says
Oh – I thought of this last night and just read someone else thought of it too. Smells. My really noise sensitive dog is also fearful (or her reaction seems to be that way) of what I have pinpointed to a burnt or smoke smell. I first saw this when I would turn the heat on in the Fall and would get that kinda dusty cooked smell. Brooklyn would not go back into the house until the smell went away. Then she would react to burnt toast, then smoke from the oven etc. A couple of days ago, I noticed that one of their leashes was fraying a bit, so I thought I would burn the end of it so it would stop (not thinking about the smoke smell). I took the dogs outside and then when we came back in, she shot past the kitchen and ran for the bedroom. I was thinking well what the heck happened. Was there a beep (she is affraid of beeps too, like the oven preheat signal, phone alert) that happened right when she walked in the house. I racked my brain until about an hour later I remembered I burnt the leash. So maybe he is smelling something in there he doesn’t like. Just a thought. CRAZY dogs, but ya gotta love em’!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keli
Ravana says
My guy comes in to the bedroom and snuggles while I’m reading or watching t.v. but leaps off the bed and goes to sleep on the couch the minute I begin to fall asleep. I know this is because I thrash around A LOT in my sleep. He isn’t scared of me, but he certainly doesn’t trust me! He and Willie should start a support group.
monkeypedia says
It’s funny, my dog is generally not a fearful dog, but when something does scare her she seems to invariably associate it with me! For instance, awhile ago she had what we think was a pinched nerve, and would occasionally yelp when she got up off a couch wrong, or similar. Invariably, if this happened when I was in the room with her, she would become afraid of entering that room with me, or of sitting on that couch with me, for a couple of days. Apparently I am all powerful such that anything good OR bad that happens in my presence is because of me. Anyway, I know exactly what you mean about feeling like you’ve become a dog abuser when your dog cringes and acts anxious around you, even though intellectually you know it’s not anything you’ve done.
Sandy says
Such an interesting discussion because my dog Sophie often has fearful reactions and sometimes I’m flummoxed by what it is that is scaring her. For quite awhile she has taken to refusing to get out of the car or refusing to go for a walk on occasion – I’m trying to find a pattern but I can’t discern one. I
Liz F. says
I would sign my dog up for the Don’t Trust the Sleeping Two-Legs Support Group!
Spring loaded lambs- Thanks for the quick, probably incidental, reminder of the funny lamb video in the Dog Play DVD. What a special treat to see after expecting only dog videos, so funny.
Spring Frost- Yikes, I picked a rough time to go camping! We woke up Friday morning to a world that looked like it had been dipped in liquid nitrogen. Dogs stayed on their sleeping bags in tent over having free reign outside! The butterflies, turtles and mice that eventually came out to bask in the sun implied that all would recover. Here’s to hoping the same for the lilacs and apple trees… I can only imagine how lovely the already stunning area around Spring Green would look with the trees and shrubs in bloom.
rheather says
Maybe something totally unrelated happened in the bedroom that Will just associated with you+bed=bad?
I had a feral cat that blamed the big dog about her spaying and would attack him for a few weeks if he walked across the room. He loved cats so he was really upset by this. And since it was ‘the dog’s’ fault, suddenly I could pick her up and carry her(only two second ‘airlifts’ pre-spaying)and she would sit on my lap and want petting!
So maybe not something you actually did.
Carolyn says
My border collie Dash used to sleep on the bed with me every night until a year or so ago. One night he wouldn’t get on the bed and wouldn’t come near it without being very nervous and barely wanted to be in the bedroom. If I made him get on the bed he was tense and stiff and jumped off as soon as he could. My guess was that sometime during the night I’d either pushed him off the bed or hit him with my arm or something like that.
Now, at least a year later, he will sleep next to the bed and once every couple of weeks I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and he’ll be on the bed in his old spot. I can ask him up onto the bed and he’ll settle in his spot but won’t stay long unless it’s on his own terms.
Rose T. says
Speaking about weird fears – I have to mention this – my friend’s dog comes to my house and it seems that everytime she hears something outside that frightens her she turns around and barks at my cat? It is very very strange – like everything wrong with the world is “his” fault.
Oddly enough – Bubba (the cat) is the pack leader. I wonder if she’s just trying to tell him something is outside, go take care of it –
God, I’d love to know what this dog is thinking when she runs over and starts barking at him…LOL.
Kerry L. says
Hmm . . . Walter has suddenly become nervous about riding in the back of the SUV and climbs up to sit on the floor of the front passenger seat. On the other hand, he’s right there to wake me up when I’m thrashing about with an unpleasant dream.
kate says
What are your thoughts on DAP?
re: plugging in a DAP diffuser in your bedroom?
I use it when I welcome new fosters into our home.
cheers,
kate
Darin says
Trisha,
What a pleasure to find your blog 🙂 I first saw you speak at Pups and People in Toledo Ohio about a million years ago (or so it seems) and you really made an impression on me then. I’ve since read a number of your books and pamphlets as well as those of some other folks, like Pat Miller and Sarah Kalnajs. And while I will never become a professional (as much as I’d like to), your insight has definitely helped me understand the behavior of the dogs in our household (once numbering 4, now a quiet, senior aged 2).
I’m sorry to hear about the losses of Luke, Lassie and Tulip. I have to confess, the idea of a great pyrenees named Tulip always made me giggle. But having recently lost my two boys, I can empathize with what you must be feeling. Neither of these boys was my heart dog, but sadly missed just the same.
I
Amy W. says
I used the DAP collar and was completely let down; it was recommended by my vet as part of a mild crate anxiety treatment process. Not only did I not notice a difference in her crate anxiety, but I think the collar re-triggered a coprophagia habit that had been in remission. Seriously. Once I removed the collar, she stopped eating her own stool.
I also tried the feline version of DAP, Feliway, and saw no change in my cat’s unwanted behavior.
I am sure there are lots of dogs/cats that respond quite well to the pheromone sprays and collars, but they do not have the desired effect on my crew. And, I have to admit I felt like I had shelled out a whole lot money for the Emperor’s new clothes.
Mary says
I have a BC who can be fearful and extra “sensitive”. When he was about 1 year old he developed a severe phobia to the teeter in our agility class. Everything we had done was positive, but he was leery of being on a moving plank (but not leery when it was low). In the course of one hour he went from being a happy, eager, dog with lots of drive, to a shaking, panting, drooling dog who couldn’t be in the building even when another dog was on the teeter across the room because of the noise it made when it hit the floor. With a lot of patience, conterconditioning, and desensitization, he is now entering agility trials and doing well. Note: we used the Frisbee for counterconditioning because that worked even when he was too nervous to take food. It was worth all the extra effort, time, money (including renting the building just to play Frisbee in it) to see him happy now and doing well at trials. If you didn’t know he had had the phobia, you wouldn’t know that he ever had the issue. That’s a testimonial to the power of counterconditioning……and an example of a problem that the trainer on TV wouldn’t be able to fix.
Margaret says
Someone above queried about whether changes in season, weather, etc made a difference. I think sometimes they can and for not terribly complex reasons. I have a sort of fuzzy northern dog with a heavy undercoat. Poor guy also has terrible seasonal allergies. This spring has been early and hot in the mid Atlantic states. Last week, we had several days in the upper 80s/low 90s and astronomical pollen counts and between not having blown out all of his winter coat yet and allergies and not sleeping well because of the longer days and because it’s hotter, I think he felt tired and crummy and, for lack of a better characterization, grumpy about it. He’s too genial a guy to be snappy or cross with people, but he did seem short tempered with other dogs, barking at them to buzz off if they’d been unfriendly in their approach and, a couple times, just flew off the handle barking and lunging on his leash at things he usually dislikes but is not usually *that* reactive to(motorcycles primarily, sigh). It wasn’t until I, with a headache and itchy eyes found myself trundling through the grocery store and wondering why I felt such impatient dislike for the entirety of my fellow humanity all of whom seemed moronically inclined to push their cart in front of me and what was wrong with them that the couldn’t just decide what kind of zuchinni they wanted and get on with it and PLEASE dont’ try to make small chat with me about it…that it occured to me that he might be being a pill for similar reasons.
Angel says
To Margaret: I agree with you 100% and thank you for reminding me of the weather change! My Bear is also a northern mix (maybe Husky and lab?). He has been acting differently at the dog park, not wanting to play as much, taking more breaks, hanging out under the benches and picnic table, digging in the dirt to lay down. I did think of the heat on the 80 degree days. I was still worried that he seemed less interested in play and also concerned about how he would fare when the summer weather was really here. I vaguely remember thinking, “He hasn’t blown his winter coat yet.”, but then I totally forgot about it. No wonder he is getting so over-heated! Thanks for reminding me!!
I also agree that sometimes our dogs can just have a bad day. Maybe they aren’t feeling well or are still tired from their last play session. Maybe they have nights where they don’t sleep so well, too! It’s good to keep those things in mind when our dogs aren’t acting themselves. Of course changes in behavior and attitude can be caused by other things, and we need to monitor our dogs to make sure it doesn’t persist and isn’t anything serious. But they can also just not feel well or be in a “mood”, too.
Christine Kimball says
Dear Dr. McConnell,
I read your long article at