So new years night I leave to go to a friends house a few doors down from mine.? It was raining so I left my almost 1 year old "Stella" in side with her dog door open, never has been a problem in the past.? There was a few fireworks going off but not anything like the forth of July(witch she was fine).? We come home to a dog acting completly fine but doors scratched, windows clawed at, and pictures knocked down off the walls.? Like she was tring to get out.? But when she does things she knows she shouldn't, she hides.? She acted like it never happened. So the next night, Sunday we have my neighbors over for dinner.? The dog is playing with the kids, not a care in the world.? We sit down to have dinner, I tell her to "place" on her bed she does.? Dinners great(a little over cooked), no problems.? I take out the trash and she comes with and won't leave my side.? I come back in and she is shaking, ears down, and tail down.? She wont lay down or relax.? I give her her bone, nothing, a dog cookie, nothing, even her ball, nothing.? We finly go go bed she crashes out and is fine the next morning. Its now Monday night.? I cook dinner for me and my wife.? Start a fire and sit down with a class of wine.? Stella is right by me in front of the fire.? Its getting dark and the shaking starts all over again.? Same thing, nothing will stop it.? We finaly go to bed and here we are today.? Anything like this ever happen to you.
Happened to Yentos 2 years ago only with a worse outcome. On December 31st childeren played with firecrackers all day it drove him crazy (not really scared). On January 1st, we leave the dog at home to go the restaurant and when we return, Yentos had apparently attempted to jump through the window. We don't know whether it was really a firecracker that children played with on the street but I strongly believe that that is what happened as he jumped towards the street (so not away from it).
Result: 2.5 inch cut (his whole lip, chin and part of his muzzle) and a cut artery which colored the floor red. He had immediate surgery. Since then firecrackers and fireworks scare him but he just stays close by me. This year I treated him with Bach remedies and it was a lot better, I can take him out for a walk, he will still jump up when he hears it but he won't panic, he doesn't want to go home anymore and carries on doing his business with hit tail up high and recuperates very quickly.
Fireworks, thunder, balloons were never a problem until that day. Thunder and balloons are still not a problem but fireworks is a different matter.
Saskia
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He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
We have had some rain latley, but no lightning or thunder. Maybe the air pressure and the possibility of lightning and thunder ahd something to do with it. I'll see what happens tonight. I just spoke to my wife and the dog is normal, well normal for her
1) I am assuming your dog is a Belgian? 2) Has this ever happened before? 3) Has she shown any fear towards anything before? If so what were the conditions.
This is a real problem and a very tough one to solve. My computer time is limited right now but I will help if I can.
First suggestion and I believe very important. If your dog is not crate trained, I highly recommend that you do so. If done correctly crate training gives the dog a "safe haven" and that is the first step in handling any time of fear.
Sorry I have to make this so quick but I will check back soon.
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"I have come to see my dogs as a reflection of my willingness to try to improve, as well as an unsparing measure of my frequent failures in doing so."
Something happened to spook her, and spook her badly. What, you may never know. Maybe it was a combo of things, that all happened right at the same time. And now she's associating the weather or the time of day (sounds like she gets weird after dark) with the event.
It's been a few days now, how is she behaving now? Has she settled back down to normal?
I've seen this type of thing happen before, with other dogs. There was a young GSD in our Ring club years ago. Nice dog, with a pretty solid temperament. But one day while the owner was walking the dog before his turn to train, he came around the corner of a vehicle. At that exact moment another handler with a Great Dane came around the same corner, the Great Dane attacked the GSD, and a gun went off out on the training field. For a couple of months, every time that gun went off that GSD jumped and looked around expecting to get attacked. He did eventually get over it, but it took a little bit of time. Another example, a friends Belgian. She has a large piece of property, that at the time wasn't fully fenced. She had the dog outside while she was doing yard work, and and tied him to a tree. She was working a little distance away when a freak storm came up, sudden thunder and lightening. Before she could get up to the dog to get him unhooked and into the house, a plane went by overhead, right as a bolt of lightening hit very close to her property. For a long time after that, whenever a plane went overhead, her dog started looking skyward and getting very stressed. He has gotten over it with time, although he will still bark at planes overhead sometimes.
The best thing to do is ignore her behaviour, if she's still acting stressed. Act like nothing is going on, or act like she's behaving silly. Do not comfort her, tell her it's OK, etc. As that just reinforces in her mind that there was a reason to be worried. If you act like there is nothing wrong "come on goofy, what's your problem, let's go" she will start to pick up that there really is nothing wrong and should forget about it.
Stella seemed to be back to her normal self. Not afraid at all anymore. I hope it was just a one time thing. When she started acting stressed, we ignorned it and she just fell asleep, like a kid. Thanks for the help and replies. She'll be one on the 21st, I going to find the BIGGEST dog bone for her.
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