My dogs gone funny...

Hi All, not sure if someone can help me. We have a 3 year old male Staffy X. we re homed him from battersy about 3 months back... hes been fine but the last few days hes 100% himself in the day.. then come night time hes gone weird.. he keeps hiding and shaking under 1 of 2 tables we have. the 1st / 2nd night it was due to fireworks i believe but tonight there has been none and we were just sat here on the phone and it happened again.. with ether little force or making some silly noises he will come out for a stroke but then as soon as you stop he runs back to hide again... its so odd and out of play for his normal self...

Any ideas? we recently had a dog trainer and he said to just ignore it as cuddles and "itll be ok" talks will just make him think we are scared of whatever too and make him worse or might make him think its ok to be this way.

Thanks

Scott

I would be inclined to ignore it and try distractions. It could well be fireworks as I am guessing you don't no his history.

You can get calming plug ins for dogs, may be worth a try. Don't act any differently yourself and try playing with his favourite toy, keep his mind off things. They can be a worry but they can also sense yours.

He has only been with you 3 months and this time of yeear can spook any dog Xx

OK brill, we will keep and eye on things, oddly hes perfectly fine in the day.. literally till about 8:30 the last 3 days then goes weird... we did the normal parent worry thing and hes currently sat with my other half with a blanket around him and he seems better... maybe hes cold lol

will keep you all posted...

Scott

Just don't pander to it, they are known for there sulking lol, and by doing that your installing the fear of whatever it maybe. Lots of distractions and he'll be ok, do let us know

Have too agree with the above advice, i know its difficukt when they are clearly distressed from the noises but it just makes them feel their is something too be scared of by giving him affection when hes scared.

Stans the same when it comes too fireworks, hes petrified and ignoring him is very hard, we have heard no fireworks tonight but he has been panting for no reason so i know where your coming from.

Michelle

Ok cool.. ill pretend nothings wrong... at the end of the day we know hes safe so we shall see... odly he wont even look at me lol turns his head when i look at him / call him.. very weird..

Get him interested in a toy Xx

Your dog trainers advice is right. Its very very hard not to cuddle and reassure them when they are shaking but really you are feeding their fear if you do.

This has just started and if you teach him now that doing this gets lots of attention you will have this for life. Believe me staffies have the knack of twisting you round their little finger. Best way to reassure him is to act as normal and show him that your not worried so he needn't be.

I have found that a couple of drops of bach rescue remedy helped my dog when he was anxious about travelling in the car. Might be worth a try.

mr2essions wrote:OK brill, we will keep and eye on things, oddly hes perfectly fine in the day.. literally till about 8:30 the last 3 days then goes weird... we did the normal parent worry thing and hes currently sat with my other half with a blanket around him and he seems better... maybe hes cold lol
will keep you all posted...
Scott

You may have a dog that has been severely traumatised by fireworks in the past, it's very difficult to say with a rescue dog. You'll need to ignore the fear as much as possible & act normally around him. Talk to him, by all means, but keep your voice normal & don't 'smother' him. Give him some space. Make sure he has a place to go to where he feels safe - if he feels safe under a table, then let him go there. Maybe put a couple of blankets down for him to lie on.

A lot of dogs will react differently at night. They respond more acutely to what's happening around them. Don't forget that sound travels further at night & he may be hearing things that you can't. Also, the fact that he hears the fireworks more at night will mean that at the moment he's associating night time with loud bangs & whizzes, so he's stressing himself out because it's dark, as well as because there are noises.

If you cuddle & try to reassure him, you will reinforce the fact that there is something to be scared of! Try to act normally, put a radio on if it's too quiet so that it can mask some of the noises of fireworks.

Lizzie wrote:I have found that a couple of drops of bach rescue remedy helped my dog when he was anxious about travelling in the car. Might be worth a try.

Bach Rescur Remedy is always worth a try (for humans as well as dogs!).

Concur with the above advice and again don't coddle him because it will cause a problem that you don't want. It could be that since there were fireworks the last couple of nights he is expecting the same thing tonight.

Caryll is bang on as always.......excellent advice

Ty wrote:Caryll is bang on as always.......excellent advice