First time ever in my life I am about to lose my $h1t. Duggan will not stop. My wife is babysitting a 4 and 6 year old and the 14 month old puppy will not give up. I'm about to snap. He has been in an elevated state of anxiety for two days now. Crying, barking pant profusely running around pacing refusing to obey any cue. I thought by now he's calm down. He doesn't do this with older kids or adults or guests or babie or toddlers or infants. The kids aren't even in the house at the moment and he is panting and screaming bloody murder by the back door. I need to leave house before I snap. I've tried everything. To top it off the baby is now crying cause he woke her up just now. And these kids 100% ignore him and have from the first time they walked in.
OK, stop and breathe. It sounds like poor Duggan is seriously stressed out (as are you). The difference is that he can't rationalise it. In the same way that you can remain stressed into the evening from a bad day at work, dogs' stress hormones stay in their bodies for a long time after the stressful encounter is over. So, if it is the children that are upsetting him, then even them going out isn't likely to settle him immediately. It can take up to a week for the stress hormones to rebalance. Dogs can be severely affected by what's known as "trigger stacking", which is where lots of tiny stresses, which alone amount to nothing, add up and eventually become too much to bear. They don't all need to be in the same day, even, which makes it hard for us sometimes to realise what's happening, and when our dog flips at something we think is silly, we don't make the association with all those other small things that have happened over the last few days. It sounds like he really needs some peace and quiet, and time to recover. Is there any way you can offer him this? How much longer are the children staying? Is he still getting plenty of exercise on walks away from the children while they're there? As Heidrun says, maybe it's a bitch in season? How does he act when you take him outside?
The kids aren't stressing him per se'. He wants at them to play. They are completely ignoring him. He's not interested in a bitch. He wants the kids to play with him. We went out to train a bit and after a few rounds he just goes nuts to get back in the house.
Icing on the cake... wife just received some bad news on the phone. I am calm but he won't settle. Been through a bag treats already today. Lol I'm gonna take him to the river for a swim.hes frothing from panting
I wonder if I getting the kids to give him a few treats and play a bit with him will help or just make him want to play more. They are well behaved. They aren't running around or anything. Just colouring and watching cartoons.
Hope the swim helps. I find a good swim helps settle Homer. Is the weather warm? That can be unsettling too.
You are stressed so he is stressed. Try and calm down, I know it is difficult, have a drink, breath and ignore. All this will pass. Does he have a place he can go to be away from everyone and everything and just crash out? I do understand and empathetic, but the more wound up you get, the more wound up he will get
Things were a bit better after lunch and he can get away. But the problem is that he doesn't want to be separated. He wants to play with them.
I can appreciate that you are all a bit at the end of your tethers with this... Glad to hear that he is a bit more settled now. I wouldn't let him 'play' with them as such while he's in a stressed out state but letting them acknowledge him (literally saying hello and letting him sniff them) and tossing him some treats might be a good thing. I wonder if he's stressed partly because there hasn't been any actual introduction... My dog Obi gets very agitated and will bark and bark and whine his head off if people come into the house and from the start ignore him. He needs to be greeted by people who come into the house, to show them a toy, to have a pat and be spoken to. And then he settles down. Once our dog Obi was minded by a family who had a little boy who totally and utterly ignored Obi. Wouldn't even look at him. Obi went into this kid's bedroom and pooed on the bed. While the kid was in it. Not an accident, in my opinion.
Harley does the same as Obi - bark and whine until she gets some attention from visitors. After she gets this she will settle quicker. When children come around I let them play with Harley, but have an 'enough' cue when I think it's time to stop.
I love you all but a poo got more attention than my issue. Perhaps it's me and that's fine. We cancelled the babysitting and he's back to normal.
Good news! Even if the kids were good with him and he seemed good with them, it doesn't mean it's not stressful. He may still be a bit offish for a few days in tiny ways.
Sorry you felt you didn't get the help you needed. Ive been reading out of interest but didn't respond as I have no experience of this situation and so no useful advice. I suspect many others were the same, rather than not caring. I'm glad everything's settled down now.
Thank you for the kind replies to my rude response. Removing Dugan from the situation was a temporary solutiotion. It's funny how we revere our animals.
It's actually more funny cause I ignored my notifications for two days because I haughty snowbunny was gonna rip me a now arsehole for being rude. And she wasn't.
