A question for Zero, if he has a minute. I am currently on holiday with my wife, children and dogs. One of the dogs, a nearly 10 year old black lab, who is usually pretty calm and in flustered at home, is not dealing at all well with being in the cottage we have rented.
He is used to being on holiday with us, we have been going to Norfolk twice a year all his life. This time we are in Devon, but that can't be the problem.
Night times are the worst, he cannot settle, panting hard, crying, and barking for me to get up. Seems happy enough out on walks, just not in the cottage. I am having to sleep on the sofa to calm him, which is not ideal.
I have bought one of those pheromone plugs, but it is not making a difference. He was fine the first night, but is getting worse.
Any ideas? Thanks.
|
I'm guessing something has spooked him, and he has associated being spooked with the cottage. Might well be the recent storm Katie if you were there then?
You got little chance of finding out what spooked him (stuff like the central heating boiler) and little or no chance of disassociating cottage from spook.
So we are in to coping strategies. Assuming you don't want the dog in the bedroom with you, you could try making a covered nest somewhere (something he can hide under like a dog tent.) or a dog bed outside your bedroom door.
I'll enquire on the dog groups about herbal calming remedies.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 30 Mar 16 at 17:51
|
|
Thanks Zero, much appreciated. Could well have been the storm, it was particularly bad down in East Devon. Coming upstairs with us is not an option. He was born outside and had not been in a house until we brought him home as a pup. We took him upstairs once, as my wife was working at home at the time in her study, and he freaked. Shaking like a leaf, so we have not tried since. He will extend his front legs up the stairs as long as his back legs are on terra firma. He does not much like steps outside even.
|
I think he can hear or smell something you can't and that he doesn't like. As Z says it could be something like a central heating pump or suchlike. Has he got his "own" bed / bedding and or a toy or two he likes with him?
Oddly enough, if you can be bothered with it, if you leave the internal doors open, he might stay in your room for a while but he'll probably get bored with that and go back to his own bed in time. Just knowing that he can move freely about the house may calm him.
|
>> I think he can hear or smell something you can't
Check for CO2 from Central Heating boiler.
Right here is a list of stuff to do from a trusted and well respected source
other quick fixes that might help and I'd have on the list to consider - leave the dog with some familiar scented articles/clothing of the owners (do they have his own bed from home? Get bedding in from the car if they haven't); leave the tv or radio on a snooze button; tire the dog out during the day but not let it get over excited in the evening; make sure the bedtime routines and timings are the same as at home (clocks changing may be related..?). check for timers on central heating clicking on/off, noises from fridges, boilers, dishwashers etc upsetting the dog as he's about to settle down. Check for scary outside noises or inside like mice rats or birds.
Consider letting him sleep with them rather than be downstairs.
Get hearing checked by a vet on return - could be something to do with that? And general check over to be whatever he is sleeping on isn't causing him to be uncomfortable - it wouldn't be unusual for the dog to be starting to get arthritic at that age and he may just not be comfortable and it be causing him pain. (Do they walk him more as they are on holiday? Maybe that's triggereing some pain...?
Will that do for for starters?
|
|
Another suggestion - Bed down in the car?
|
Fantastic responses, thanks all. Have turned the central heating system off as I did just notice him react as it clicked on or off jus now. Nee has his own Bed with him, and I will try leaving him with a pair of my jeans tonight. Going home on Friday anyway, so hope all will be back to normal then. If not a trip to the vet will be needed.
Interesting re the CO levels from the boiler. Ncottage refurbed in 2014 to very high standard so would be surprised if it leaks but will have a look. I suppose it may be as simple as the smell of other dogs having stayed here before that concerns him.
Hey ho, another sleep deprived night looms. Just bought a tester bottle of Black Cow vodka. Apparently made from cows milk! If it tastes good, I may need a larger bottle, (for me, not the dog, although......)
Thanks again!
|
|
Oh well, another night on the sofa. A wriggly 30 kilos of Labrador all night long, and now he is fast asleep in his own bed, the little monkey. Hey ho. More Black Cow vodka beckons this evening to get me through it, then back home tomorrow morning.
|
|
You wont believe some of the crazy suggestions I have been fighting off since i raised this on dog groups. Had I known the address you would have had 30 exorcists, 5 canine hypnotherapists, 3 "aura diviners" - even - get this - a colour therapist round there by now.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 31 Mar 16 at 17:10
|
|
Holy moly! Makes you realise how comparatively sane this place is!
|
Oh I forgot the crystal therapist
a couple of pieces of hematite or black tourmaline placed in the cottage might help to ease the problem
|
There's a silly wee sod who lurks about the towpath where I walk my dog. Always to be seen with two or three anxious looking dog owners "helping" them to train their mutts. Reckons he's a "dog whisperer". He insists on making growling sounds and hissing noises at the dogs he's training. He even hissed at mine for no apparent reason as we strolled by. Now my dog can't talk any better than any other but I swear he looked up at me with an expression of WTF is he on about?
He once in the passing said to me that he supposed mine had had professional training as he was behaving himself appropriately. I assured him he hadn't, but that we had a good understanding was all.
Still, if he can make a buck from it good luck to him.
|
>> hissing noises at the dogs he's training. He even hissed at mine for no apparent reason as we strolled by. Now my dog can't talk any better than any other but I swear he looked up at me with an expression of WTF is he on about?
Meanwhile all the working-class Nigerians within earshot sidled up and asked what he wanted, hissing being a standard way of attracting someone's attention in those parts.
Takes a bit of getting used to, being hissed at from all sides. It sounds rude to a European but it isn't meant to be.
|
I don't believe in Ghosts ! My father had a dog that would not go near a bed-room in a house they lived in once upon a time. The normally placid dog was all hackled and growling, barking etc. My father went into the room one night during these shenanigans and there was a head shaped indentation in the pillow....there shouldn't have been as the room was unused, temperature was degrees lower than the rest of the house that evening. What I'm saying is whatever was there that night caused the dogs upset, who knows what they can detect. Never had any trouble with either dog here, they're happy to lodge wherever we do...
|
I know a house that has a ghost. I have stayed there on my own and I have heard unexplained voices, the owner has heard them. Over a period of time 6 dogs have inhabited the place,and not one of them sensed a damn thing.
Fifi 2 however can, I am convinced, sense death - pre and post. . At least two examples have convinced me of this.
There are miriad examples of dogs that have warned families about CO2 dangers, that of course has a perfectly rational scientific explanation.
|
"There are miriad examples of dogs that have warned families about CO2 dangers",
Unless they were concerned with incipient global warming that would be CO - carbon monoxide.
(Probably best to rely on a detector though. Any one with any sort of gas burning appliance should have one.)
|
>> "There are miriad examples of dogs that have warned families about CO2 dangers",
>>
>> Unless they were concerned with incipient global warming that would be CO - carbon monoxide.
>>
>> (Probably best to rely on a detector though. Any one with any sort of gas
>> burning appliance should have one.)
>>
OK it was a typo, but the point was made, they are better CO detectors than CO detectors.
|
Doggy people will know what I mean by a sort of stifled whine/not quite bark that a dog will let slip out when he/she would quite like to bark but knows that wouldn't be appreciated.
Anyway, last night I was in the sitting room, quite possibly typing on this very forum, when a trailer for somethingorother came on the TV and it featured some elephants. My wee dug walked over to the TV set, glanced back over his shoulder at me and emitted just such a whine.
Well, I scolded him very gently by simply saying quietly something along the lines of "off now, it's just some elephants"
He turned his head back to me and uttered another whine but I swear, ( and my wife heard it too ) it sounded very much like a muffled version of the actual word "elephants" !!!
We both looked at each other and burst out laughing of course. Naturally the rest of the evening was spent trying to get him to "say" elephants but of course to no avail.
Yes of course I know it was just a coincidence, but I really wish I'd been in a position to film it !
Anyone remember the "sausages" dog from That's Life?
|
Sausages dog... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajsCY8SjJ1Y
EDIT: that's actually quite amusing...
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 31 Mar 16 at 20:11
|
Dogs succumb to carbon monoxide in the same way as humans. It's invisible and odourless.
www.vetary.com/dog/condition/carbon-monoxide-poisoning
|
|
Err no they dont. They became very anxious and unsettled beforehand and show symptoms well before we do. And in real life situations (being product of poor combustion) its not odourless to a an animal with 20 thousand times more smell receptors that you or I.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 31 Mar 16 at 20:30
|
Of course dogs can detect smells to a degree we can't imagine but carbon monoxide is odourless and they can no more smell it that we can. They might of course detect other effects of combustion like smoke but I wouldn't want to rely on it especially in the case of faulty gas fire or boiler
This family owed their life to the effect of CO on their dog but not perhaps in the way you imagine. More like a canary down a mineshaft.
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2237286/Sleepy-dog-saves-footballer-model-girlfriend-carbon-monoxide-poisoning.html
Best to get a CO detector to protect your family and dog.
|
>> This family owed their life to the effect of CO on their dog but not
>> perhaps in the way you imagine. More like a canary down a mineshaft.
>>
>> www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2237286/Sleepy-dog-saves-footballer-model-girlfriend-carbon-monoxide-poisoning.html
There would have been other symptoms, many other symptoms not just "sleepy dog" - panting, whining, restlessness, Clearly they were not terribly observant* And yes just like canaries the dog will show the symptoms first,.
Whilst in the lab (not the labrador) pure CO may well be odourless, I still maintain it is impossible to create/manufacture CO in the domestic situation without other noxious odours that the dog will smell before we will.
*or of course being the mail, stuff has probably been left out to sex up the story.
|
Our black lab sleeps in the utility room and always has.
I remember at one point he started barking and growling etc during the night and this happened every night. At first I tried to comfort him but eventually did what I did when the kids were babies and put cotton wool in my ears.
Coincidentally after a full week of this our washing machine conked out. Got repair guy out who went under the sink to check all the hoses and immediately pointed out the mice droppings to my wife!
Dog had obviously been hearing them scrambling about and was trying his best to bring it to our attention!
|
My understanding is that dogs, humans and other animals reaction to CO poisoning is much the same. Drowsiness followed by unconsciousness. The reason is that carbon monoxide attaches to haemoglobin to form carb oxyhemoglobin in the same way oxygen attaches to form oxyhemoglobin
Unfortunately in the case of carbon monoxide the reaction is irreversible and the blood is unable to carry oxygen to your brain and starved of oxygen you lapse into unconsciousness and die.
That's why they call it the silent killer.
|
>> My understanding is that dogs, humans and other animals reaction to CO poisoning is much
>> the same. Drowsiness followed by unconsciousness. The reason is that carbon monoxide attaches to haemoglobin
>> to form carb oxyhemoglobin in the same way oxygen attaches to form oxyhemoglobin
>>
>> Unfortunately in the case of carbon monoxide the reaction is irreversible and the blood is
>> unable to carry oxygen to your brain and starved of oxygen you lapse into unconsciousness
>> and die.
>>
>> That's why they call it the silent killer.
You need to check out all the other symptoms prior to it going really TU.
With dogs The death, the final prognoses is the same sure. The major symptoms immediately prior to death are the same. there are also other symptoms prior to lethal levels that humans may well ignore or fail to articulate adequately. Dogs will also display these additional symptoms often at much lower levels of exposure than humans, but will articulate them in a different way often much more pronounced way. Humans rarely pant with a long tongue hanging out or howl.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 31 Mar 16 at 23:37
|
>Humans rarely pant with a long tongue hanging out or howl.
I used to be a werewolf but I'm all right Noooooooow!
|
>> >Humans rarely pant with a long tongue hanging out or howl.
>>
>> I used to be a werewolf but I'm all right Noooooooow!
Yes sorry, I forgot about Basingstoke breeding.
|
And nor necessarily for dogs.
"Common signs to watch for:
Neurologic impairment (e.g., altered mentation, seizures, coma, deafness)
Difficulty breathing
Acute death"
CO gassing was once used for euthanasing unwanted dogs and still is in some part of the US because of its rapid effect and belief that it was humane. Still used for small animals and bird and I believe was the gas of choice for controlling badgers.
|
|
Germans used carbon monoxide to 'euthanize' peops during WW2: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4#Gassing
|
>> there was a head shaped indentation in the pillow....
That wasn't a head shape. The dog had been wiping it's rear on the pillow and then made out there was a ghost in the room to divert attention.
There's always a rational explanation.
|
|
He would go in there ! Been laughing at his name when I remembered this story...All black poodle called Spot.
|
|
Apologies for the typo/apostrophe abuse, before I get a rocket from Henley-on-Thames. The old fingers just wander there automatically sometimes.
|
>> a colour
>> therapist
Err, aren't dogs colour blind?
|
|
My understanding is that they don't see colours in the same way as Humans - but have a different colour perception.
|
>> My understanding is that they don't see colours in the same way as Humans -
>> but have a different colour perception.
A kind of blue/green perception, little ability to see the yellow/red colour temperatures.
|
Actually they can make out yellow OK, like most mammals other than primates they have only blue and yellow receptors in their retina so the can't make out red directly although since red would normally appear as a darker shade they may differentiate it that way.
Lack of red vision is no big deal for most mammals and it seems to have been lost in the evolutionary process as many insects amphibians,reptiles and birds do have full colour vision. Primates seem to have re- evolved full colour vision when detection of ripe fruit became important.
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 1 Apr 16 at 23:20
|
Well, we are back at home now and the dog slept perfectly back on his old sofa. However, he did suffer the ultimate insult of being poo'd on by a seagull in Lyme Regis. Poor chap looked very sorry for himself until I got some baby wipes to clean him up!
Thanks for all the advice.
|
Stressed dog - Zero
