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Spaniel That Wont Stop Crying

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rachelransom

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i have had dogs for many years and have never been as stumped with behaviour issues as I am at the moment.

My spaniel whines continually whether or not he gets attention. he wakes at 4 in the morning and starts whining and then goes on to howling. I tried ignoring but I am so tired.

I have tried all the usual stuff. I have also found that the issue is me. He does not whine when i am away for the day or not in at all but as soon as i come through the door he starts again

HELP
 
I wish I could help... But I know there are many people on here that will have great advice :)

Do you think your dog is anxious when you are around because he feels he has to protect you?

Or could something be happening outside at the same time every day? Does your neighbour work shifts and return home at 4am every day?
 
Oo dear. I can imagine how much that would drive you crackers!

Can you give us a bit more detail?

How old is he and how long have you had him?

Which breed is he?

When did he start doing this?

Where does he sleep?
 
Poor you and poor him.

Does he wake up at 4am if he's sleeping in your bedroom?

I would seek advice from a behaviourist?
 
Ok here goes but i warn you all its a long story lol

jarvis cocker was got from a rescue society about 4 years ago. he had been really really badly treated and had very large bald patches all over him due to stress we think.

He also had a deep seated inner ear issue which was dealt with by my local vet. he had been a 'puppy farm' reject and we believed him to be about 8 years old.

He shied from men in particular and although he looks like a gun dog spaniel he is not responding to training. He has only just stopped weeeing in the house and will occasionally wander off to the dining room and leave me a wet patch.

He responded well to love and attention but it has taken in 3 years to understand what a 'treat' is and while he gets excited with the other dogs he often does not know what about! He has slowly been coming out of his shell, he is finally doing what spaniels do best 'steal and beg' lol.

He started this whining about a year ago and it used to be about attention. It has escalated to be about anything. He used to start whining about 6am which to be honest as i have chickens was never an issue. However, this 4 am start is slowly wearing me out. once he has started the other dogs kick off and this can mean a very noisy dawn chorus..In answer to the quesiton does he wine when in our bed with us NO. he SNORES. however, the other dogs object to him being given 'favouritsm' we cannot cope with all three dogs in our bed. I have never let the animals sleep in our room. I am disabled and if i need to get up in the night this is so hard with three dogs on the bed.

It seems that the longer we have him the worse he is getting. The other dogs are also misbehaving as they realise he is getting attention. for instance our lab/staff will now start to bark at the same time as jarvis starts crying. I have asked the local rescue centre if we can pay for respite as I am so very tired but with all dogs being thrown out at the moment they have no room. We cannot really afford a behaviourist as the last one cost us about 400 and never really sorted the problem out.

Please please if anyone has any ideas, we love him dearly but are wondering if we need to rehome him with an older couple on his own. I have never given up an animal in my life and it is breaking my heart to think about it but I am so very very tired.

Sorry for the earliness of this post but I have been awake listening to his cryin for hours, i have let him out for a wee, i have bribed him, but still he wines unless i let him come and sleep with me. My hubby and i both work and i feel as i am part time i should let him sleep with me so i move to the spare room with the dogs. But i have stopped doing this as it was getting earlier and eatrlier he woke
 
Have you spoken to your vet about this? Mine are a very good source of information about behaviour issues and problems without costing an absolute fortune. Or get in touch with a reputable Behaviourist and explain your situation including the amount you have already spent getting help with this and they may give you advice over the phone to try, Good luck.
 
Hmm, I think that's going to be a difficult one to advise on over the internet

A good behaviourist is John Rogerson. He charges a one off fee, and is disapproving of those who charge repeated fees

Not all vets are good to ask behaviour advice from. Some can make the problem worse... but it may be a health problem behind all this so do have him checked out. I had a foster dog temporarily who was clingy and whined almost constantly. His usual home believed it was just senility, but I found he had a severe dental problem. He was a little better after a multiple extraction

How much exercise does he get? A tired dog is usually a contented dog. Unfortunately, breeds such as spaniels are designed to run all day, so aren't that easy to tire out!

You say you've asked the rescue about respite care... are you able to kennel him or home board him for a while? It's not easy to tackle any problem like this when you are exhausted

If you do have to give up on him, there is no need to feel guilty. You have brought him on a long way, and sometimes one family's circumstances just aren't right for a particular dog. If you have been his stepping stone to a perfect home, why should you feel guilty? (I've fostered for rescue btw)

Is any of that helpful?
 
From reading your post, am I right in calculating that this dog is perhaps 12 years old? Perhaps he is going senile and this is causing this behaviour?
 
Ah thanks for caring everyone. I am doubling his excercise

And looking into rescue remedy. Ps dont think he is senile

But would be just my luck. I got two cats with dementi at the moment lol
 
thanks everyone

I have doubled his excercise and he slept til 6a this morning. If he carries this on I should feel human by oh this time next year lol

I am now thinking that his behaviour has gotten our lab/cross into waking early. he in turn wants to play (he is 3) and Jay (the spaniel) is way too old for that stuff.

So keep your fingers crossed. I have a mobility scooter and this only works for an hour and then needs charging. I have now gotten more batterries for it so i can walk them three times a day and then hubby does lunch times.

Of course this means the housework will have to be put on the back burner lol. Oh well i never did like doing it tee hee
 
Do you have a neighbour who could do one of the walks for you?
 
It's also possible that he's starting to have problems with either hearing or sight that are age related, and either of these could lead to him seeking reassurance from you constantly too. Even quite a subtle hearing or sight loss could have him asking for you to show him that you're there.

If exercise is helping to get him too tired to care then that's great, but you may find that a combination of that with rescue remedy in his drinking water and a Thundershirt or similar could help further.

At least if he sleeps through the night then that's a good start :)
 
Thundershirts are basically chest compression garments for the dog. There's lots of research that shows that anxious dogs are less anxious if they're hugged quite tightly around the chest and that hugging doesn't necessarily have to come from their human to be effective. A shirt that squeezes around the chest creates some sort of positive feedback that dampens the panic down, so working on the possibility that his crying is a sort of low grade panic, it may help to drop his background anxiety enough to make a difference.

http://www.thundershirt.xtradog.com/

It's worth investigating by cutting and sewing a t-shirt to be tight on him and see if that has any effect. If it does then a Thundershirt may be worth the investment :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
How are you guys getting on now?

Did you try the thundershirt?
 
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