Worried Whippet.

[Biker John]

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I do realize people will not be able to identify at a distance but I am looking for ideas. For about two weeks Folly, my 10 1/2 year old Whippet, has been looking what I can only describe as worried. First thing each day she is fine then mid morning she starts, she goes in to alert mode and will not relax at all. She is like this till about 8 or 9 in the evening when she relaxes again, then she is fine till the next day. It is so bad that she is reluctant to eat her evening meal, (and normally she is a very greedy dog), eating a few mouthfuls then lifting her head and looking round before taking another bit. She then actually leaves the odd spot of food in her dish, (compared to her normally leaving her dish looking like its been washed up). Taking her out she is her normal happy self either on a walk or a full day at racing. I just cant think of anything that could have brought it on, I have tried the radio off, radio on with classical or with 'easy listening' music or speech, nothing appears to change things for her. And as far as I know nothing has changed either in the house or in the area. It does appear that it is slowly easing, although she is still acting that way it's not as bad so I hope it eventually goes away altogether but if any one has any idea I would be grateful.

 

[JoanneF]

Sorry, not much help really but have you thought of using an Adaptil product?

 

[JudyN]

Some of these ideas may be non-starters - I'm just brainstorming....

Maybe try turning the power to the house off altogether? I'm just wondering if some electrical device has started making a high-pitched tone.

Or head in the other direction - play some heavy metal turned up loud in case that blocks out an annoying sound. That's assuming she doesn't find loud heavy metal anxiety-inducing in the first place.

Also, I wonder if anything ear-related could cause this sort of problem? If sinus related, it could affect both ears and appetite?

I'd try to write down the precise times this happens to see just how regular it is - if, say, it happened on the dot of 10.30am every day, that might give a clue.

 

[Biker John]

JudyN, as to time, she starts mid morning say about 10 it then it carries on till mid evening. I have tried switching the mains off a couple of days with no difference I can tell. I'm sure her appetite is fine, like tomorrow when we are at racing, during the brew break I know she will be trying to get anybody to give her a treat. Also if it was something like sinus I don't see how she would be relaxed and happy away from the house. Not sure what she would think about heavy metal, though if I was to try that it would have to be sometime when I was away cause I don't think I could stand it and if I was away I couldn't see how she was.

 

[Finsky]

JudyN, as to time, she starts mid morning say about 10 it then it carries on till mid evening. I have tried switching the mains off a couple of days with no difference I can tell. I'm sure her appetite is fine, like tomorrow when we are at racing, during the brew break I know she will be trying to get anybody to give her a treat. Also if it was something like sinus I don't see how she would be relaxed and happy away from the house. Not sure what she would think about heavy metal, though if I was to try that it would have to be sometime when I was away cause I don't think I could stand it and if I was away I couldn't see how she was.

Hmm....have you got close by neighbours...maybe they have bought some new machinery/equipment? Have they got something running on timer that they haven't had before....a sonic cat/mole/rodent/dog scaring device?

 

[Whippylove]

This is going to sound silly but my Marley gets like this when he hears or sees a fly, he can't settle at all , he gets very alert uncomfortable and keeps looking around himself. Could folly be hearing something that's irritating her?

 

[Flobo]

It is odd that she only does this between certain times, so whatever it is seems to have a rhythm otherwise presumably she wouldn't relax after 9 pm. Or maybe try thinking back 2 weeks to when it started, did you do anything different or out of routine, was there any outside works going on at that time etc.. it could be if there was something then that spooked her that she's been anticipating it happening again, which to me would possibly make sense as to why she relaxes again come evening when she feels whatever the thing was isn't going to happen. Good luck and hope Folly settles again soon.

 

[JudyN]

Another thing to watch out for is that you don't start watching for signs of anxiety at these times, as she might pick up on this - she might worry that you seem to get anxious around these times!

 

[Biker John]

Thanks all, both my nearest neighbors have dogs themselves and as far as I know they haven't changed anything. I did have a thought initially that possibly something happened, possibly when I was out, say a car back firing or some other random loud noise that caused her initial worry and it's continuing. Though as I said in my first post it is slowly improving. I just wanted to find out if any one could think of something that I haven't so thanks again for giving it some thought.