Harley's pathetic again, not sure what to do.

zebidee1

Regulars will no doubt remember Harley, our pathetic nervous lab. Although he was never going to be a confident beast, he settled down and was a little calmer around people and his bad colitis settled too. We thought we'd seen the last of his 'issues' and were happy that he was less nervy.

However, over the last couple of months he's become quite clingy and wants to follow you round the house rather than lie by himself. He's also become aware of noises that never would have bothered him before and he tries to squeeze into ridiculous places like under the small table at the end of the couch.

A neighbour was using an electric sander and Harley was pacing and trying to get so close to us he was sitting on our feet. He's well used to power tool noise in our own house and doesn't bat an eye, so I was surprised he was freaking out so much with the neighbour's sander.

If I'm in the kitchen he will lie on the floor there, if I'm in the dining room, that's where he wants to be. He doesn't get left home alone apart from once in a blue moon when I go food shopping and there's no-one at home. I'm thinking maybe that's the problem? But then he's 3 now and things have always been like this so why is he starting to act weird now when he was laid back before?

I usually send him back to the living room if he starts following me around as I don't want to encourage his neediness but I'm not sure what to do when he's scared because of noises he hears outside? Up until now, we've been ignoring him and the fact he's pacing, but 2 months of doing that has had no effect so I think it's just not going to work.

I'm planning on buying a DAP diffuser but I just wondered if there's anything else we should or shouldn't be doing? The behaviourist we got in touch with before was very good but I'd like to try to change things first before considering getting back in touch with him as he was so expensive and money is tight just now.

universality

Hi,

DAP diffuser is a good idea, I need to get one for my dog for Bonfire Night, who it sounds like you were just describing He is a collie X (he's 3 too) so has a herding instinct but he does follow me like a lap dog, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, everywhere! I have to be careful not to stand on him sometimes as he's like a shadow. I let him follow me as it's not through fear and I don't mind him, he's company hehe. Sometimes I have to tell him to go to his bed if I am moving something for example and he will.

When you ignore him do you avoid eye contact? Our collie X desperately tries to get your eye contact but our vet said it confirms there is something to be frightened of and not to make eye contact. He barks at everything at times, balls bouncing, car horns and people in the flat upstairs who make quiet bangs. He barks at the quietest of things and can also ignore certain bangs one day then the next he will howl at them. We've been told to desensitize him to the noises but it just depends on his mood whether he will bark or not. Maybe the power tool thing is because he cannot see your neighbour and just hears a loud noise? I can relate to the trying to squeeze in to small spaces too. He also tries to climb on my head when I'm on the sofa, literally!

Of a day when he's really stressed we won't ignore him if it goes on. We try and distract him (as vet instructed) by doing tricks with him. We will do all the basics for treats and praise him when he's gone quiet and appears calmer. We then go and sit down with him and he will settle back. This does work well for us. When we first got him he could pace around the room for up to an hour so ignoring really wasn't working and it was really upsetting him, which upset us. Perhaps it's something you could try? Of a night when he barks we've been told to ignore him in case he starts doing it for attention.

They pick up on all sorts, your body language, your breathing etc. So just try and always remain calm. It can be hard if you have a dog howling with a mohawk next to you at a beep of a car horn

zebidee1

I suppose we're lucky in the respect that Harley doesn't bark or make any kind of noise really, he just acts like a total jelly. We don't make eye contact, the behaviourist we had before taught us rather than Harley, so we know what to do in theory. Problem is, the theory isn't helping as nothing is changing.

Harley isn't easy to distract when he's worried, he will even ignore food treats which tells us just how bad he feels as he's a food hoover normally.

universality

What about toys? Praise is ok as a reward too if he's not responding to either of those. How long have you been working on him since? It's taken us months just to get our one to calm down and not continue howling etc. But he does show signs of progress...

jamsponge

I was reading this and it sounds just like my Golden retriever. He has irritable bowel syndrome so the slightest bit of stress sets it off. He is now 8 and a total girl lol.
He barks at cars that crawl , cats, and anything else that has a heart beat. Now the nights are drawing in he will be walked in the dark. The slightest noise and he jumps a mile. Oh and he is scared of the dark so has to have a light on at night lol.
When we go on hols we have to hide the luggage till the last possible moment or he will have a bad stomach for weeks.
So you are not alone and I expect there are others out there. Have you tried burning lavender incense it seems to work a little with ours.