My dogs acted like they didnt know me after collecting from kennels

parsnips

I put both my dogs in kennels yesterday for an overnight stay and when picking them up this afternoon they both acted like they didnt know who i was, they wouldnt come near me, it took a good 10 seconds (now 10 seconds dont sound long, but it was the longest 10 seconds of my life) for them to realise i was mum and then they showed their joy i was here to collect them.

has that ever happened to you ? it was so embarressing and i felt really upset by it.

Im sure bella is punishing me by not even looking at me now, or maybe its just my guilt setting in.

peachyprice

My dog was like that the first two times I sent him to the kennels, I saw it as a positive sign that he was quite happy there and hadn't been pining for me. The third time I went to collect him he could get away from the kennel lad quick enough and yelped all the way to me then hid behing my legs. He didn't go back after that and never will.

zaksmum

parsnips wrote: »

I put both my dogs in kennels yesterday for an overnight stay and when picking them up this afternoon they both acted like they didnt know who i was, they wouldnt come near me, it took a good 10 seconds (now 10 seconds dont sound long, but it was the longest 10 seconds of my life) for them to realise i was mum and then they showed their joy i was here to collect them.

has that ever happened to you ? it was so embarressing and i felt really upset by it.

Im sure bella is punishing me by not even looking at me now, or maybe its just my guilt setting in.

I think they sulk a bit when you collect them from kennels, sort of don't speak to you for a while!

Caroline_a

I would keep an eye on them. I put my Shepherd in a different kennels once for a few days when my normal kennels couldnt take him. When I collected him he was unsteady on his feet, really thirsty, and slept for most of the day after I'd got him. I took him straight to the vet that day, as the unsteadiness worried me (hips and Shepherds...). She couldnt find anything wrong, said he was a bit dopey, but gave him some painkillers with the instruction to return in about 3 or 4 days.

When I did he was fine, and we had an 'off the record' conversation. It had occurred to me that his symptoms were those of a dog that had been drugged. She agreed, but said that there was no way they could check, as they wouldn't know what drug to test for, plus it would probably be out of his system by the time I went back.

I never went back to those kennels again!

parsnips

Caroline_a wrote: »

really thirsty, and slept for most of the day after I'd got him.

having reading what you put, bella drank and drank when she got home, and they are both asleep on the sofa after being home 15 minutes

marley is fine but he too is asleep

both been asleep for the past hr

i dont think for 1 second they have been drugged, but bella did concern me regarding the amount she drank, i did see a bowl of water in their kennel so i know water was there. and as for the sleeping, maybe they didnt sleep well cause they werent in their own bed. im hoping that anyway

elsien

Mutt has been known to come out of kennels, take one look at me, turn around and try to go back into the kennels again.
Did wonders for my self esteem, that one did. I was the owner with the quivering bottom lip trying to give my pooch a rapturous welcome and all she wanted to do was go back in for her breakfast. :rotfl:

dibuzz

Many years ago we used to put our spaniel in the kennels every couple of years and I used to cry buckets when I walked away, especially when she looked back at me. She was always fine but after she'd been a couple of times she wouldn't go up the lane to the kennels which were a half hour walk away and on one of our regular walking routes.
I couldn't put our staffy in kennels as shes a rescue dog and I'd be scared she'd think we were leaving her.
She's a funny thing though and if we take her for a long walk or somehwere in the car she won't drink water at all until she's home. we've even taken her bowl with us but she wont touch it until it's back in the kitchen.

parsnips

dibuzz how did your spaniel react to you picking him/her up, my dogs took a good 10 seconds to realise who i was, it hurt me alot

krlyr

Don't take it personally. If they were worried about being in kennels then they may have been a bit overwhelmed with seeing you. Some dogs deal with stress by avoiding eye contact for example, or turning away, walkign in circles, etc.. Also, what did they do before acknowledging you were there? There are many actions a dog does to relieve stress - for example, sniffing at the ground. It may seem like you were being ignored but it could have been normal doggy body language for the situation
http://www.csst.org/canine_stress.html

parsnips

well krlyr.....i walked outside with one of the workers to meet my dogs, but one of the other workers there had collected my 2 and was on her way round to us with them, so they were running towards my direction and when they saw me they stopped in their tracks and stood and stared for a good 5 to 10 seconds,?(well it seemed forever) then it was like a click in marleys head and he realised i was mum then ran straight to me with joy and jumping up at me with excitement, bella soon followed suit, tbh i was looking at mareys reaction not bellas, but i did notice bellas hair stood on end when she was running round towards my direction,

since being home they drank and drank when they first got in, slept for an hour, then got up and played with me, now asleep again. bella did seem to be sulking with me at first but after her sleep she did get up and play with me, not much eye contact with me either... again she seemed fine after an hours sleep

Welshwoofs

My dog goes to a sitter who fusses over him like mad. The first time I picked him up from there he tried to turn tail and go back in the sitter's house! At other times, if I've been away for a week he'll sulk like crazy for a couple of days - no tail wagging, no coming up for a fuss, just lots of sideways looks and 'humfs'

So I wouldn't worry.