Sudden Anxiety / Stress / Drooling

[Nanda & Nelson]

Since Sunday morning, Nelson has been acting very odd - he has never been like this before. It started on Sunday morning, when he jumped on our bed (he has done this only once before a long time ago). To us, him jumping on the bed, is quite odd - cause I'd love it if he would come and cuddle but he never wants too. He then got off walked to the living room and came back to jump on the bed (double odd). While there, he was panting and drooling excessively.

 

The night before, on Saturday, I remember him being super happy and playful. Putting his toys on our lap, ready to play - I'm sure nothing was wrong and nothing has happened in ages. We interacted a lot and nothing odd happened before we went to bed. When he acted so weird on Sunday, I got up and took him out - thought he might be sick. But he was 'fine' - he was back to his normal self as soon as we were out of our apartment and in the hallway, he was doing his playfull run down the stairs and it was all good.

 

It is Monday night now, and he is still acting anxious and stressed out in the house. The weird thing is, it is only in the house. As soon as we leave the apartment, he is his own happy self - ready to play and cause trouble. I got him to eat today, by putting some extra tasty stuff in his food. When I tried to give him his favourite treats this afternoon, he didn't want any. He has been yawning and drooling non stop. He went out with our dog walked today and apparently had the best of times (and she would tell me if something was up) - he playing with other dogs. I am seeing the vet tomorrow to get him checked out, but because he seems to be fine outside of my apartment - I can't help but wonder what happened overnight on Saturday? He isn't 'afraid' of me or my partner or any specific area in our house, he is just panting and drooling everywhere all the time. Nothing happened in the house while we were there, no fights, no fireworks (which he doesn't even find scary when they go off right beside his ear) no nothing.

 

We live in a one-bedroom 700 sq ft apartment on the second floor, I wonder, did someone try to break in (but we would have heard it in this small place)? Did a bird launch itself against the blinds? Whatever happened, we don't have a clue but it freaked the **** out of him.

 

Any tips on how to make this place positive again? I've tried playing with his favourite toys, the best treats, butall he wants to do is pant, yawn and drool.

[Maxi]

If your dog is completely well outside the house, but his symptoms occur just when he is the house then maybe it's a sound, smell, electrostatic charge or vibration that he can detect but you can't.

Panting and drooling can be associated with things like carbon monoxide poisoning and so it maybe worthwhile getting a detector if you do not already have one.

[gcv-border]

My thoughts are similar to above ^^^^. Something may be going on in your apt. that you are unaware of, but is bothering Nelson - electrical charge/static, mice in walls, carbon monoxide, etc.

 

I hope you figure it out.

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Ms/Mr Nanda,

 

I'm glad you're getting him checked by a vet. Border Collies can conceal sickness symptoms during activity.

 

Donald McCaig

[CMP]

I agree with all the above advice. Get a vet to check him out and maybe get your air tested.

 

I had a BC do something similar once and the only time she was okay was when she was working away from the house. Turns out, the neighbour had bought an electrostatic air cleaner and the sound/vibration was making her nuts.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Nanda & Nelson]

Yes we have a detector and it works. There is some construction going that has been going on for a few weeks in the apartment below us, but it has never bothered him before.

 

Last night I got him to play with me doing his favourite game (+bal in the house so that was excitement) then gave him a Pet Natural Calming Treat which made him relax. But this morning he is back to his unnatural self. He is actually shaking sometimes, yawning a lot (which I know is a sign of stress), ears back and whining at the door.

My neighbours (different building) have a BC / Aussie mix which Nelson loves and I am looking after it this morning, I hope a buddy will make him feel a bit better.

 

I want to figure out what it is! I'll call my landlord - who lives above us and who nelson loves - and ask my downstairs neighbour too today to see if they did anything odd since Saturday night.

 

EDIT: Other dog is here and he is still stressed. Even if I go to the bathroom he whines in front (he is not the kind of dog that stays so close by all the time)

[RemsMom]

Possibly a sound that your dog can hear but you can't?

 

I used to take my children to a pediatrician next to a hospital. The hospital used an ultrasonic repeller (I guess to get rid of Pigeons). I could hear the sound and it was a little annoying. The sound really bothered my teenage son, he couldn't wait to get into the office to get away from it. My daughter was about 10 at the time and the sound hurt her ears. She wanted to plug her ears and run into the office.

[Nanda & Nelson]

How could I figure out if its a sound and how can I make him overcome it?

 

I feel so bad for Nelson, he is so so stressed... And he is just not a stressy dog, so this is really unusual for us. I am going to take them to the doggy beach and hopefully when he is tired, he will relax a bit...

[sandysfarm]

If your dog is completely well outside the house, but his symptoms occur just when he is the house then maybe it's a sound, smell, electrostatic charge or vibration that he can detect but you can't.

Panting and drooling can be associated with things like carbon monoxide poisoning and so it maybe worthwhile getting a detector if you do not already have one.

that was my comment too. Get your air checked stat and open up everything you can until someone tells you you're safe.

[Maxi]

I'm sorry to hear that Nelson is still stressed out... I agree with Mr. McCaig that it is probably worth getting him checked by your vet to confirm there is no physical cause for his anxiety. But as I said said before it certainly sounds like something in your apartment's environment that is causing his problems. Personally, I think that you may not be able to help him fully overcome the issue until you can identify the problem.

 

Did his doggy friend who visited show any signs of anxiety when he was in the house? Is Nelson behaving oddly when he is at other people's houses/apartments?

 

If you are certain it is not a build up of carbon monoxide in your apartment but some environmental sound/vibration/energy, then finding the source of the problem will probably take some detective work.

 

If it started suddenly on Sunday, it may be worth asking your neighbours if they have bought/switched on any new air conditioners/electrical equipment etc on Saturday night/sunday morning- Having said that, it may not be close neighbours who have the 'offending object' - one of my dogs gets upset by the sounds of a quarry siren that is several miles from where we live - the siren sounds before they implode the rock & I'm sure my dog is unsettled by the vibration caused by blasting rather than the siren itself. & she has learnt to associate the sound with what follows .. I can't feel or hear the blast itself and the other dogs in the house completely ignore it, but then not dogs respond to all stimuli.

 

if you think it may be a sound you cannot hear, you could also ask for an "acoustic noise consultant" to come in & check your appartment over, but it may be easier (& a lot cheaper) to see if a young child can hear anything odd - as RemsMom describes, humans loose their ability to hear high pitched sounds as they get older, so a young child may be able to hear something that you can't.

 

If you do decide that you need an acoustic consultant i, it may also be worthwhile keeping a diary for a couple of days to see if there are any periods of the day when Nelson is settled. Having this would help ensure the consultant tested your place at a time when Nelson was stressed and it may help with the detective work of identifying the source.

 

good luck & I hope that you find the cause soon.

[Nanda & Nelson]

that was my comment too. Get your air checked stat and open up everything you can until someone tells you you're safe.

 

Thanks for the tips. I asked my landlord and he had someone come and check it this morning while we were out. It all seems fine. My landlord did tell me they were tiling a bathroom below us and it gave of a bad smell - they finished this Saturday....

 

Actually, when I closed(!) the windows, he seemed to calm down. I wonder if there is a weird bird or something... We have trees very close by our window and there are often squirrels hanging out in the trees - but usually they get Nelson all excited, not scared.

 

We just went for a big walk / play and he is passed out cold - will go to the vet in a few hours and hopefully he is physically okay like I think he is.

[Nanda & Nelson]

id his doggy friend who visited show any signs of anxiety when he was in the house? Is Nelson behaving oddly when he is at other people's houses/apartments?

 

No Nelson is one of those dogs that until Sunday morning, has always been comfortable an happy wherever we go. He comes to the office, friends places, landlord, family etc. In general, he is a very relaxed dog that does not stress out often - this is the first time (he is 2,5).

 

And the doggy friend was fine, and she actually is a bit of an anxious dog. Usually Nelson always wants to play when she is over and she isnt always interest. This time, she was trying so hard to play with him but he just wanted to lay down and pant.

 

Thank you for your advice, Maxi. Ill go to the vet, keep an eye on it for a few days and will take further steps if it increases. I do not have the 500+ to spent on consultants right now, so we'll keep trying to figure it out and keep an eye on it. Luckily I work from home so I can keep an eye on it.

[Maxi]

good luck.. I too wouldn't be able to afford to pay an expensive consultant ..but you did ask how to identify an inaudible sound !.. hopefully Nelso will settle back to the dog you know soon

[chene]

I agree, detective work! Experiment, manipulate different variables, see if anything has any effect. You already know that closing the windows helps. Does it help every time? How about blocking or covering the windows? How about if they're open but covered, so he can hear/smell but not see? Does he change the instant he's out the door, or a few feet away? Does it change when there's a strong smell in your house, like when you're cooking? Have you tried closing him in the bathroom or some other isolated room for a little while (with visits from you or you hanging out in there) to see if that helps? How about with something loud going on, like a vacuum or loud music (if he's not already afraid of those/your neighbours won't go crazy about the music). Turn all the lights off. Spend time with him in the middle of the night. See how he is in your landlord or neighbours' apartments. Try whatever you think of. Something will work.

There are tons and tons of things you can change to isolate what's driving him crazy, assuming the vet check-up reveals nothing.

[Nanda & Nelson]

So we went to the vet, got him all checked out and he is healthy as horse.

 

His stress-level seems a little lower right now, but he is still not back to his normal self. My vet recommended to get a pheromone plug in. Has anyone here ever used one?

 

I'd rather find the source of the stress then mask it... but if it keeps going on I'll get one. I've been associating the house with positive activities. We make sure we give of a positive vibe in the house and do fun play sessions. I can get him to play with me, but he doesn't really play on his own.

 

We still have the other dog who he usually plays with non-stop, but he is not interested. He did have a big day; dog beach, saw his doggy sister from the litter and then had a picnic in the park with another doggy friend. At all of these occasions he was totally fine.

 

I'll keep playing detective and hopefully find out whats us sooner rather then later...

[Nanda & Nelson]

So after 2 months, we figured it out. It was the sound of the bedroom and bathroom door closing. When the doors close, and the metal of the lock touches the metal of the piece that it goes into when you close it.... It makes a weird sound. In August / Sept, when he was stressy, it was hot, so we often had all windows open. This made the doors close automatically sometimes. He must have got caught in there or something like that, anyway, we just make sure the door doesn't close that loudly anymore and he is back to normal!

 

Oh dogs...

[Maxi]

Pleased you finally got iit figured out...bet Nelson is too.

[RemsMom]

I am glad the mystery is solved.

[GentleLake]

Amazing. These dogs sure can be quirky.

[Nanda & Nelson]

Guess what... the stressy behaviour is back - and it's in worse form now. We moved overseas in December and all in all it was a very smooth move, for us as well as Nelson. We lived at my parents with two other dogs whom he loves and since a week we have our own place.

 

He seems to hate it... Whenever we are outside, in the yard or in the park he is totally fine. I've taken him on the bus, the train without any issues. Yet inside the house, he is totally freaked out. The first day and night, he was fine. But the next night, before we went to bet, all at once he jumps on top of me. The kind of freaked out a dog becomes when they hear fireworks or something like that. The night that followed, he walked around alllll nightttttt! I couldn't get him to chill out and lay down for just a second. This changed a little bit. Last night before going to bed (after a looonnggg day of lots of fun and excersize), he just went to bed normally but I woke up again from him wandering. He ended up sleep right next to me on the floor (he never does that). It comes in phases but he is stressed 80% of the time. With stressed I mean; constantly panting, yawning, walking around etc etc.

 

We have moved around before and he has never had any issues, ever. He always got used to all the places we went to.

He was checked out by a vet and there aren't any issues, it really seems to be another 'something' or somekind of noise that sets him off. He only sleeps now when he is really tired and he only eats outside when you hand feed him. I'm trying to be as relaxed as possible around him but it does make me feel sad to know he is so uncomfortable!

 

I'm almost certain its a sound in this (old) house that I cant hear that freaks him out. That sound, isn't going away. The last time, I could take the problem away, but now.... No clue what to do!

[Chanse]

So if it isn't a medical issue then you may benefit from a behavioral consult. Someone that does behavioral adjustment training (BAT) will likely be able to asses your dog's problems more rapidly and offer advice on how to help your dog cope with his issues. You can pick and choose advice on here and hope that you come across the right solution, but I think someone that can watch your dog and has experience with this would be much more helpful. Just make sure you do some searching for a good trainer first, there are lots of bad ones out there.

 

But that being said, if you can't find a trainer, or don't have the money to spend on a consult, then here are some ideas. It does sound like you need to work on reconditioning and not just eliminating the sound(s). Will he take treats in the house? If he will then I would probably start rewarding calming signals such as yawns and lick lips, and even blinking (search online and you can find a list of calming signals). Also, is he scarred to go into the house, or does this behavior show up a little while after being in the house? If it shows up right after entering, or if he is reluctant to enter, then maybe work on going in and out of the house (ex. go into the house, reward for being calm then go back out of the house, and repeat). There's lot of other stuff that you can do and lots of info on helping dogs be calm and relaxed around things that scare them. Hopefully someone else will have better tips then me, and for some reason I can't think of any book/video that will help. If I remember one I will post on it later.

 

Also, my trainer likes essential oils. I think lavender oil is really good for calming a dog. This might be something that you will want to look into. There are some products our there for dogs, like calming sprays, that might help.