Neurotic labrador

deerstalker.308

Well-Known Member
No, not in the out of control mental untrained sense!
So out 8 yr old lab bitch has suddenly gone very odd.
She has developed a totally irrational fear of our rugs/floors around the house. She looks at them as though they’re lava fields, or crevasses that will swallow her whole. She won’t come upstairs at all now (she was allowed by invite before and loved it if the opportunity presented). She just looks stressed by life, today on a walk for no apparent reason she jolted on the lead cutting in front of me and nearly ran into the road, no reason to it whatsoever, (road was quiet, wouldn’t have mattered anyway but the behaviour is not normal for her)

Some background info.
She was always a very hormonal dog and whenever a season had passed you could bet your bottom dollar she would go off her food (acting like you were poisoning her), for a week or two, and dig the odd den in the garden but nothing more sinister.
Back in June last year she had a litter of pups (not her first) and we kept one of the pups. Now it’s fair to say said pup does harass her mum somewhat and I do wonder if this may be the cause?

She was spayed back in January. And since then, up to this point, we’ve had no abnormal behaviour.
This is all new. She doesn’t look happy in herself a lot of the time, seems to have a very concerned look on her face although is currently chewing an antler very happily as if to spite me writing this post!!
I think a trip to the vets is inevitable although what they’ll be able to ascertain I don’t know, anyone else experienced this? Starting to worry something neurologically very wrong here? Going to get my wife to take her out with her to give her some quiet time away from her pup to see if that helps, and clearly will get our vets opinion, but genuinely a little concerned for her.
 
What flooring / rugs do you have?

Has she slipped / slid on the floor? The rug slipped out from under her for example?

My old lab bitch hated vinyl flooring, she would refuse to walk across it due to slipping etc.
 
Tiles and floor boards plus some vinyl type stuff which has grip to it, the rugs are a cow skin and a solid wool rug, she’s always been fine with our floors, hates slippery laminate at my mums house, but never had any issues in our house for her whole life and certainly not on the carpets
What flooring / rugs do you have?

Has she slipped / slid on the floor? The rug slipped out from under her for example?

My old lab bitch hated vinyl flooring, she would refuse to walk across it due to slipping etc.
 
My sympathies, not an easy problem to resolve. Your comments on the behaviour after seasons is normal false pregnancy behaviour, and unlikely to have any relation to what is happening now. It should like a fear response and as Lloyd90 has suggested - is it a slippy floor thing possibly exacerbating an underlying arthritis. So she know's she will slip which hurt and so she digs her claws in to stop slipping and makes it worse.
A vet examine is a wise move, make sure there isn't any underlying problem.
My go-to for fear is an adaptive collar, but as a fear thing is exacerbated with each fear, a behavioural consultation could be worth while.
Let us know, good luck
 
My sympathies, not an easy problem to resolve. Your comments on the behaviour after seasons is normal false pregnancy behaviour, and unlikely to have any relation to what is happening now. It should like a fear response and as Lloyd90 has suggested - is it a slippy floor thing possibly exacerbating an underlying arthritis. So she know's she will slip which hurt and so she digs her claws in to stop slipping and makes it worse.
A vet examine is a wise move, make sure there isn't any underlying problem.
My go-to for fear is an adaptive collar, but as a fear thing is exacerbated with each fear, a behavioural consultation could be worth while.
Let us know, good luck
Valid concern with arthritis, I’ve noticed her front feet angle has changed, and claws are quite long (being a black lab and black claws they’ve always been a challenge to keep short and compact, quite noticeable when we come back from a walk the first thing she likes to do is put her feet in the paddling pool to cool them down.
The oddity is that I could understand if her concerns were on slippery floors specifically but not the carpets which were always a safe spot for her. Will see what the vets say. Thanks for not just dismissing this somewhat vague post, but you know when you know you’re dog isn’t right and I want her happy again.
 
Valid concern with arthritis, I’ve noticed her front feet angle has changed, and claws are quite long (being a black lab and black claws they’ve always been a challenge to keep short and compact, quite noticeable when we come back from a walk the first thing she likes to do is put her feet in the paddling pool to cool them down.
The oddity is that I could understand if her concerns were on slippery floors specifically but not the carpets which were always a safe spot for her. Will see what the vets say. Thanks for not just dismissing this somewhat vague post, but you know when you know you’re dog isn’t right and I want her happy again.
That is the part which drives us all Andy..
Wish her well from me and the boy's
 
Hopefully you get to the bottom of the issue and it’s something easy. I had a problem with my dog where she didn’t like to walk over a bridge if she could see below it. After going to the place and staying there for periods of time and her seeing others going over it she suddenly wanted to go towards it. She walked up to it, sniffing and then hen just went over.
From that day she has been fine.
Very funny animals when they want to be. It’s a shame that they can’t talk to tell us the problem.
It shows that you are a very caring dog owner wanting her happy and back to herself.
Regards Dan
 
Well, spoke to our vet who handily is also a behaviourist too, and she suggested much as above giving the adaptil collar a go and see if that makes any difference initially, followed by a check up to make sure feet and joints are all ok.
Now, I have a huge respect for vets in general and value them immensely, but even I was a little taken aback by the price they charged for the collar, literally double the price on Amazon!!! No prescription required, so god only knows where they dreamt that one up!! If it works any repeat purchases will be strictly online only! The price we pay for our precious pooches hey!!
 
Try getting an OOH consultation with Amazon!! (fully aware that your practice may outsource this :rolleyes:
They do outsource OOH service, but I also pay handsomely when I have needed that service! I have called them back and queried the price as even by normal standards ( and I fully appreciate being able to go in and collect) but given I can do the same at our local pets at home and get it for £21 I can’t quite see how they feel £38 is acceptable. They are checking and going to call me back following my query. Mark ups are one thing but that smacks of someone having made a mistake.
Anyway, this clearly wasn’t the purpose of this thread and I don’t want to take it down that cul-de-sac as 99.9% of the time I fully support and trust my vets!
 
Well, spoke to our vet who handily is also a behaviourist too, and she suggested much as above giving the adaptil collar a go and see if that makes any difference initially, followed by a check up to make sure feet and joints are all ok.
Now, I have a huge respect for vets in general and value them immensely, but even I was a little taken aback by the price they charged for the collar, literally double the price on Amazon!!! No prescription required, so god only knows where they dreamt that one up!! If it works any repeat purchases will be strictly online only! The price we pay for our precious pooches hey!!
Hope it works out getting your bitch sorted
I used the services of our local practice vet nurse who is a behaviourist when I had problems with my WHV and Lakeland terrier fighting but only in certain situations.
She got it spot on and told me what to do and what I was doing wrong. I followed her advice and it all worked a treat.
I think you are spot on with what you are doing and after all it's only money!
 
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