I think the ghost of my last dog is intimidating my current one.

OK I know :rolleyes: , i sound as if i should be on Jeremy Kyle or something, but i really think that is what is happening.

First, some background, Alfie was my lovely GSD who i had from a pup and he was my favourite ever dog. We were really close and enjoyed various things. However when he was aged just 15 mths he got bloat and died. Both me and OH were absolutely devastated and couldn't believe he was dead. In fact that was i could keep saying, 'How could he be dead?. How could HE be dead?'

Anyway we decided to get another dog to keep our Lab company and act as a guard in our rather isolated house. Neither of us could face another GSD as it was too soon after Alfie, so we decided on a Ridgeback as OH had always admired them. From our research it seemed as if the RR temprement was similar to a GSD and therefore would be 'the same but different'.

Mungo duly arrived and was wonderful, until he became very nervous and refused to eat properly. He seemed to be constantly on edge. We had lots of whining and trembling and looking at you as though you had just attacked him with a big stick. This we put down to a dodgy temprement and blamed it on the irresponsible 'profit breeder' we had him from. His behaviour was not consistant though, he would enjoy a lovely long walk and then refuse to come into the garden, cowering away and trembling. He would look eagerly for his meals and began to eat with gusto, and then run away from his bowl and look terrified. Sometimes he was too scared to approach his bowl at all.We have said many times that Mungo wants to be a nice dog but something is stopping him. Could it be Alfie? Is he afraid Mungo may take his place as MY dog?

Just recently OH has been away working and I have been here by myself with the children. Mungo started  howling in the night, something he never done before. He didn't want to go out and when i went down to him he was curled tightly in his bed. This happened every night until the last night before OH was due home.

Things came to head when Mungo was in the kitchen eating his food with no distractions whatsoever but was found cowering in the corner of the kitchen frozen with terror. we could not think of what had happened to possibly cause this, until I said that perhaps he could see something we couldnt.

Our thoughts turned to Alfie as I had felt him on several occasions after his death and thought I caught a glimpse of him one evening. Two mediums that we had spoken to on a totally unconnected subject (including one over the phone) had both mentioned the presence of a large dog in the house. The lady on the phone even said it was a GSD. I hadn't mentioned we even had a dog let alone anything about Alfie.

My thoughts are now what can we do about it? I don't want to 'get rid of' Alfie's spirit if he is here, but I want Mungo to have a happy and relaxed life.

Sorry for the long winded explaination but i wanted to give some background as it is quite some statement to make, I know!

Any thoughts??

All, I can say is your a brave one to put up a post like that!!! :-)

But ok, before we go spirit hunting, please firstly get in a dog behaviourist to find a rational explanation for your RR's behaviour it is easy to blame the spirit world when there may be a perfectly rational reason, sometimes we only see what we want to see and not the real reasons behind things, so get that behavourist, explain everything as you have, but leave out the spirit of your GSD and let the behaviourist help and give you some tips.

On the flipside............

I am actually a believer in the spirit world so am not for one moment poo pooing your thoughts of perhaps your GSD being there, as for the mediums who have come, believe me it is soooooo... easy to find out that you had a GSD and most aren't worth taking seriously and certainly not worth parting money over. Don't waste anymore time on them.

If your GSD really is there, you don't need a medium, you will feel him and you can talk to him, he will only listen to you anyway not to a stranger, often if we can't let go through pain and grief our loved ones can't move on, so light a candle and sit and talk to him, tell him to move on now, that you love him and will never forget him which he knows, your the only thing holding him back let him know that he is frightening your new pup.  If you let him go in your heart he will move on. He needs to move on now.

You have another dogs welfare to take care of, whether his fear is of a spirit dog or some other reasons don't delay, but my first port of call would be to get that behaviourist to help you out. :-)

I have to agree with all Carrington has said except while waiting for the behaviourist to come out I would start talking to your GSD as it could well be him.  Explain to him you will always love him and no dog can ever take his special place in your heart, but he cannot make your life and your new dogs difficult like this.
When your new dog gets frightened like this immeadiatly tell your GSD to leave in no uncertain terms you won't have this intimidation and he can only return when he can be nice.
Spirits listen to firm hard talking very well, it does hurt when you have to talk harshly to a passed over loved one human or animal, but it does work believe me and don't worry you won't make them feel unwanted and they won't dissapear forever.
I fear you will still need the behaviourist anyway as your other poor dog needs to overcome his fear of your GSD as he will sense his prescence even if he starts being nicer and you will need some confidence boosting exercises.

Okay I'll jump and and be seen just as crazy as you so you're not alone. :D If his spirit IS in the house it SHOULD be encouraged to move on as it won't have been able to pass over completely and go to rest. I don't know how to do it though, my experience is all with the human ghost that was in this house and wouldn't leave me alone.

On a practical ntoe, what happens if you try to feed Mungo in a different room?

well,I have a manic rescue mastiff,who used to do this when fed out of a silver/stainless steel bowl,she would not drink from them either,am assuming she could see her own reflection,as soon as we changed bowls this stopped,
but uum,well, I swear I occasionally catch a glimpse of one of my oldies,long gone now,out of the corner of my eye,evenings mainly,
Wendy

My friend SWEARS she's seen her beloved childhood cat Dora when she visits her parents house where she grew up, not much help there, but thought I would share!

I think the best way might be to go for vet/behavioural help because you need to check all the possible options. For instance, the dog may have a medical problem which is causing this type of behaviour and so a thorough check up (not just a once over but more in depth,  perhaps blood tests, hypothyroid, neuro tests may be in order). It's best to do this in conjunction with a vet and behaviourist because an individual vet may not  know all the medical links to certain behaviours in the way a behaviourist may. If you go to www.apbc.org.uk you will find a local behaviourist who works on vet referral :)

Before this, you could try a few things already mentioned, such as changing his bowl to another of completely different material eg enamel for steel.

Poor lad, I do hope you find the solution to this soon :)

I'm not by the way saying that the spirit of your GSD isn't visiting, but that for your present dog's sake you must check every possibility.

Good luck
Lindsay
x

It would be interesting to know if Mungo behaves differently away from the home. Have you ever put this to the test ? - taken him on holiday, left him with relatives etc ?

Hi,

Have you had him checked out by the vets to make sure there is nothing physically wrong - maybe something as simple as something wrong with his eyesight?

Karen

Thank you for your replies and for taking me seriously ;-)  I did think twice before posting and had to take a deep breath before hitting the post button :D

One thing i should have said in my OP was that Mungo is 2 years old and we have had him since Nov 04. Alfie died in July 2004.

I take on board what has been said regarding feeding, but this behaviour does not just happen at feeding time. I will try changing from a stainless to plastic/ceramic bowl. However he has no problem drinking from a stainless bowl.

On some walks he will be fine and then with no  reason (that is obvious to us, ie car noise or gunshot) will shoot forward and tremble and generally act as though he has been terrified by something. The other dogs show no reaction at all.This doesn't occur in the same place each time and the next time he might be fine. However this always happens on walks that Alfie used to do and not on ones he never went on. I don't understand why he is sometimes reluctant to come into the garden after enjoying a walk. This isn't just a dog that doesn't want his walk to end but a frightened dog.

We have looked at behaviourists in this area and I will contact one tomorrow. I hope that the behaviour is not so ingrained that it becomes too hard to get him out of.

This is not an idea we have leapt upon as the easiest option, we have spent 18 months trying to figure out what the problem was and looking at more 'logical' reasons. Unfortunatley we have just blamed Mungo and his temperement. :-(