hiya all fonts of knowledge!

i'm going to have to pick your brians on this because i'm stumped....

....as usual this morning, i got up at 6 and took my 18mth old lab Teka out for a walk-same place as every morning, round the valley behind where i live. All was fine and dandy.

this afternoon, i took her to the top of the valley where she completely freaked out and started to run home. There was nothing there....no dogs, people-nothing. Just me and her. It was as if something spooked her. The only thing that happened before she bolted was a sudden gust of wind. Anyhoo.....after calling her, she came back, but was incredibly sheepish-her whole body dropped, and her face was full of worry. I wandered down the valley to the beck, where she's normally in like a shot doing a spot of stick fishing, but she wasn't keen to follow at all. Everytime time i stopped to watch her, she'd turn and start running back towards home. Again, no-one was around. Eventually i caved, and for her own safety, put her on the lead to which she enterpreted as "lets go home", and then proceeded to pull me up the hill. She then did a complete detour and took me to friends back gate (lucky mare overlooks the valley and has a gate opening out onto it), where she stuck her bum and just trembled and panted. I tried to encourage her to walk away, but she wouldn't move. I simply assumed she wanted the safety of her (friends) house......?

to see what she'd do, i let her off (she stayed put), and said friend let her dog out (a rottie who Teka absolutely adores-reeeeeally adores), thinking maybe it'd distract her and she'd run off, have a splodge in the beck, then we'd head off out for a walk together. Didn't happen. Teka bolted into said friends garden and refused to come out, but was quite happy to wrestle mr rottie to the ground in the garden! When we were there though, she jumped up and pawed me a lot which i enterpreted as wanting re-assurance, or even a request to go home.....?

after about 20 mins, we left the same way we came-via the valley. She pinned herself near the gate yet again, looked sheepish and trembled, panted etc.....

eventually i managed to convince her that it wasn't so bad, and she walked me home...or do i mean dragged...?

tonight-about an hour ago, i took her out for her last walk, but for a change, and given this afternoon's episode, i decided to walk her round the estate. She got round the corner and half way down the road then did the exact same thing as this afternoon. Again, no-one around (i live in a sleepy estate). She pinned her bum to the ground, huffed and puffed then somehow managed to slip the collar and started trotting home, tail between her legs, and dropped low to the ground. Again, i called her back, tightened the collar to avoid it happening again, started walkingnhome a different way thinking it might loosen her up a bit. Again, she dragged us home.

i've racked my brains all day thinking about what's freaked her so much, and i can't think of anything, except:

(a) we were out in the valley saturday before last and it thundered while were out. She dropped, tail between her     
legs, and started belting home. I called her back (bless she is good), stuck her on the lead, and we made our way home. Maybe the noise of the wind today made her remember that....? It was still tonight though.....

(b) theres a git of a dog that lives round the corner who doesn't take too fondly to dogs being near her house....yesterday she came running out and had words with Teka-not that she cared-she just trotted off with her boyfriend!

(c) next door are having building work done, but then they have been for 7 weeks.....maybe today was extra noisey and it scared the be-jeez out of her...although i don't see how that bears any relevance now i've typed it!

(d) (last one i promise) she's had a dodgy dream while i've been at work this morning, and now the prospect of walking in her favourite place is a no no.

so....any ideas? I'm going to take her out with her flexi-lead tomorrow morning and see what she's like. Fingers crossed we won't have any repeat performances.

on a final note-she's never done anything like this, right up until the thunder episode. She's normally dragging me to get out, then trying to stay out as long as possible!

am i just over-reacting? I'm having her to the vets tomorrow hopefully because i think her cystitis has flared up again....don't know if that has anything to do with it. I know she was a bit grumpy last time she had it, but i didn't have the walking issues.

any words of wisdom would be much appreciated.

nic x

Hi, as you said it could be the thunder and lightening, before i read that though i was going to suggest a physical illness but now i've read that about the thundering and lightening it might be just that, maybe when you take her for a walk tomorrow you might be able to get more from it.  She might be completely different.

Warm regards Susan

thanks susan-i must admit, that was my first thought, but i doesn't explain tonight...it was really still and quiet, then out of the blue she just stopped dead and dropped on her haunches, and then panic took hold.

like you said though, tomorrow is another day, and she might be 'as normal' again. I'll have to wait and see!! I'm sure a chicken stuffed kong will do her wonders! I just want to add, that we haven't had any chicken....its just madams!!

nic x

I know, i'm know expert though the ones who could have gave you alot of advice dont seem to be on tonight, hope it's just the thundering and lighting.
Take care.  I believe dogs can see, hear and sense danger what humans can't sense as there senses, sight, smell and hearing are alot more acute than ares so listen to dog and you will stay out of danger.  Years ago my father had a mongrel who absolutely adored him and when ever he went out shep would chase him down the road to go with him, he would always find my father where ever he went regardless if he took him in the car or not.  One night my father took him for a walk in a grave yard and shep just stopped and wouldn't go no further so my dad just stuck him on the lead and went home.  He always wonders now why the dog wouldn't walk no further.  I always think that you are apart of their pack and if they sense danger they will steir you away from it.

Warm regards Susan

welllll.....as usual, up at 6 this morning, alarm went off, to which Teka is normally rather excited about-this morning it was a bt of a wag, then just lay on the floor.........came downstairs and popped her lead on.....went out of the back gate and she was behind me....got part way down the drive and she froze, dropped, tail between her legs, and dragged me to the front door. I sat outside with her on the grass talking to her for a bit, tried again but she turned straight round and made headway for the back gate. Came in, left it 15 minutes, wound her up about going for a walk, then tried again, this time going from the door, and the same happened.

something must have spooked the living daylights out of her yesterday, but goodness what it was. 

i'm going to take her out in the car this afternoon and go somewhere further afield to see if it happens elsewhere. I took her out with some friends last night to a nearby park, and she hopped in the car all excited and was fine. Except the walk from the woods to the car.....then she dropped and was super keen to get in the car.......she's now very clingy.......

clueless is a good word for the day i think!!

nic x

Sorry Nic, I have no words of wisdom other than to agree regarding the thunder and lightening.  However, as she's doing it today as well, that theory is starting to fade in my mind.  Rest assured there will be some behavioural experts on here later, who will be able to give you some good advice.

Best of luck! :)
Vicki
x

Hi Nic.  I too unfortunately have no words of wisdom.  But, a couple of months ago my Ellie seemed to behave in exactly the same way as Teka.  Only Ellie was at her training class and totally flipped, with no apparent reason. She became very introvert and it seemed as if she was entering a second fear stage. (I have 7 labs and Ellie is the only one to have ever shown this) I made a bad move initially by mollycoddling her, this re-inforced her fear of whatever it was, I still have never discovered the catalyst.  On the second day she was extremely fearful of nearly everything, became clingy and very lethargic.  I stopped humouring her and reacted to her with (Jeangenie's wonderful saying) old school jolly hockeysticks.  ie, nothing wrong, no pandering or mollycoddling.  I did take her to places she had not been and totally ignored her reluctance.  I was on the verge of going down the route of getting a behaviourist, but decided to keep going for a little while.  It did take a couple of months but she is now back to her old self.  I still have never found the cause.

If you pander to her she may think that there really is something to fear.

Treat her normally, do not encourage her fear and praise her everytime she takes a step in the right direction.

Only one other thought - could she have been stung or similar? There are loads of horse flys about at the moment, which can make a horse bolt, so could have a dramatic effect on a dog.

Anyway I think you are doing the right thing, trying different walks, rewarding good behaviour and ignoring cowering etc.

Good Luck

Hi there

I'm not on here much these days, but I have a 2 year old labrador.

I've read somewhere (dont know if it were here or somewhere else) that teenage dogs can get spooked at certain ages.

Luna had a mild one aswell.. I cant remember when, but it didnt last for long.. A month's time sounds right. She was scared of everything. I was also told, not to "mother" her, but make it fun and ignore her crawling...

I hope she gets better soon.

Jeanette and Luna

thanks very much for your replies-she's currently sat with her heaad on my knee looking sorrowful.....

she's off to the vets this afternoon re her cystitis so i'll certainly mention the new found reluctance of walks-despite the initial excitment..... I did try again today, but failed miserably. Granted it didn't involve going anywhere new because my car's poorly too! We got to the end of the drive, then that was it. We just sat and watched the world go by.

i have a theory though....perhaps, if the cystitis has recurred to a more serious degree than last time, she thought of going out means "i'll to have a wee", which must hurt like mad, so the avoidance of going out avoids the weeing..?

anyhoo, we'll just have to wait and see. I'd hate to think she'd gone off going out for our daily mooches-they're some of my favourite times!

poor lamb.

thanks again-any break throughs will be posted with glee!!!

nic x

Ahhh, I didnt realise, probably didnt read throroughly enough, that she has cystitis. That could account for her not wanting to walk at all. Have you ever tried doing anything while suffering from this?  I think you may find that once the infection has cleared she will be back to normal. Cystitis is VERY painful. Let us know how she gets on
Kay

Edited, yes gone back and re-read, I did miss the last paragraph re cystitis, sorry, This could be the problem, hope all goes well.

she had it a month or so ago, and has some antibiotics which seemed to clear it up-she did a bloomin' good job of disguising it, because it was pretty advanced by the tim the vet saw her! Needless to saw i felt awful. All the signs are there that its come back...theres no blood in her urine which is a good sign (had the lovely job of trying to take a sample earlier...although if she does the same as last time, she'll wee on the vets hand!). She was absolutely fine re walking last time though. Thats why i'm stumped! Still......I'll reward her visit to the vets with a run down the park with one of her boyfriends if shes upto it-that'll cheer her up.

thanks kay....will let you know how we get on!

welll, i've just got back from the vets, and hes once again confirmed its cystitis. Her temp is up, but theres no crystals her urine, so thats good news.

i asked if this'd be why shes been funny about going out, and the vet seems to agree it might be, so she should be back to normal in a few days once the aintbiotics kick in.

thanks for everybody's thoughts.

nic & teka x

Sorry to come to this late. But my girl is presently being treated for chronic cystitis. This has not affected my dog's eagerness for her walks. But the vet has told me to reduce her exercise for the time being. But what is interesting is my girl has done the same thing when out. But I don't think it is linked to the cystitis. Once when we had her out she suddenly froze, crouched down, tail between her legs and made a beeline for the car. It took us a while to figure out that it only happened when it was raining or heavy drizzle and what was happening was the rain was hitting off an overhead electric cable/pylon and was making a very faint humming noise. Now to us the noise was faint but to her it must have been very loud and was obviously a noise she hadn't recognised. Another time we were walking her in the cycle path near my mums. We hadn't walked this particular path before. Everything was going well when suddenly same thing, crouching down. tail between her legs. Luckily she was on the lead but she was backing up trying to get away. She was terrified. We didn't know what it was. We couldn't get her to walk forward, she just wanted to get away. 5 minutes later a train went whizzing by. I hadn't realised that there was a train track so near the cycle path. She must have heard the train or the rails vibrating from miles away. So maybe it could be something like that that has spooked your dog. Something that you were not aware of.

Hope this helps

Lube       

thanks lube-i'm assuming thats the case. I can't for the life of me think what it could be though..?

i've managed to get her out for a couple of walks through the week, but not since thursday night. We went out on a familiar walk with my neighbour and their rottie pup, but on the way back home she stopped dead and wouldn't budge. She was trembling and was 'hyperventilating'., and ended up cowering behind me in a panic. It got to the point where my neighbours hubby had to come and pick us up!

what i found odd though was the way she was behaving-it was as if she knew nothing about where we were,who we wereand what she should do. It was as if someone had flicked a switch that turned her off, and a different dog on. It made no difference if we tried to calm her, talk to her etc. She only picked up when our knight in shining jag came for us. Since then i've managed 10 perfect minutes at a park (which i had to drive to).

i'm going for a second opinion on wednesday as i don't see the connection between the behaviour and cystitis. Also i find it odd the cystitis has recurred only 2 mths or so after the last bout. Interstingly though, a trainer who lives near me is having the exact same problem-her bitch has cystitis and is behaving the same as Teka......

just have to add this-i went to see my puppy today. A choccy lab dog. He's stunning!!! I can't wait to pick him up in a few weeks!!!!!!

thanks again.

Hi there,

My bitch is attending the Veterinary College because of her cystitis. She was in for 4 days for tests and back again 6 weeks later for a further test. She is presently on a second course of antibiotics that are specific to a type of bacteria that was found in her bladder. If this does not help, she may be on course for a procedure that widens the neck of her bladder as it appears to be very narrow. So unfortunately you may be on the long road to resolve your dog's cystitis. Hopefully not, but be prepared. If you get any further in finding out what is scaring your dog or what is happening with the other dog's cystitis, please post again.

Thanks

Lube     

bloomi' heck lube! The poor girl. I'd be distraught if Teka had to go in for four days-it was bad enough when she went in to be spayed!!!!

i'm taking her back on friday for a check up, but i am going to mention your case. Is your dogs cystitis recurring?

i'm still no further with the walking, and she still seems quiet and fairly subdued in the house-that i'm pinning on the cystitis....I'm going to push for more thorough tests on friday. I managed to get her out for half an hour yesterday-took me jumping round the pavement saying oochy-coochy stuff swinging a stick round! It worked though, and she was pulling to get the grass by the time we were round the corner.

as for today....nothing!! Such is life.....

nicola

Hi Nicola

Yep, it's been a long road. We have been told she has chronic cystitis. So hopefully we can get to the bottom of it. I hope the walks get better.

Good Luck

Lube