Anxiety and Talley World: We Need To Pay Attention
Tonight I noticed that Talley glanced at Argil ever so briefly as she took refuge in her favored corner cave, complete with air duct. As you may recall, I had written previously about the battle fought and lost, by Argil, to keep the air duct Talley free. It was not to be. However, I belive there has been some fall out from that event. Even though there were no harsh reprimands or verbal scoldings, and certainly no physical punishments, it confused Talley and her world according to Talley rules. Displaced from a favored location, she was not certain of where she belonged. She began to seek out other "caves" in the home. There has been other odd behavior. A few nights ago, while I was out teaching class, Argil had the dogs outside, and Talley would not come in. Everytime he went back out for her, she had moved to another location in the yard, but still refused to move. Being a smart man, he finally went and got some cheese, and was able to bring her in. He was worried about it being hot outside. However, upon entering, she booked for one of the upstairs caves, and did not come out until I returned home.
As we sat here this evening, I brought the glancing behavior to his attention. Naturally he feels terrible that he may have been the cause of the increased anxiety. It really does not take much at all to throw very sensitive dogs off kilter. Yes, it is awful to laugh at our dogs, but we did remark that when the dogs are boarded at the end of the month, Talley would feel right at home if we decorated her run with an air duct, coffee table and lamp. I was working with the labs today, (even though they have boarded before) at making the kennel runs a positive association.
Seriously though, even if you think you may have the cause of anxiety pinpointed, a thorough vet check could also be indicated. Talley has some symptoms that may point towards being hypo-thyroid, and we are currently waiting on results of a blood draw. Pain can cause increased anxiety. Anything wrong physically can cause increased anxiety. Take note of specific behaviors. Dogs do things for a reason to communicate;it is up to us to take notice and get our friends the help they need. Without going into detail, there have been some other issues as well. Perhaps what Talley really needed was having free access once again to her coveted cave. We shall see. Taking care of our canine friends can involve a little detective work, sometimes best aided and abetted by a Veterinarian.
Oh and I do need to clarify the glance at Argil as Talley is entering her "cave." In Talley speak, I belive it means " ok, I`m going in. Lately it has been safe again, but I`m just going to look and see if he notices." And right now she is indeed snoring contentedly in her favorite place in the world.
